Jess Carter has said she felt “almost like a sigh of relief” at the fact that Lauren James was not the only England player to miss a penalty against Sweden in the shootout that booked England’s spot in the Women’s European Championship final.
Carter, who was the target of online racist abuse during the tournament, feared James would be on the receiving end of “astronomical” social media abuse if she had been the only England player to miss.
In the end, Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton, who are all white, missed as well, with the Lionesses still managing to progress, before going on to beat Spain in the final in another shootout.
Carter told ITN: “It’s horrible to say but it’s almost like a sigh of relief when other players that weren’t Black missed a penalty, because the racism that would have come with LJ [Lauren James] being the only one that missed would have been astronomical.
“It’s not because we want them to fail — it’s about knowing how it’s going to be for us [England’s Black players] if we miss.”
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the subject of racist abuse after they missed penalties during the men’s team’s Euro 2020 final shootout defeat to Italy at Wembley.
Carter revealed the psychological impact of the abuse she suffered during the tournament made her feel “scared” when England head coach Sarina Wiegman told her she had been selected to start in the final.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever been scared; too scared to play,” she said.
“I think it was a mixture of such a big game but then on top of that, [I was] scared of whatever abuse might come with it, whether it’s football based or whether it was going to be the racial abuse that was going to come with it because I did something wrong.”
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Speaking about the impact the abuse had on her, Carter added: “It makes you feel really small. It makes you feel like you’re not important, that you’re not valuable.
“It makes you second guess everything that you do — it’s not a nice place to be. It doesn’t make me feel confident going back onto the pitch. My family was so devastated by it as well and so sad.”
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said during the tournament that the governing body had referred the “abhorrent” abuse to the UK police.
