More than 100 women, LGBTQ and trans footballers from local grassroots teams took to Westminster Bridge last night to stand in solidarity with England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka.The trio were subject to racial abuse online after all missed from the spot during England’s penalty shootout against Italy in the Final of Euro 2020.All three have since made statements on Twitter apologising for missing but condemning the racial hate they received.Rashford wrote: “I can take critique of my performance all day long. My penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in, but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from.”Similarly, Sancho stated: “Hate will never win. To all the young people who have received similar abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing the dream.”Saka was the last of the trio to post online, choosing to stay off social media for a few days to spend time with his family. In his message, he told of knowing how he would inevitably suffer abuse after missing the deciding penalty.“I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received this week.“I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.”

In response to this racist abuse, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with representatives from social media companies to discuss the need for action, though Labour leader Keir Starmer has urged Johnson to use the Online Safety Bill to give courts the power to ban people convicted of racist abuse online.

Thursday night’s protest at Westminster supported this call to action. Organised by Peckham based grassroots team Legends FC, those that gathered draped a sign over Westminster Bridge that read: “Rashford, Sancho, Saka, we stand with you.”

Addressing the reasons for instigating the protest, a member of Legends FC spoke to women’s football fansite This Fan Girl about the need to show solidarity with the players who suffered abuse.

“Racism has to be kicked out of football on every level, and politicians should be leading from the front,” they said.

“Black exceptionalism should not be a requirement for being treated with a basic level of decency. We wanted to show our support, and support from women’s teams across London.”

Other grassroots teams were also present in Westminister, including South London based team Lush Lyfe FC, whose squad is made up of women, genderqueer and non-binary players.

Molly, manager of the side, spoke to the Evening Standard and said: “We want to send a clear message to Government and football’s governing bodies that empty words and ‘condemning’ racist behaviour after the fact is not good enough.

“Politicians should be leading from the front. Supporting players actions; condemning racism and all forms of abuse; as well as using every power available to them to implement measures that will tackle racism across online platforms and in stadiums up and down the UK.”