Bulgaria vs England racism: Game twice paused due to racist abuse with crowd warned over behavior

The Euro 2020 qualifier between Bulgaria and England was temporarily halted by the referee

England’s Euro 2020 qualification match against Bulgaria was twice halted by the referee on Monday night because of racist chanting in the crowd.

Racist abuse could be clearly heard in the stadium throughout the first-half, with defender Tyrone Mings among the England players who complained about the chants to the referee.

The first step of UEFA’s protocol was enacted in the 28th minute – a stadium announcement calling for the abusive chanting to stop – after conversations between the fourth official, Croatian referee Ivan Bebek and England captain Harry Kane.

The stadium announcer said: “This is an important stadium announcement, because of racist behaviour which is interfering with the game, the referee has indicated that he may have to suspend the match.

“Racism in football stadiums will not be tolerated. Please be in no doubt that the game will be suspended and may be abandoned if racist behaviour continues amongst spectators. Help everyone enjoy the game and say no to racism. Thank you.”

The stadium announcement marked the first stage of Uefa’s three step protocol for challenging racist behaviour.

The second is for the players to be taken to the dressing room. Uefa’s final step is for the referee to abandon the match.

However, the abuse persisted and the match was again paused shortly before half-time, after England manager Gareth Southgate made a further complaint to a Uefa official.

England manager Gareth Southgate spoke to the fourth official with around five minutes of the regular 45 to go, while defender Tyrone Mings was seen asking an assistant referee, ‘Did you hear that?’ during the first half and Nazi salutes were seen among a section of the home fans.

After a short discussion, England’s players elected to return to the field of play. Moments later, Raheem Sterling scored to give England a 4-0 lead at the break. England eventually won the match 6-0.

Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov then became involved in a heated debate with a section of home supporters near the tunnel as the rest of the players headed for the dressing rooms at half-time.

The Levski Stadium was subject to a partial closure for this match after Bulgaria were sanctioned for racist chanting during qualifiers against Kosovo and the Czech Republic.

At the half-time interval ITV pundit Ian Wright described it as a “great day” in trying to tackle racism.

Bulgaria fans at the Euro 2020 qualifier (Getty)

He said: “It’s a terrible day for the Bulgarian people and how they have been represented, it’s a great day in respect of trying to tackle racism.

“We can see over in that stand, with those (anti-racism) banners, which mean nothing.

“What we’re seeing is a set of fans who do not care and need educating.”

The former Arsenal and England striker continued: “As a black player, we’ve heard it for many years about walking off.

“But you do need your white players to do that for you, so you can go off together. When that can happen, when you can see how powerful that is, that will do something.”