JOHN BARNES insists it would be wrong for England stars to walk off the pitch if they suffer racial abuse at the World Cup – because it would let the bigots win.
Former England star Barnes suffered racist taunts during his brilliant playing career that saw him play 79 times for his country.
The ex-Watford and Liverpool winger even had bananas thrown at him during matches as he was forced to deal with the scourge of racism from the terraces.
There are fears that the World Cup in Russia could be tainted by racist abuse from supporters, with the country suffered repeated problems in the past.
But in a passionate call to TalkSport, Barnes, 54, refuses to back calls for Gareth Southgate’s players to walk off the field in protest if they are subjected to abuse this summer.
He said: “Listen, I’m from a different generation – I would never walk off the field.
“I would never let and ignorant person affect me in that way. But obviously times have changed
“And it also depends on what you consider racist abuse to be. We know that if you hear a whole stadium booing when a black player gets the ball is that racial abuse?
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“It’s not, because it’s booing and they are well within their rights to boo. Aren’t you allowed to boo players?
“However, that can be construed as racial abuse.
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“I would say that if I hear one person, I’m not walking off. I would never walk off the pitch, end of story, and I can’t tell the players to walk off.”
Barnes claims banning fans who are found to have racially abused players is not the long-term answer to a problem which has plagued football across the world for generations.
“Racism exists, education is the only way,” he added.
“Just banning people is not the answer because they will always find ways of letting you know they are racist without it being illegal.”
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