Hungarian black-shirt racists were banned from the Puskas Arena, so it was the schoolchildren invited to his place who were disappointed against England. The high-pitched boos that greeted the English players who knelt before the home game in Budapest on Sunday represented the discouraging sound of lost innocence.
Maybe they were just copying the example of their elders, but it was a depressing repetition of the ignorance that made Hungary the closed-door sanction in the first place. If this is what they are taught is the right answer to a gesture aimed at promoting equality, it is a sad situation.
At least there was no abuse of England’s black players – or Loic Nego of Hungary – in the League of Nations match, but it was a pretty low bar to clear. Hungary’s FA handball game to crack a gap in UEFA regulations after the punishment imposed for racist behavior for half-filling their national children’s stadium was well-intentioned.
Never has a closed-door party had so much participation; No one has ever been so loud as the 30,000 children inside the Puskas Arena were left in their red, white and green vuvuzelas. But at one point it got dirty what should have been an occasion that pointed to a healthier future for Hungarian football.
Football is never isolated from the society in which it exists. Earlier in the day, Budapest had witnessed a far-right protest march against Hungarian government support for Ukraine. Gareth Southgate had expressed his surprise at the figures allowed before the match, but UEFA itself had no problem with how Hungary decided to interpret it.
“This rule was introduced in 2019 and has been applied to other matches in the past with similar sanctions related to matches played behind closed doors. There are no restrictions on the number of children present at the stadium.” said a UEFA spokesman. The punishment in Hungary was the absence of receipts from the party door with tickets distributed to children – and 3,000 adult supervisors – for free. That and the shame of the sanction.
“Please remember that there is no room for racism in football,” the stadium announcer had seriously reminded everyone before the start, both in English and Hungarian, that it seemed a bit useless without fans outside. land.
England have their own version of this embarrassment on Saturday when they will be forced to play a closed-door match against Italy at Molineux, a punishment imposed after the chaos of the European Championship final. The current plan is to have 3,000 children present.
There’s one thing English kids might consider from their Hungarian counterparts next weekend: how to respond to the opposition anthem. God Save The Queen was respected as it was played and applauded at the end.
If only the rest had gone so well.