New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) England defender Jess Carter has revealed she will be taking a step back from social media after receiving racial abuse during the ongoing Women’s European Championship. Carter so far has played 310 minutes whilst starting all four games at the Euros during England’s run to the semifinal against Italy on Wednesday (IST).

“From the start of the tournament, I have experienced a lot of racial abuse. Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result, I don’t agree or think it’s ok to target someone’s appearance or race. As a result of this, I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with,” read the Instagram post by Carter.

After conceding two early goals against Sweden, the defending champions roared back and drew the quarter-final clash 2-2, before eventually moving past on penalties.

The Lionesses squad rushed to the comments section to show their support for their teammate, with Esme Morgan, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead, Chloe Kelly, and others showing their unity.

“As ever, I am grateful for all of the support from the genuine fans, but I am taking this measure to protect myself in a bid to keep my focus on helping the team anyway I can. Hopefully, speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others won’t have to deal with it.

“We have made some historic changes with this Lionesses squad that I am so proud to be a part of, and my hope is that by speaking out about this, it will make another positive change for all. I’m now looking forward and focusing on putting all of my energy into helping my team,” she added.

A CEO, Mark Bullingham, also released a statement following the statement by Carter, reiterating their full support for the Gotham FC defender.

“Our priority is Jess and giving her all the support she needs. We strongly condemn those responsible for this disgusting racism.

“As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with the police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.

“Regrettably, this is not the first time this has happened to an England player, so we had measures in place to allow us to respond quickly and, where possible, provide information to support any potential police action,” read the statement.

–IANS

aaa/bsk/