Published 06:19 IST, December 23rd 2019
Premier League: PFA calls for a govt level inquiry over alleged racist remarks
The incident took place during the second half of the match between Tottenham Hotspurs and Chelsea after Antonio Rudiger complained of hearing monkey noises.
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has called for a government level inquiry into the alleged racist remarks that were repeatedly passed during the match between Tottenham Spurs and Chelsea on Sunday evening.
Investigations continue
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a security announcement. Racism is interfering with the game." This announcement was made shortly after Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger pointed out to the referee that he heard 'monkey chants' in the second half. The announcement was repeated twice, which suggests that the racist chants continued. However, play went on and the match ended.
The PFA released a detailed statement, which read: "We believe that the time has come for all governing bodies to unite collectively to end this abuse. The PFA calls for a government enquiry into racism and the rise in hate crime within football and immediate and urgent action from an All Party Group at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to address this urgent issue. All football stakeholders must work in partnership with police and clubs to drive this issue and accelerate solutions. As always, the PFA extends our full support to Antonio Rüdiger and any player who has suffered racist abuse. We will not allow this to continue. Now more than ever we must unite and stand strong and together to confront, challenge and eradicate racist abuse in our stadiums and in our country."
European football has experienced multiple racist incidents over the last few years and Sunday's incident is just another addition on the list. After the match, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said that he had not had an individual conversation with Rudiger and that he and the club will stand by the players. Spurs released a statement that read: "We are now conducting a thorough investigation which will include liaising with Chelsea and their players for their observations. Any form of racism is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our stadium. We take any such allegations extremely seriously and shall take the strongest possible action against any individual found to be behaving in such a way, including stadium bans."
Chelsea defeated Spurs 2-0 with both goals coming in the first half of the match via Willian.
Updated 07:29 IST, December 23rd 2019