Fan 'disheartened' after Euros photo racist abuse

Jag Singh's photo was posted on England's official X account

A football fan who travelled to Germany to support England at the Euros has spoken out after facing racist abuse.

Jag Singh, from South Shields, spent thousands of pounds to watch the Three Lions take on Switzerland in the tournament's quarter finals.

But he said he was left disheartened when he saw a picture of him posted by the official England X account receive hateful replies.

The Football Association (FA) said it continued to urge social media companies to tackle abuse faster. X, formerly Twitter, has been approached for comment.

Mr Singh, who runs a shop in South Shields, said seeing the comments left him "really upset" and "disheartened".

"I'd spent thousands of pounds to get there to go and support the lads and I didn't really think that skin colour mattered," he said.

Jag Singh watched the game with his brother-in-law and a friend

He added: "Considering that most of the players on the pitch that we're supporting are from different ethnicities...It was really upsetting."

Mr Singh had gone to Dusseldorf with his brother-in-law and a friend, and said he had no problems while there, describing the experience as "amazing".

The abusive post and account have been reported, but had not been taken down at the time of writing.

Mr Singh said that growing up he had dealt with racism, but facing it online was a "completely different situation".

"It's someone sitting behind a keyboard saying something, that you're probably never going to meet," he said. "Let's be honest, nothing will probably ever happen to them."

'Disgraceful'

Ged Grebby, from education charity Show Racism the Red Card, said what had happened to Mr Singh was "disgraceful" and praised him for standing up.

He added social media companies should do more to tackle the issue.

"I would like to see now some follow-up on this with regards to not just support for him, but the social media companies coming out and telling us what they're going to do," Mr Grebby said, adding: "This is a hate crime."

Mr Singh has thanked people for their support

Mr Singh said seeing the outpouring of support had "put faith back in humanity".

"It's such a beautiful thing to see people coming together and showing support to someone that's gone through something bad," he said.

A spokesperson for the FA said the organisation "strongly condemns" any abuse towards supporters. 

"We continue to urge social media companies and the relevant authorities to tackle online abuse faster, and we will not stop challenging this issue until tangible changes are made, so that action can be taken against offenders of this unacceptable behaviour," they added.