Terry: England to walk off if racism repeated
Reuters - Tuesday 10 February 2009, 19:16
SEVILLE - England would support a
decision to abandon Wednesday's friendly against Spain if there
was a repeat of the racism that marred a meeting between the
teams in Madrid in 2004, captain John Terry said on Tuesday.
The match in Seville is the first between the two nations in
Spain since the clash at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium in
November 2004 when England's black players were abused by large
sections of the crowd.
"If things got as bad as last time the referee would have to
make a decision," Terry told a news conference. "If he decided
to lead the teams off we would support that."
Terry said the players had not discussed the issue but they
had been briefed about it by press officers from the Spanish
soccer federation (RFEF).
At a separate news conference on Tuesday, an RFEF
spokeswoman intervened to prevent Spain captain Iker Casillas
and players Andres Iniesta and Carlos Marchena answering a
question about the possibility of racism in the stadium.
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