Why the Lionesses will not take the knee before Italy Women’s Euros semi-final

England will not be taking the knee ahead of their Women’s Euros semi-final with Italy on Tuesday night as they respond to racist abuse sent to Jess Carter during the tournament.

The Lionesses defender has spoken out about the hideous abuse she has received throughout the European Championship so far.

After a dramatic penalty shootout win over Sweden, England have booked a place in the final four, but their progress has been soured by online attacks Carter has suffered.

The 27-year-old has decided to ‘step back’ from social media as a result, confirming so in a statement.

‘From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse,’ Carter said in a statement released by the FA.

‘Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I don’t agree or think it’s ok to target someone’s appearance or race.

‘As a result of this I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with.

‘As ever I am grateful for all of the support from the genuine fans but I am taking this measure to protect myself in a bid to keep my focus on helping the team any way I can.

‘Hopefully speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others won’t have to deal with it.

‘We have made some historic changes with this Lionesses squad that I am so proud to be a part of and my hope is that by speaking out about this it will make another positive change for all.

‘I’m now looking forward and focusing on putting all of my energy into helping my team.’

The Lionesses explain decision not to take the knee

In a response to the abuse Carter has suffered, the Lionesses released a joint statement.

‘We stand with Jess and all Lionesses players past and present who have suffered racism,’ the statement read.

‘No-one should have to endure such vile abuse, be that in football or any walk of life.

‘Representing our country is the greatest honour. It is not right that while we are doing that, some of us are treated ­differently ­simply because of the colour of our skin. Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches. It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism. We have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick‑off on Tuesday.’

Bronze speaks out on ‘anger’ and ‘sadness’

Lucy Bronze, England’s 138-cap right-back elaborated on the decision, explaining that taking the knee is clearly not having the impact desired.

‘It was driven by the group – obviously certain individuals more than others,’ she said. ‘I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? Because to us it feels like it’s not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives.

‘It’s about putting another statement out there to say, it’s something that still is a problem, it’s something that still needs to be put right. More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don’t exactly know.’

Bronze added: ‘I think we all know that any player of colour that’s played for England has probably gone through racist abuse. That’s a sad fact in this day and age.

‘In terms of emotions, I think there was a lot of anger, to be honest, because we’re having to go through this, because as players we want to stand up and we want to make a change.

‘It’s anger and sadness that our teammates have gone through this. We don’t want it to happen. We want to be focused on the football. We want to be making changes. We want Jess and anybody else who puts on an England shirt to be brave, to be happy when they play for England, to have the fans support through it all. I think there was a lot of sadness, but definitely a lot of anger as well.’

Wiegman slams ‘disgusting’ abuse

Manager Sarina Wiegman has called on social media companies to work to stamp out ‘ridiculous and disgusting’ abuse.

‘I think it starts with everyone taking responsibility, then you have the bodies responsible for all these [social media] platforms that should do something also,’ Wiegman said.

‘It’s really sad that we have to be occupied by this, it’s ridiculous and disgusting what’s happening.

‘It goes beyond football, we have to support Jess. She’s not the only one who gets this abuse. That’s why she wanted to address it. She’s fully supported by the team and myself.’

England face Italy at 8pm on Tuesday in Geneva and Wiegman was asked if she had considered not playing Carter given the circumstances.

‘Of course we have had a conversation,’ she said. ‘It’s a hard situation but Jess is a very strong person, she wants to move on too, but she and we felt we had to address this, we can’t let it go. So we did.

‘We want to perform in the match, she’s ready to perform and compete. That says a lot about her and the team.’