Everton racist abuse claims provoke statement from Kick It Out
Everton suffered defeat at home to Brentford on Sunday (15 May) but the game was overshadowed by racist abuse directed towards the families of Bees players.
Both striker Ivan Toney and wing-back Rico Henry (who scored the winner) revealed via their personal Twitter accounts that members of their families at the game had been the subject of racial abuse by supporters in the home end.
Everton responded to Toney’s post to say that they are “assisting Merseyside Police to ensure the individual is identified and dealt with appropriately.”
Kick It Out was quick to make a statement on the incidents as there were also reports of racism at Burnley’s game away at Tottenham just hours prior to the Toffees match.
“We have been made aware of a spate of new alleged anti-Semitic and racist comments and gestures linked to several clubs over the weekend,” said Kick It Out’s head of player engagement Troy Townsend, as quoted by the BBC.
“While investigations are ongoing, we cannot comment on the specifics of cases. However, the events of the weekend once again highlight the fact that hate is still alive and well within football.
“Everton, Burnley and Tottenham all acted swiftly and we commend their energy in addressing these incidents. We hope appropriate and decisive action is taken against all those involved.”
Take action
There have been great new sanctions put in place for people who are abusive in both racial and other means and the more idiots who get punished for it, the better place a football ground will be on matchday.
We know that 99.999% of Everton fans would never even consider saying such things to anybody and they have been the ones who have helped the side’s recent revival to be safe with two games to go, as it stands.
But that 0.001% always grabs the headlines and maybe it is soon time to take collective action on fanbases when these kinds of events occur.
Maybe for one game, whether home or away, no fans can turn up at all and they will quickly realise how big a consequence their actions can actually have on the wider population.
It is an extreme thing to do but racism is the extremest form of abuse and it needs to be wiped out of civilisation as soon as possible.
In other Everton news, a Toffees loanee is set to engage in talks over staying at his current club rather than returning to Merseyside.