A BURNLEY fan was ejected from a pre-season friendly against Bradford City after making racist comments towards a player.
During the game on Saturday at the Northern Commercials Stadium, the Clarets supporter was asked to leave the stadium following repeated racial comments aimed at Bradford’s Mark Marshall, who reported the abuse to officials.
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The fan was initially warned by match stewards that if such abuse continued he would be ejected and following further comments from the spectator, Marshall reported the abuse to the assistant referee.
The man, who left the stadium with another man, denied any racist behaviour but witnesses have confirmed racial comments were made.
No arrests were made.
Burnley and Bradford have both condemned the behaviour of the fan.
A statement from Burnley said: “Burnley Football Club would like to make it clear that we have a zero tolerance approach to any such behaviour and strongly condemn discrimination of any type.
“We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the player involved and to Bradford City Football Club.
“We will now be working with the police and Bradford City, who have CCTV footage of the incident, to hold a full investigation and identify the persons involved, when action will be taken accordingly.”
Clarets striker Andre Gray tweeted about the incident after the match criticising his own fans.
Well done to the 2 racist burnley fans👍🏽 still live in the stone ages i see !! Ignorant prats
— Andre Gray (@AndreGray7) July 23, 2016
He said: “Well done to the two racist Burnley fans, still live in the stone ages I see. It’s all right, you’ve only got two black players playing for you anyway.”
A statement from Bradford said: “Bradford City Football Club do not and will not tolerate any racist language or behaviour by anyone within the stadium.
Its alright you've only got black players playing for you anyway 😕🙄
— Andre Gray (@AndreGray7) July 23, 2016
“We are working closely with Burnley FC and West Yorkshire police on the matter.”
If anyone has any information they wish to share with Burnley FC, on a strictly confidential basis, they can email the club at info@burnleyfc.com.
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