Montenegro racist abuse: Ian Wright condemns 'embarrassing' Uefa sanctions over racism in football

Wright, working as a pundit for ITV, does not think the governing body hand out sufficient punishments to countries whose supporters abuse black players

Former striker Ian Wright says that Uefa does not think racism is an important enough issue after England duo Raheem Sterling and Danny Rose were abused in Montenegro.

Rose was subjected to monkey chants at the end of the impressive 5-1 win, while earlier abuse led Sterling to celebrate the final goal of the night by pulling out his ears in front of the home fans.

Wright, working as a pundit for ITV, does not think the governing body hand out sufficient punishments to countries whose supporters abuse black players, calling the sanctions "embarrassing".

"You have got to protect your players, they will probably go to Uefa and they will fine them a pittance amount as a deterrent," Wright said.

"Nothing will happen and we will probably get the same thing here at some stage again or somewhere else in Europe because they don't do enough to stop it.

"We will continue to have to speak about it because the fines and punishments handed out by Uefa are embarrassing, they are no deterrent at all, nobody has been deterred from doing it.

"I agree with Gareth (Southgate) when he says that there are certain countries in and around Europe that are not as diverse as we are, we have got our own problems, but at the same time we are trying to do something about it.

"That is embarrassing, I feel for Danny, I feel for Raheem.

"It's 2019, it shouldn't be happening now, but UEFA aren't doing enough to stop it so it will continue.

"They don't think it is important enough, otherwise they would (stamp it out)."

Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out said expulsion from tournaments should be considered as a potential punishment.

They tweeted: "Disgraceful to hear racist chants directed at black England players this evening.

"As we've argued countless times, it's time for Uefa to take strong, decisive action - fines won't do.

"Extended stadium bans or tournament expulsion are what's needed."

After Callum Hudson-Odoi spoke maturely on the subject, former England captain Gary Lineker described the abuse as "abhorrent".

He said on Twitter, quoting a Hudson-Odoi interview: "Impressive young man. Truly awful that he and his fellow teammates have to put up with this abhorrent racism. Uefa must act, and strongly."

Rio Ferdinand added on the social media site: "Good to see England answering back to ignorance in the best way possible... another 3 points in the group, 10 goals in 2 games."

Meanwhile, Sports Minister Mims Davies has called for "swift" action from Uefa.

"Rightly very proud of the England players tonight - a fantastic effort & cracking result - in face of absolutely unacceptable racist abuse," she tweeted.

"Uefa must quickly investigate then take strong and swift action."

PA