Bale backs players who walk off the pitch for racial abuse

FIFA started their disciplinary proceedings about England’s World Cup qualifier in Hungary when

Jude Bellingham

and

Raheem Sterling

were subjected to racial abuse with monkey chants.

"

If things don't get sorted, that will happen,"

Bale said about the possibility of players walking off the pitch.

"If anything happens to any of our players and they wanted to walk off the pitch, I'd be fully for it.

"Football qualifiers are important but these matters come way above football.

"If we felt we weren't getting protection and being treated the right way by the governing bodies and the only way to get the best response was to walk off, I'd be fully for it.

"At the end of the day, it's the right thing to do and it's more important than football.

"We haven't discussed it. But we'd have that discussion if it happened and we'd all agree on it as we're a team that sticks together and if anyone is being targeted, we'll do the right thing."

Among the players who were abused online in the 2020/21 season were Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango. Gareth Bale believes fans who commit many racism offences should be banned from competitions on an international level.

He added:

"It's frustrating. I don't know why they launch these investigations that take so long when it is clear to see. Action should be taken to stop it.

"I don't know the severity of what to do to but the easiest thing is... whether you ban the fans from the stadium or if they keep repeatedly doing it, which seems to be what is happening, then you ban the country from the competition.

"If that country keeps making these horrible gestures, then maybe the best thing to do is to get rid of them, give them a suspension, and hopefully they will learn their lesson that way."

Wales will face Belarus in Group E of World Cup qualifying on Sunday.

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