Tammy Abraham: England Players Ready to Walk Off Field If Subjected to Racism

Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham has said England's players would be prepared to walk off the field if they are racially abused in the upcoming UEFA 2020 European Championship qualifying matches against Bulgaria and Czech Republic.

Already in this set of qualification games, black England players were racially abused during the fixture away at Montenegro.

England will play at the Stadion Vasil Levski in Bulgaria on Monday, and part of the ground will be shut down as punishment after some Bulgaria fans were found guilty of racist behaviour in their matches against Kosovo and Czech Republic this year.

Speaking about the issue, Abraham said the team have spoken about what actions to take if some players are on the end of abuse again, per Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail:

"We've had several meetings about it. We've touched base on how to deal with the situation. Harry Kane even said that if it happens and we're not happy with it, we speak to the player and if he's not happy, we all come off the pitch together.

"It's a team thing. Don't isolate one person, we're a whole team. If it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.

"We did speak about the three-step protocol. Harry Kane did ask the question about instead of going through the three steps, if we decide that we want to stop the game—no matter what the score is—if we're not happy with it, as a team we'll decide whether or not to stay on the pitch."

Per Mokbel, UEFA have issued a three-step plan for dealing with racist abuse. It involves the players informing the referee, the official then asking for an announcement over the Tannoy encouraging abusers to stop and eventually the referee taking the players off the field.

England did complete the game in Montenegro in March where some of their players were subject to racist chanting. Raheem Sterling scored in the 5-1 win and cupped his ears to a section of the stadium; afterwards he reflected on the night's events with ITV Football:

Following the match, Montenegro were told to play their next home game behind closed doors and issued with a £17,253 fine by UEFA. Danny Rose, who was subject to abuse on the night while playing for England, said he didn't "think it [was] a harsh enough punishment."

Per BBC Sport, 5,000 seats at the Stadion Vasil Levski will be blocked off as a result of the behaviour of some fans during Bulgaria's clashes against Czech Republic and Kosovo in May. There will be 3,000 seats closed off when they play Czech Republic again next month.

England will play Czech Republic on Friday before their trip to Bulgaria. So far in Group A, Gareth Southgate's side have put together a perfect start, winning all four of their matches as they seek to secure a spot at next summer's showpiece.