By Tom Degun
January 9 – Police have launched an investigation after Scottish Premier League (SPL) player Grégory Tadé (pictured) suffered racist abuse on the social media site Twitter.
The 25-year-old Inverness Caledonian Thistle striker was told to “give up life” by a tweeter who said he was “black” and “s**** at football” last weekend.
The French player responded to messages from followers calling on him to report the user to police by saying it was “not worth the bother” but Scottish Football Association (SFA) chief executive Stewart Regan tweeted the abusive user saying the “police will find you” after describing the posts as “shocking and unacceptable”.
Strathclyde Police’s Football Coordination Unit Scotland, which was set up to deal with internet hate crime, has confirmed they are investigating the incident, while Inverness Caledonian Thistle have expressed their concern at the racist abuse to their player.
“We are totally appalled by any suggestion of a racist attack on one of our players,” read a club statement.
“Gregory is a great favourite with our supporters and we are hugely disappointed he is the target of a bigot.”
Manager Terry Butcher and chairman Kenny Cameron will meet Tadé this week to discuss if any further action needs to be taken, while the striker has already had his say on Twitter.
“Thanks everyone for your support, sad to see people using Twitter for a bad purpose like this,” he said,
“I think everything has been said, let’s move on.
“2012 has started and my resolution will be not to bother about people like that.”
The message sender has subsequently deleted his account after he sent Tadé a message apologising, claiming he was drunk when he tweeted the abuse, while the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Scotland have also expressed their disappointment.
“PFA Scotland are sponsors and supporters of Show Racism the Red Card Scotland and condemn any racist comment or behaviour both inside and outside of football,” said a statement.
“The message sent to Grégory Tadé is highly offensive and we would provide any support requested by the player.”
The incident is the latest in a series racism cases in football, one of the most recent of which saw Oldham’s Tom Adeyemi (pictured) allegedly suffer racist abuse at Anfield while playing against Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup last Friday (November 6).
A 20-year-old man from Merseyside has been bailed after he was arrested on suspicion of the racially aggravated public order offence, while Adeyemi was visibly upset by the incident during his team’s 5-1 defeat.
Liverpool issued an apology to Adeyemi stating that they completely condemn their supporters’ actions.
“The players and club pass on our sincere regrets to Tom Adeyemi for the upset and distress he suffered,” said a Liverpool statement.
“Our supporters are renowned throughout the world for their outstanding commitment, passion and fairness.
“They are drawn from nationalities across the globe with widely diverse backgrounds and heritages.
“The actions of any one individual do not represent our fans.
“Their stance on these issues is just as resolute as the club’s.
“We have a very clearly stated public stance on discrimination and intolerance with dedicated staff that work hard daily on programmes in this important area.”
The Premier League club have promised to ban from Anfield for life anyone found guilty of an offence related to the incident but it has been a difficult few weeks for Liverpool after their striker Luis Suárez was banned for eight matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has also been involved in a spate issue of racism as Newcastle University student Joshua Cryer was charged with racially abusing him on Twitter.
Northumbria Police said that Cryer, who lives in Burnley, was accused of a racial public order offence and a further public order offence.
The 40-year-old Collymore, who played for Liverpool, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest during his career, re-tweeted the messages to followers on the social networking site and reported the alleged abuse to Staffordshire Police.
The 21-year-old student was arrested on Saturday and later charged with a section 5 racial public order offence and a section 5 public order offence.
A spokesman for Newcastle University confirmed one of its students had been charged with the offences.
“Newcastle University does not tolerate any form of racist behaviour by any of its staff or students and we have strict disciplinary procedures in place,” said a statement.
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