“In women’s football, the online abuse seems to be getting worse and worse” says Lucy Bronze following online racist abuse towards Jess Carter | OneFootball

Lucy Bronze has spoken out against the racist abuse suffered by teammate Jess Carter.

In a statement put out by the Gotham FC defender and The Lionesses, Carter has revealed she will be ‘taking a step back from social media’ after receiving racist messages throughout the course of Euro 2025.

“To be honest I think a lot of players have known that this has always been an issue within football, but I think for Jess [Carter] especially to come out because we all know Jess as a person, she’s so strong, she’s so tenacious, she doesn’t want to put anything she’s going through on somebody else,” Bronze said.

“So to hear Jess yesterday talking about it, we were all just so disappointed in terms of so-called fans writing out these messages. Jess herself, it’s difficult. She would probably not admit it to the wider world, but it’s obviously difficult for her to go through. But all the players are here to support her, all the staff are, the FA. We had meetings last night about it. All the players are in full support of Jess and any other player going through racist abuse at this tournament which we know is not just Jess as well but it’s disappointing that we have to still sit here in this day and age and go through this and that Jess had to go through that herself as well.

“For her to stand up and to speak out herself, It’s so empowering to our whole team in general and especially for the likes of someone like Michelle [Agyemang], this is her first tournament. To see someone like Jess standing up and speaking out, it gives people like that more power to be brave, to stand up and to speak up, to see that all of the teammates are behind her. I’m sure all of the country is behind her as well. And that means a lot in moments like this.”

The Lionesses have collectively made the decision to no longer take the knee before kick-off.

“It [the decision] was driven by the group, obviously certain individuals more than others,” Bronze explained. “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. But it’s something that we, collectively, as a team and as a federation, we want to work towards, we want to make changes. This is a small step trying to create another change.”

Bronze was asked if they, as players, feel helpless in situations like this one, to which she said: “We know that the people higher up are the ones that can ultimately put in things to make change, but we’re never helpless. As players, we know that our voice is loud enough to be heard by people around the world, whether it is social media platforms, whether it is the federations UEFA, FIFA, whoever it is. That’s something that we’re very proud of as a lionesses team. We’ve created this voice and this platform that we can reach the highest of heights and we’re willing to use that platform and that voice to make differences. So yeah, I think the sentiment of taking a knee and standing as small as it might seem to other people, I think the noise will be reached around the world.”

With the growth of women’s football, the outside noise has also grown, and Bronze is well aware of this.

“It’s something that I’ve spoken about before and a lot of other members of the team have spoken about the fact that the bigger the game gets, the bigger the noise becomes, the more fans there are, the more critics there are. And we’re obviously open to critics. That’s why we love the sport, but we’re not open to abuse. And I think the bigger the sport’s got, it seems to be that more abuses come as well. And, especially in women’s football, the online abuse seems to be getting worse and worse. We see it more in the stadiums and men’s football and online, but with women’s football, there seems to be a real target online. It’s something that we’re very aware of, and with online platforms, it’s something that we can make a change to, it’s something in the women’s game especially, there is a way to make a change, there is a solution, I don’t have the answer to that solution because I’m not head of a social media platform, but I’m sure that there is one.”

Jess Carter spoke to the rest of the squad last night about her abuse. As Bronze recalled, anger and sadness were the main responses.

“We all know that any player of colour that’s played for England has gone through racist abuse. That’s a sad fact in this day and age. And in terms of emotions yesterday, there was a lot of anger, 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 are going through this and we don’t want it to happen. We want to be focused on football, we want to be making changes, we want Jess and anybody else who puts on an English shirt to be brave, to be happy when they play for England, to have the fans support through it all. It was a lot of sadness, but definitely a lot of anger as well.”

When asked about the legacy they want to leave behind, she said: “We want to leave the game in a better place. That’s what sparked moments like today. In previous Euros as well, making changes to access to football for young girls. Again today, speaking out, being brave to speak out and stand up for what’s right, not just for yourself but for other people. That’s something that The Lionesses really hold ourselves to, these strong moral values. We try to live by them because we want to inspire the kids in our country and the kids around the world to do the same thing.”

England are set to play their semi-final against Italy on Tuesday and Bronze reiterated their desire to focus on that while still supporting each other.

“We’ve shown that in this tournament and in previous tournaments and previous meetings, with different players going through different scenarios, whether it’s, something going on at home, to deaths of parents, to racism, to homophobia. There’s so many issues that go on for this team to stand up and speak out for. We all support each other through it all and whilst we’re doing that we’re still successful as a football team and I think that’s what’s given us this platform to be able to speak out and to push even more. And moments like that empower us both on the pitch and off the pitch. So for us it’s about how we’re empowered as players to make a change and knowing that driving for success will help to make those changes.”