Luton Town have confirmed South Yorkshire police are investigating an alleged racist comment towards Carlton Morris in his side’s Boxing Day win at Sheffield United.
“We can confirm that Carlton Morris reported an alleged racist comment from the crowd during this afternoon’s Premier League fixture at Bramall Lane,” a club statement said.
“Carlton reported it to the match officials in line with Premier League protocols, and the matter was dealt with immediately by both Sheffield United and South Yorkshire Police, who are currently investigating.
“Luton Town will offer Carlton and any other player suffering abuse our full support, and would like to reiterate that we take a zero tolerance stance against all forms of discrimination, whether in person or online. We would like to thank both Sheffield United officials and the police for their swift actions in dealing with today’s incident.”
Rob Edwards, the Luton manager, said that Morris complained of a comment made from a member of the home crowd late in the second half, which left the forward “pretty angry”.
It soured what was a great day for Morris as he came off the bench to create two chances that led to Sheffield United own goals in four minutes. That earned the Hatters a vital 3-2 victory in a battle between two sides in the Premier League relegation zone.
“There was an alleged racist comment, the police are dealing with that, they have spoken to Carlton and got his take on it, so it is with them now; I have no more comment on it,” Edwards said after the game. “He is all right – he was, at the time, pretty angry but he seems fine now.”
The Sheffield United manager, Chris Wilder, said: “There was a comment that was made and the referee came over to speak to me and Rob from a racial point of view, which is obviously not great if found to be the case.”
Morris was seen talking to Sam Allison and the fourth official on the sidelines and later the Luton striker said he had reported the incident straightaway. Allison became the first black referee to officiate a Premier League match in 15 years as he took charge of the game at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.
Morris told Amazon Prime Video: “The Premier League have been great at telling us protocols and explaining that to us. I heard something from the crowd in the front row unfortunately and I just knew it’s best to get that reported straight away and let them deal with it from there.”
