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Manchester City’s Yaya Touré brands racial abuse on Twitter ‘a disgrace’ | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Yaya Touré has described the racist abuse he was subjected to on Twitter as a “disgrace” and urged officials to take action to stop it occurring in the future. | |
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed they are investigating allegations that Touré was racially abused just hours after reactivating his Twitter account on Monday. | |
“GMP can confirm we have received a number of complaints regarding racist tweets directed at Manchester City Football Club player Yaya Toure on Monday 3rd October 2014,” read a police statement on Tuesday. “Officers are currently investigating.” | |
In response, the Ivory Coast midfielder admitted he had been taken aback by some of the abuse. | |
“For me it’s a disgrace to be honest,” Touré told BBC Sport. | |
“We need to do something to try to tell people those kinds of behaviour have to stop. I want those people to understand what they’re doing is wrong. | |
“To have such aggression in sport, I can’t understand that. That’s why I’ve been trying to fight it,” added Touré. | |
“Football doesn’t have a colour. We’re just people from all over the world trying to enjoy the game. I never see this in rugby, I never see that in tennis or anything else, I don’t know where it’s coming from.” | |
Touré posted another message on Twitter on Tuesday which made reference to the incident. And the 31-year-old believes that other players may opt not to use social meida if the abuse continues. | |
Thanks for all the welcome back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. #StillFocused | |
“For me it’s OK because I have experience but for young lads, who will maybe go on Twitter and find that. First they’ll be afraid, second they’ll close their account,” he said. | |
Asked if he found the abuse hurtful,Touré added: “To be honest with you no, because I’ve been attacked like that for many years. [But] I will never stop telling them they are wrong and have to change.” | |
Speaking ahead of City’s Champions league tie against CSKA Moscow, manager Manuel Pellegrini also insisted that the abuse would not affect his star midfielder. | |
He said: “No. I think Yaya is an experienced player. He is always trying to fight against those things but I don’t think he will have any problem about that, to play in the way he knows to do it.” | |
The day after Manchester City’s 1-0 derby win over Manchester United Touré tweeted: “Great to be back on twitter after a good win yesterday. Now my focus is on the next game ... Happy Monday everyone!!” | The day after Manchester City’s 1-0 derby win over Manchester United Touré tweeted: “Great to be back on twitter after a good win yesterday. Now my focus is on the next game ... Happy Monday everyone!!” |
But after racist and abusive tweets were directed at the Ivorian following his message, they were reported to police by the anti-discriminatory body, Kick It Out. | But after racist and abusive tweets were directed at the Ivorian following his message, they were reported to police by the anti-discriminatory body, Kick It Out. |
“NEWS: We are informing the Police of racist tweets directed @yayatoure earlier this evening and offer him our full support #kickitout,” read a tweet from its official Twitter account on Monday. | “NEWS: We are informing the Police of racist tweets directed @yayatoure earlier this evening and offer him our full support #kickitout,” read a tweet from its official Twitter account on Monday. |
One message from a user named @CFCZone stated: “shut the fuck up you fat ebola infected nig nog. Go back to the cotton field you fucking reject”. The account has since been deleted. | One message from a user named @CFCZone stated: “shut the fuck up you fat ebola infected nig nog. Go back to the cotton field you fucking reject”. The account has since been deleted. |
A Kick It Out spokesperson added: “At this stage we have received complaints about two separate tweets of a racist nature aimed at Yaya Touré and now we are informing the police. | A Kick It Out spokesperson added: “At this stage we have received complaints about two separate tweets of a racist nature aimed at Yaya Touré and now we are informing the police. |
“Yaya Touré has been on Twitter for a matter of hours and he has already received abuse of an appalling nature. We are disturbed by the fact that someone can be treated this way. | “Yaya Touré has been on Twitter for a matter of hours and he has already received abuse of an appalling nature. We are disturbed by the fact that someone can be treated this way. |
“It makes footballers start to question why they should use these platforms. We will offer Yaya Touré our full support.” | “It makes footballers start to question why they should use these platforms. We will offer Yaya Touré our full support.” |