World Cup 2018: England boss Gareth Southgate says country must address racism

By Phil McNulty

Chief football writer

England must not just point the finger at Russia for having a racism problem - because their own under-17 team were subjected to "disgusting" online abuse, says Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.

Southgate was addressing fears racism could overshadow this summer's World Cup in Russia.

He said England "must get our own house in order" on racism before making accusations about other countries.

"I don't think we should just talk about racism in Russia," said Southgate

He offered a specific example of the treatment of England's Under-17 World Cup-winning squad to illustrate the problem.

Southgate said he had spent a "really interesting couple of hours" with Troy Townsend, education and development manager at anti-discrimination body Kick It Out.

"He showed a picture of our under-17s on social media," said Southgate. "The comments about that team were disgusting. They're part of our England family.

"We have a club environment at St George's Park. It is our training ground. Our teams mix and the youngsters look up to the senior team. I know most of those young players really closely and I've seen them come through.

"To see them abused in that way is absolutely disgusting. When we speak about other countries, I find it difficult to deflect what we've seen there."