A non-league football team walked off the pitch in disgust at alleged racial abuse directed towards teammates, leading to the match being abandoned.
Players and staff for Wednesfield FC left towards the end of the second half of their match on Saturday at Droitwich Spa FC. The Midland Football League division one game was officially abandoned.
Wednesfield said the incident at the club in Worcestershire involved “racial remarks from spectators towards our players who were in the dugout”.
It added: “We, as a club, do not condone this behaviour and made a stand against it by notifying the officials before acting on the matter.
“We chose to leave the field as a team to make a stand against the comments, to which the players and club officials were booed. This has no place and cannot be tolerated in any walk of life, let alone in sport.
“It is now time that the FA and governing bodies and local county FA’s start to support and take action against these individuals.”
The club said the Droitwich players and staff supported the response, for which they were grateful, adding: “That is the kind of united approach we need to take to prevent this happening again in the future.”
Droitwich Spa said it had a zero tolerance towards racism or any discrimination and would deal with those responsible in the strongest possible manner.
Its account of the incident was different to Wednesfield’s, with the club saying it involved a comment from a spectator towards a substitute warming up.
“No one should be subjected to abuse whilst playing football and any form of discrimination or racial abuse is completely unacceptable,” the club said.
“We unreservedly apologise to the Wednesfield FC player the comment was directed at. We do also have to acknowledge the welfare and safeguarding aspect of the young supporter involved in the incident and will be establishing the full nature and intention of the comment directed at the player, and ensure they have the understanding the impact comments can have.
“We would also like to apologise to all individuals left upset and traumatised at the events at the ground.”
It continued: “Attending matches does not give the right to direct abuse that would not be acceptable in any other environment. This needs to be dealt with at Droitwich Spa FC and across football.”
A spokesperson for Worcestershire FA said it had received a report of alleged discrimination and had begun an investigation. They added: “Discrimination has no place in football or society and we treat all allegations of such abhorrent behaviour very seriously.”
