GENEVA -- England midfielder Georgia Stanway said those who have sent racist abuse to Jess Carter are not proper fans of the Lionesses and explained the players decided to no longer take the knee before matches because the action was no longer doing "what we wanted it to do."
Carter released a statement on Sunday in which said she was stepping back from social media due to the racist abuse she has been subjected to while at Euro 2025. The Lionesses rallied round her and said as a result, they would no longer take the knee before their Euro 2025 semifinal against Italy in Geneva on Tuesday as they felt the anti-racism gesture is losing its meaning.
The team said it "is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism."
"It's really sad that we have to be occupied by this," Sarina Wiegman said. "It is ridiculous and disgusting what is happening and that goes beyond football. We had to pay attention to that and support Jess. Of course, she's not the only one who gets this abuse or racism. That's why she wanted to address it and she's fully supported by the team."
Stanway said the players have noticed the abuse on social media has gotten worse as their profiles have grown since Euro 2022. She said the players do not regard those who have sent abuse as real supporters of the team.
"The people that are being abusive and saying these things and doing things like this, they're not fans," Stanway said.
"So it makes absolutely no difference to us putting that shirt on because we know that we're wearing it for the people we stand next to, our families, the actual fans that are here to watch the game, to enjoy the game. I say it with power because I really believe it. I believe that people like that don't deserve to be called fans."
The Bayern Munich midfielder said Carter is not alone in this fight, as she has the Lionesses, the staff and the English Football Association behind her.
"If we want to make change, we can do it as a collective," Stanway said. She added that the team as a group decided to no longer take the knee before a match.
"We want to change things up," Stanway said. "We felt we got to a point where the knee wasn't doing what we wanted it to do. So we decided to stand and hopefully that brings up more conversation and change."
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"We want to create more of a talking point and a point to make more change. That starts with social media and people having access to be able to do certain things. So our stance and opinion stay the same, and that's what we've decided as a collective," Stanway added.
Wiegman said Carter is ready to face Italy on Tuesday in the Euro 2025 semifinal if selected.
"Of course we had conversations," Wiegman said.
"Although it is a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person and she wants to move on too. She also felt -- as we did -- that we had to address this. You can't just let it go, so we did [not]. And then we know that there's a match going on. We want to perform. We're ready to perform. She's ready to perform and compete, and that says a lot about her and the team."