Hundreds of people leave messages of support and solidarity at the vandalised mural of Marcus Rashford. Vandals defaced the artwork featuring the footballer following England’s defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
On seeing the mural, located in Withington in Manchester, covered in supportive messages, Rashford was “on the verge of tears”.
The mural was vandalised with graffiti soon after Rashford missed a penalty in the 3-2 shootout loss. It had a number of swear words written across it, along with the word “Saka”.
Ed Wellard, the co-founder of Withington Walls, the community street art project who commissioned the piece, thinks the people responsible need educating rather than punishing. This is because “racism is learned behaviour”, and punishment will not change people’s minds.
Sine the match, Rashford, along with fellow players Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who also failed to net their penalty kicks, are all targeted with racial abuse on social media.
An outpouring of support for Rashford, and the others, has ensued on social media. Many people are covering over the graffiti on the mural with positive messages instead. This includes phrases such as “role model”, “wonderful human” and “hero”. Street artist Akse, who created the piece, is coming back to work on it and fix the damage.
The prevalence of racism
In a post on Twitter, Rashford apologised for missing his penalty, saying he “wished it had gone differently”. He then paid tribute to those who left messages on the wall.
Greater Manchester Police began their investigation after receiving a report 02:50 BST on Monday of racially aggravated damage at the site. Chief Superintendent Paul Savill says that “hate crime in any form is completely unacceptable and not welcome” in the city.
The mural honouring the footballer was commissioned in recognition of Rashford’s work tackling child food poverty.
The incident is upsetting, but has sparked more active discussion on the issue of racism in this country, within sport, society, and on social media. In a way it is needed to move forward as a nation.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, describes the defacement as a “despicable, shameful act”. He thinks we should be proud of the footballer and his team for taking the country to the final for the first time in 55 years.
Manager of the national team, Gareth Southgate, says the racist abuse aimed at the three players is “unforgivable”, and “not what we stand for”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was equally appalled by the abuse, saying they deserved much better, as they are “heroes”. He agreed that those responsible “should be ashamed of themselves”
Thank you for reading Marcus Rashford Mural filed with Messages of Support after Vandalism
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