Bread, circuses and England defeats. One upshot of England’s alarmingly limp performance in Prague was that it diverted attention, however briefly, from a topic that always seemed likely to dominate the noises around Monday night’s game against Bulgaria in Sofia.

Not so fast. England abroad: it is in many ways the never-ending story. Albeit one that seems in recent years to have involved shining a fearless light on the failings of others, even while the German bombers continue to fall, the Pope gets fucked and the bottles fly across the Baroque town squares. Ever wondered what other countries make of this myopia, the ability to say all the right things about supporter behaviour and issues of race, even while being trailed around by the most regularly disruptive supporters in European football?

If England walk off the pitch because of abuse, racism wins | Howard Gayle Read more

Well now we know, as in the space of three hours on Sunday afternoon the talk around England’s qualifier in Sofia was transformed into a kind of racist-off between the rival federations. First up came a remarkable press conference during which Krasimir Balakov accused England of having a greater problem with race than Bulgaria. In response Gareth Southgate again offered the usual measured front, before fielding some more immediate questions about how England might respond to racist abuse of their players in the Stadion Vasil Levski on Monday night.

The situation had already been inflamed by comments from the head of the Bulgarian FA, Boris Mihaylov, that got slightly lost in the matchday glare on Friday night. In a statement to Uefa, Mihaylov cast England as provocateurs of the honest Bulgars, and effectively accused Southgate and Tammy Abraham of insulting the Bulgarian nation and its half-closed stadium.

What about the other stuff? Will the England players walk off in Sofia at the first rendition of Ten German Bombers?

It is a terrible piece of timing from Mihaylov, an outburst that has now guaranteed rising tension. Quite how the crowds will now react is open to question. This would have been far better left to Tuesday morning. Mihaylov really would have been better off keeping his hair on here. But there is another side to this. The side that says, actually both Mihaylov and Balakov have a point. First things first: Abraham is also right to suggest England’s players might consider walking off if they are racially abused.

This is not an approving judgment on his words. They don’t require validation. There is no rulebook on how people should feel about being racially abused. Walking off seems entirely logical in the circumstances, and anyone who does so will have this page’s unconditional support.

But what about the other stuff? Will the England players walk off the pitch in Sofia at the first rendition of Ten German Bombers? Will the management threaten to abandon a fixture the next time English people trash a European town centre in their name? Are some forms of xenophobia and abusive behaviour better than others? “There is almost no kind of outrage,” George Orwell wrote in his Notes on Nationalism, “which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.”

It is worth remembering the other thing that happened on Friday night. The disorder in Prague was relatively mild. This is where we’ve got to now. A few arrests, some stun grenades, complaints from locals, smashed glass. This is almost a victory.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tammy Abraham is right to suggest England’s players might walk off in the event of racial abuse. Photograph: Michal Čížek/AFP via Getty Images

What Mihaylov didn’t say, but might have done, is that before Prague we had Seville, and Amsterdam, and Dortmund. And before that we had France and the Euros, and the first appearance en masse of this new raft of younger, chemically-charged lads with their semi-ironical chants, their occupation of the city centres; the idea, through it all, that this is all just a bit of a laugh.

Let’s call it what it is. The educated English travelling boor may understand that racism is wrong. But intimidating people, smashing property for the sake of it and generally treating locals like un-people is also a public form of xenophobia. It is an offshoot of the same English blindness that says this behaviour is simply a low-level background hum, lads having too much beer.

It was there in the English exceptionalism of the police briefings before these qualifiers, when it was made clear that our boys had done all they could to urge Uefa to switch the Czech game from Friday night – and yet astonishingly the Euro-wonks refused to alter the schedule to accommodate our uncontrollable minority of idiots.

And yes of course this is the minority of England fans. There are so many England travelling supporters who make friends and enjoy the experience. But the fact is these issues bleed into one another and become impossible to ignore or brush aside.

Hopefully there will be no need for alarm, for walk-offs and all the rest in the Levski. If there is it seems clear there should be zero tolerance of abuse.

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But perhaps it’s time also to start applying those standards both ways, for the Football Association, the players and the manager to call on their own fans to behave better, to stow the nationalism, to respect the locals, or risk losing some of their own allocation; perhaps even to find themselves invited not to travel at all.

Orwell wrote better than most about English hypocrisy and English exceptionalism. Which are, lest we forget, the best hypocrisy, the best exceptionalism in the world. Faced with Football: 2019 he would perhaps invite us to imagine the moral authority England could claim on matters of supporter behaviour if they could only bring themselves to apply these principles universally; and to begin with the strongest possible stance on their own doorstep.