TO understand the full extent of Danny Rose’s anger in Montenegro on Monday night, you would probably have to go back 6½ years.
Then, while playing for England Under-21s in the city of Krusevac in neighbouring Serbia, Rose was targeted with monkey noises from the pre-match warm-up until the final whistle.
Left-back Danny Rose knows how bad it can be as he faced horrific abuse for England Under-21s in Serbia in 2012 – as well as in Montenegro on Monday
On the most traumatic night of his career, the Tottenham left-back was also pelted with stones and provoked by Serbian players.
When a mass brawl broke out after the final whistle of England’s victory in a play-off to reach the following summer’s Euro Under-21 finals, Rose kicked the ball away in despair — and the referee showed him a second yellow card.
Despite appeals from the FA, Rose’s sending-off was upheld and, as a result, he was banned from the opening match of the finals against Italy in Israel.
The Serbian FA branded Rose a liar and described his own behaviour as ‘unsportsmanlike, inappropriate and vulgar’ after he mimicked the monkey gestures being aimed at him by their fans.
So when Rose heard the same monkey chants coming his way during England’s 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifying win in Montenegro he would not just have been feeling the rage any black person would experience if suffering such vile abuse.
He would also have been experiencing the sense of burning injustice from having been abused by Serbian FA fans, players and officials, then finding himself suspended from an important match for having reacted to sickening taunts.
Rose, 28, knows better than most Uefa do not really give a stuff about racism.
European football’s governing body will continue to erect their ‘RESPECT’ banners around stadiums but they do not respect victims of racism such as Rose.
They will doubtless continue to hand out paltry and meaningless fines to national associations, while stopping short of serious sanctions such as stadium closures.
Yet as Gareth Southgate rightly said in Monday’s post-match press conference, sanctions are meaningless without education.
Ignorance breeds racism
Montenegro is an overwhelmingly friendly nation which was let down by a small group of cretins on Monday.
It is economically poor by European standards, and nowhere near as ethnically diverse as our own society.
Yet as Raheem Sterling, who had come on as a substitute that night in Serbia, aged just 17, will know, even a supposedly developed and educated country such as England still suffers from the ignorance which breeds racism.
The abuse he suffered at the hands of Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge in December was highlighted by Sterling himself, who then challenged the media to think more deeply about the language we use, to avoid subconscious racism.
Sterling has become an effective spokesman on this and other issues in recent months.
Rose, too, has been an eloquent critic of inaction on racism and has also had the courage to speak out about his own mental health issues.
These are impressive role models, not just as footballers but in the fullest sense. Southgate, too, is a fine ambassador for his country.
He sounded tortured and tormented on Monday when it was suggested he might have led his team off the pitch when the racist abuse became obvious after a clearly-frustrated Rose was booked for a heavy challenge late on.
The England boss said he was unsure a mass walk-off was what all of his black players would have wanted.
Southgate ought not to have been apologetic — it was a chaotic night and many of us present were unsure about claims of racist chanting until they became loud and clear in the final minutes.
But should England players face similar abuse again — and the remaining three away group games are in Eastern Europe — it would be no surprise if they do leave the pitch in protest.
There is certainly a belief in the dressing room this group of players would be prepared to do it.
Such an act would send a powerful message of a zero tolerance towards racism, which would resonate throughout the footballing world.
It would not just shame racist fans, it would shame the governing bodies who have sat on their hands and allowed such attitudes to fester for so long.
As Rose knows only too well.
Danny Rose was sent off for kicking the ball in response to racist chanting in 2012
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