Chelsea starlet Hudson-Odoi proud to stand up to ‘disgusting’ racism on England duty
CALLUM HUDSON-ODOI is part of the new generation of players who are proudly standing up to racism.
England stars feel more empowered than ever to bravely take the fight to the bigots.
For Chelsea winger Hudson-Odoi the message now is clear: Stay strong.
England stood side by side in Bulgaria on Monday and showed the racists they will not win — smashing six goals home for good measure.
Whizkid Hudson-Odoi, 18, was on duty with the Under-21s this week but was part of the Three Lions team which also encountered racist yobs in Montenegro in March.
And he believes we are at a vitally important stage in the battle to kick racism out of our game for good.
Hudson-Odoi said: “It is just disgusting to hear or see players getting discriminated against. It is not right.
“Whenever that happens you have got to stick together as a team, which the boys did on Monday.
“I am really proud to see them doing that. And in those situations, where they said they would walk off the pitch, it’s right — no player should be treated differently. We are all equal. It is an equal game — so we have got to stay strong.
“Hopefully everything will be sorted properly by Uefa.”
England did not go as far as walking off when Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings were subjected to sick monkey chants and Nazi salutes in Sofia — though the game was stopped twice because of the abuse.
Some felt England should have refused to carry on.
Boss Gareth Southgate revealed his team did come close to abandoning the game — and took soundings at half-time from captain Harry Kane, Sterling and Mings, who all wanted to carry on to hurt the twisted racists with a humiliating defeat.
Southgate argued that his players made a big statement to the world by having the match stopped — showing they were not prepared to put up with racism.
And Hudson-Odoi insists that whatever the England boss says, goes.
But he also stressed the essentially democratic nature of the squad under Southgate’s management style.
Hudson-Odoi added: “Gareth is the manager, we always have to stick by him. He makes the decisions, of course.
“As players, we speak to the manager and captain to ask them what’s right and what’s wrong.
It is just disgusting to hear or see players getting discriminated against. It is not right.”
Callum Hudson-Odoi
“If the manager says we stay on the pitch, then we stay on the pitch. We try to cope with it as players — and we make the decision as a team.
“If we think it is right and we can focus and carry on playing, then we do that.
“If not, and the manager says something different, we do what the manager says.
“It is all up to the manager and the captain.
“It is a captain’s decision — but also a team decision.
“So we all have a say in what’s happening.”
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin claimed the “football family” need to “wage war on the racists.”
But previous paltry fines to nations whose fans have been guilty of racism — such as the laughable £17,000 dished out to Montenegro — do not inspire much confidence in European football’s governing body.
AFTER 17 YEARS OF ’PROGRESS’ CAN WE REALLY TRUST UEFA’S WAR ON RACISM?
HERE are examples of how Uefa and Fifa have dealt with incidents of racist abuse in matches involving the England senior team and Under-21s.
Incredibly, when Uefa’s disciplinary committee fined Slovakia £27,000 after monkey chants were aimed at Emile Heskey in 2002, the governing body’s own chief executive Gerhard Aigner appealed the decision because he thought it was too lenient.
As a result, the Slovaks were hit with a one-game stadium ban, although the fine was cut to £9,000.
Yet, despite Uefa admitting it should impose tougher penalties, the list below shows little has changed.
OCT 2002: Slovakia v England (Bratislava). Uefa fines Slovakia £9,000 following racist chants.
SEPT 2003: Macedonia v England (Skopje). Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Heskey all subjected to racial abuse. Hosts fined £16,500 by Uefa.
OCT 2003: England v Turkey (Sunderland). Uefa fine FA £65,000 for fans’ racist language/gestures.
NOV 2004: Spain v England (Madrid). Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole subjected to monkey chants. Fifa fines Spain £44,750.
JUN 2007: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Holland). Serbia fined £16,500 by Uefa after Nedum Onuoha and Justin Hoyte were targeted with abuse.
SEPT 2008: Croatia v England (Zagreb). Heskey again disgracefully abused. Fifa fine Croatia £15,000.
SEPT 2011: Bulgaria v England (Sofia). Monkey noises aimed at Cole, Ashley Young and Theo Walcott. Uefa fine Bulgaria £34,230.
OCT 2012: Serbia U21 v England U21 (Krusevac). Danny Rose abused. Serbia hit with a £65,000 fine by Uefa.
MAR 2019: Montenegro v England (Podgorica). Hosts fined £17,000 by Uefa after more monkey chants.
Hudson-Odoi was back with the Under-21s rather than the seniors for this international break, as he continues recovery from rupturing his Achilles in April.
The forward has made four appearances for the Blues this season — and looked imperious as he hit two stunners for the Young Lions in Tuesday’s 5-1 demolition of Austria.
Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd hopes he will still have Hudson-Odoi with him come the November internationals — but the likelihood is that Southgate will bring the star back to the big boys.
Hudson-Odoi said: “I am delighted to get the goals.
“I am really happy with the finishes. So I will hopefully build on it now and go on to get many more.
“I am feeling a bit more confident to get on the ball and do my stuff.
“As the games go on I will get fitter, get some more opportunities to dribble — and I already feel better now.
“I definitely think I can still improve, I am certainly not the perfect player.
“No one is. I think that to myself every day when I go on to the pitch. I just want to try my best, to work hard and keep improving.
“I always say to myself, ‘Keep going, keep working hard — and hopefully more opportunities will come’.”