LONDON • Tottenham defender Danny Rose is counting the days until he can retire and no longer has to suffer racist taunts.
In his first public interview since being the subject of vitriolic taunts during England's 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifier victory at Montenegro on March 25, he also called the punishments meted out to offending nations "a farce".
Declaring he was "over the moon" upon hearing of manager Mauricio Pochettino's plans to lead his players off the pitch if he encounters any racist chanting, he said: "Yes, I've had enough.
"At the minute, how I programme myself (is that) I've got five or six more years left in football and I just can't wait to see the back of it.
"Seeing how things are done in the game at the minute, it's just whatever, isn't it? I want to get out of it. That's how I feel...
"There's so much politics and whatever in football and I can't wait to see the back of it."
Player response to racism at games has come under increased scrutiny after the monkey-chanting heard just before the final whistle in Podgorica, and his response will undoubtedly encourage other players to question if enough is being done to deter racism.
England teammate Raheem Sterling, who also copped plenty of abuse that night, has suggested that black players have endured as much as they can take, something which Rose agrees with.
The 28-year-old has endured more than most. While playing for the England Under-21 team in Serbia in 2012, he was taunted with monkey chants and accused of being vulgar by the Football Association of Serbia when, in response, he mimicked the supporters.
Rose, who was sent off after the final whistle for showing his frustration, added: "I played in Serbia years ago and it happened there.
"So I sort of thought it would be a possibility that it might happen again, and it did. I looked up in the first half and I know the exact time it happened.
"It didn't affect my game. I'm a big boy and I know that three points are not the most important thing when you're going through something like that.
"But I wanted the team to get three points, so that we could get out of Montenegro...
"But, when countries get fined what I'd probably spend on a night out in London, what do you expect?"
THE TIMES, LONDON
