England players were ridiculed ahead of the Nations League defeat in Hungary, where Saturday’s crowd of 30,000 mainly children was filled with children.
Last year at the European Championships, youth were allowed into stadiums despite Hungary being ordered to play games without fans as punishment for racially abusing rival players and holding anti-gay banners. Under the rules, every 10 children are accompanied by an adult.
“It’s hard to understand how this aligns with the decision,” England coach Gareth Southgate said after the 1-0 loss at Puskas Arena, their first loss to Hungary in six decades.
“When we got to the stadium the atmosphere, the kids were standing in the streets, it was really friendly. They were shaking hands as we went out to warm up. I thought there were some pantomime boos when our team came out to warm up.
“It was different with taking a knee but it felt like I had inherited thinking. We do it (on the knee) to educate and I think youth can only be influenced by older people.
England players took a knee last year as part of a call to end racial injustice in society following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Southgate had to appeal to England fans last year not to boo their own players for kneeling. Now he has to face the hostility of the opposition fans.
“I don’t know why people would choose to boo that gesture and a lot of times young people don’t know why they’re doing it so they’re being influenced by older adults – everyone knows what we believe and What do we stand for,” Southgate said. “What I would say is that I have heard that is still there in our stadiums as well. That’s why we do that and continue to take that stand and we will continue to do so as a team.”
Dominic Szaboszlai converted a penalty in the second half after being fouled by Reece James.
The last time Hungary defeated England was in 1962 World Cup, with England going 15 matches unbeaten against Hungary since then.
This was England’s first defeat in 23 matches except for the penalty shootout.
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