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‘Abhorrent behaviour of this nature must stop’: Prince William’s fury after children as young as seven are abused by racists while playing football
- Alpha United Juniors first spoke out about racial abuse and threats in November
- Revealed that children as young as seven have been threatened with violence
- Prince William has written a letter to the club, saying he has contacted the FA
Prince William has condemned racial abuse and threats aimed at footballers as young as seven as he calls for ‘abhorrent behaviour of this nature’ to stop.
The Prince of Wales, who is also the president of the FA, shared his deep concern for the abuse and insisted those involved must be held accountable.
His fury was in response to children at Alpha United Juniors suffering racial abuse and even threats of violence.
The youth club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, first reported the vile mistreatment of their young footballers in November.
Prince William has since written a letter to the club, informing them that he has contacted the FA, the Mirror reports.
Prince William has condemned racial abuse and threats aimed at footballers as young as seven
The Prince’s fury was in response to children at Alpha United Juniors suffering racial abuse and even threats of violence
‘Racism and abuse has no place in our society. Abhorrent behaviour of this nature must stop now,’ he said.
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the youth club 10 years ago, revealed that one of his players was called the n-word on Saturday – as the torrent of abuse continues to take its toll on the club.
Desperate to do something about the abuse, the 36-year-old wrote to Kensington Palace to say he had contacted the FA on multiple occasions but to no avail.
But upon discovering that the Prince of Wales had approached the FA, Mr Waheed admitted ‘it was nice to hear… knowing that he’s raised it’.
The 36-year-old shockingly revealed that his players have suffered racist abuse ‘from the first match’ they played 10 years ago, and it has only got worse since Brexit.
Mr Waheed, who says the club have reported up to 60 cases, explained that they can’t afford to abandon games otherwise they 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.’
They say that they are probing cases flagged by the club, but Alpha United Juniors insist they have provided evidence – and further risk compromising their 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.
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the youth club 10 years ago, revealed his players have suffered racial abuse from day one. Pictured: Alpha United Juniors
‘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.’
The FA continues to battle with racism within the sport at all levels of the game, with players receiving vile abuse every season.
Just this week though, a man who sent Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney racist messages was banned from every stadium in the UK for three years in a landmark ruling.
Campaign groups are hopeful it will set a precedent.
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