Salford City players abandoned a pre-season friendly with York City of the National League last Friday after Salford City defender Adebola Oluwo was the subject of racist abuse from a fan.
In response to the incident, the club owned by Manchester United legends Gary Neville and David Beckham released a powerful video.
The incident, unfortunately, is not an isolated one. The organization Kick It Out, dedicated to battling discrimination in football, released statistics in 2023/24, which reported a 32% rise in reported racist incidents at all levels of football since 2022/23.
What Happened?
With 84 minutes played in the Friday night friendly, tensions were unusually high, with the score level at 3-3, and a scuffle between the two sets of players occurring on the pitch.
Salford City head coach Karl Robinson decided to substitute Oluwo as the game came to a halt. As Oluwo left the field of play, a member of the crowd was heard yelling racial abuse towards him.
“As he walked past me, we heard multiple noises that replicated monkey noises,” Robinson said. “I walked onto the pitch and told the referee, ‘stop the game’.”
The fan was led out of the stadium by police, reportedly of his own free will, wrote the BBC.
Robinson led his team off the pitch and allowed them to make the decision whether they would play out the remainder of the match.
“I’m really proud of them,” he said. “They made the collective decision not to play the remaining minutes of the game, and I backed their judgment on that.”
The North Yorkshire Police released an appeal for information regarding the incident following the match, but have released no information regarding the punishments for the fan in custody.
How did the clubs respond?
Immediately following the match, Salford City released a statement condemning the actions of the fan and thanking both York City and local police for their response.
York City also released a statement referring to the event as “deeply distressing”, and reiterating that “any supporter found guilty of racial abuse will face the strongest possible sanctions from the club.”
On Wednesday, Salford released a nine-minute video to their social channels titled We Stand Together Against Racism and Discrimination featuring Robinson, Oluwo, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, and several other players discussing the incident. It’s a candid portrayal of how racism affects players.
It was not the first time Oluwo had been the subject of racist abuse. “I’m not shocked, but at the same time, it’s not a nice feeling. But there’s only so much you can do,” he said.
Oluwo credited his teammates for supporting him in his decision to discontinue the match. “The question came up about going back out, but everyone said, if one person’s walking off, then we’re all doing it,” he said.
Gary Neville also featured in the video, addressing the club’s refusal to use the word “alleged” in their official statement, despite requests from the EFL to do so.
“Our players were racially abused, we’re gonna say they were racially abused, and we don’t care about the impact of not using the word alleged,” Neville said.
“You don’t realize probably the magnitude of what some of you achieved on Friday night in life, forget football, but in life,” Neville said when addressing the squad.
“It’s not a congratulatory moment, it’s a moment of significant concern that this is still happening, but you should be proud of what you’ve done.”
