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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
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| Manchester City’s Yaya Touré brands racial abuse on Twitter ‘a disgrace’ | Manchester City’s Yaya Touré brands racial abuse on Twitter ‘a disgrace’ |
| (about 1 hour 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. | 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 player Yaya Touré on Monday 3 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. | 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. | “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.” | “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 media if the abuse continues. | |
| Thanks for all the welcome back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. #StillFocused | 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.” | |
| He later tweeted: “Thanks for all the welcome-back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. StillFocused”. | |
| Speaking before City’s Champions league tie against CSKA Moscow, 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.” | 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!!” | |
| 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. It makes footballers start to question why they should use these platforms. We will offer Yaya Touré our full support.” | |