Prince William condemns 'abhorrent' racial abuse aimed at child footballers as young as seven
20 March 2023, 08:39 | Updated: 20 March 2023, 08:47
Prince William has condemned the “abhorrent” racial abuse aimed at footballers as young as seven at a junior club.
The Prince of Wales, who is also president of the FA, has written a letter to Alpha United Juniors, whose players have been subjected to vile taunts.
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, 10 years ago, said one player was called the N-word on Saturday, adding that some children have dropped out due to repeated abuse.
In his letter to the club, William said he has approached the FA about the issue, adding: “Racism and abuse has no place in our society. Abhorrent behaviour of this nature must stop now."
He said he was "particularly saddened to hear about the effects this intolerable action can have on those who are simply wanting to play a game of football."
Mr Waheed, 36, says the club has reported up to 60 cases of abuse, having first spoken out in November, the Mirror reports.
But he says the problem has been going on for much longer, adding: “From the first match we played we saw racism. It was my under-14s team.”
Mr Waheed, who says the abuse has escalated since Brexit, says he wrote to Kensington Palace in January, claiming he’d contacted the FA on multiple occasions about the club’s problem to no avail.
Despite the mistreatment, including threats of violence against some players, Mr Waheed says the club can’t afford to abandon matches as they would face a fine from the FA.
The West Riding FA said: “We require witnesses to engage with our judicial process. Despite our best efforts, the club did not support this process.”
The association says it is looking into cases flagged by club. Alpha United Juniors insist they have provided evidence, but fear parts of the investigation process could compromise players’ anonymity.
The FA said: “We strongly condemn all forms of offensive and discriminatory behaviour and we are determined to stamp it out of our game.
“All allegations of this nature are taken extremely seriously and we would urge anybody who has been subject to, or a witness of, incidents to report it to The FA, their local County FA, or Kick It Out.”
