Danny Rose has revealed he told his heartbroken family not to come to the World Cup over fears they would be racially abused in Russia.
The full back says he feels numb to racism and helpless to prevent it and he has also slammed FIFA’s latest punishment as “disgusting” and “laughable”.
Russian football has had well publicised incidents of racism for years.
“I’m not worried for myself,” Rose told The London Evening Standard ahead of his first World Cup. “But I’ve told my family I don’t want them going out there because of racism and anything else that may happen. I don’t want to be worrying when I’m trying to prepare for games for my family’s safety. If anything happens to me, it wouldn’t affect me like it would if my family had been abused.
Rose added: “I’m fine with whatever may or may not happen, and I like to think I’ll be able to deal with it in the right way. My dad’s really upset. I could hear it in his voice. He said he may never get a chance again to come and watch me in a World Cup. That was emotional, hearing that. It’s really sad. It’s just how it is. Somehow Russia got the World Cup and we have to get on with it.
The article goes on to say Rose is no stranger to racism, having been subjected to monkey chants and hit with stones while on England U-21 duty in Serbia in October 2012 and was sent off after the final whistle following a melee and missed the first game of the European U21 Championship as a result.
Rose added: “I have no faith in the justice system so I don’t let anything affect me. I didn’t get any support after Serbia. I never had a conversation with anybody outside of England. I still ended up getting suspended and missing the first game of the competition. It’s just the way it is. What can you do?
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He added: “We had a team meeting last week and asked, ‘What if it happens [in Russia]? What would we do?’ We said we have to back each other. We said, ‘What if somebody doesn’t want the attention? Do we take over?I said, ‘What are we trying to do here? Are we trying to play football or are we trying to change the world?’ Whatever we do here isn’t going to change what is happening all around the world.
He went on to say: “I’m just numb to it now. If I’m racially abused out there, I’m abused. Nothing is going to change. I just get on with it. It shouldn’t be like that but it is.
“I don’t want to sound like a cry baby. There are millions of people who have it much worse than I’ve had it. We’re big enough to deal with it and we’ve got the right people around us to help if anything was to occur.”
The article goes on to say that Rose was asked if England’s players have discussed walking off the pitch, Rose said: “We’ve discussed it. Until it actually happens and under what circumstances, it’s hard to say what you’d actually do.”
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