England players booed whilst taking the knee by crowd of kids in Hungary

The beginning of England’s UEFA Nations League contest away at Hungary was marred by the boos and jeers of children in the crowd as the Three Lions stars took the knee

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In pictures: Hungary v England

England players were booed when they took the knee – by a crowd made up of kids in the Puskas Arena.

It was a very clear jeering of the anti-racism gesture before kick-off which was made all the more surprising because the Puskas Arena was largely made up of children aged 14 and under. Hungary have been made to play the Nations League fixture behind closed doors because of discriminatory behaviour during the Euros last summer.

UEFA rules state in such cases the crowd can be made up of kids as long as no tickets are sold with one adult allowed per ten children for safeguarding reasons.

There were more than 30,000 applications from kids in Budapest but the 60,000 capacity stadium did not look half full and was probably closer to 20,000.

They made a fantastic noise before kick-off and brought back memories of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as they blew vuvuzelas.

They also observed both national anthems in impeccable fashion – something some English fans have not done in recent times – but then ruined it all by making loud boos at the taking of the knee.

Anti-racism campaigner Troy Townsend tweeted: “The ‘empty stadium’ taught well by their predecessors.”

HAVE YOUR SAY!Should UEFA take further action against Hungary? Comment below

It will be an embarrassing episode for UEFA who believe giving kids to tickets is a way of educating locals but also creating an atmosphere. England plan to do the same at Molineux next Saturday when they play Italy. But will only have between 2-3,000.

England boss Gareth Southgate admitted his surprise at just how many were attending in Budapest in the build-up to the game.

Southgate said: “I think we’re all surprised. But we’re inviting children into our stadium so I wasn’t really clear on the rules of any of it at the start of all this. I don’t know what the figure should be or shouldn’t be.

“So other people have got to deal with that, we’ve got to make sure we’re consistent in our beliefs, the stand we take as a team, the fact we’re united on it being unacceptable, and it’s for other people to administer sanctions.

“Once we’re administering sanctions it’s gone too far anyway, so the key is education and the young people in the stadium hopefully pick that message up tomorrow.”