After the events of yesterday I’ve woken up feeling quite deflated. Yes, I was one of the 31 million and more that watched the football as our team attempted to rewrite history with the whole of the nation behind them. (Or at least we all thought…)

I’m deflated at the result and from having a late night before a busy day at work. Yet my deflation has turned into a deeper level of upset, and my heart feels heavy today due to the pure vile comments I have seen towards our players, and particularly those players that are of colour.

I don’t want to repeat what has been said, as I’m sure you will have already seen and it sickens me to my utter core that some people actually think there’s nothing wrong with this behaviour and such word have left their lips, or been typed on a laptop or phone as they hide away behind a screen like the cowards that they are.

I cannot comprehend what goes through people’s minds to have hatred towards an individual due to the colour of their skin. It’s something I will NEVER understand.

But more to the point it’s something we NEED to put a stop to.

Because someone missed a goal, or perhaps could be perceived as they’ve made a mistake, you want to attack them based on the colour of their skin. Why?!

Your words would look very different if England won last night, but we didn’t and instead of throwing malicious, vile and racist comments around we should be proud of what our team have achieved in what has been a difficult year for all. And more importantly we should celebrate the diversity our team has with a range of different cultures and backgrounds, as I for one think that’s impressive.

Recognise the pressure these players were under, appreciate their efforts in life outside of football, and respect them for stepping up to represent their country. Yes they are being paid big money to play football, but there was an immense level of pressure on them last night, they played the game for longer than they probably wanted against a tough team, so in my eyes they should be really proud of themselves regardless of whether they won, or if they didn’t miss that ‘all important’ penalty.

Just because someone makes a mistake, or something doesn’t go you way it is never acceptable to attack someone, especially if you’re bringing race into the matter.

Go and educate yourself – learn some manners and decency whilst you’re at it.

As this topic has hurt my heart I think it’s important we consider the following when we want to SPEAK:

Spread

Positivity

Encouragement

Admiration

Kindness

I’ve always been a big believer in: treat someone in the way that you want to be treated.

Kindness costs absolutely nothing and if more people practised this, then the world would be a much better place!

Do your bit to be better and support those that are victims of such hate. As there should be no place for racist abuse and hate crime in our world.

Act as an ally supporting others, reporting abuse when you see it and please practise the SPEAK that I mention above.

You may think I’m only one person, what can I do? But it takes one person, and one hateful comment to completely destroy someone, smash their confidence and make them feel completely worthless. And that’s not okay.

Be that one person to make a difference, stand up against these **countless expletives I could use to describe them** and support those that are being made victims, as our help could go a long way.

Kindness is infectious why wouldn’t you want to spread it.