March 4 – The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has acted swiftly to open an investigation into the racist abuse that 17-year-old East Stirlingshire suffered in a Division 2 match away to Peterhead last weekend. Tapping was visibly distressed and substituted to prevent having to endure any further taunts.
A spokesman for the SPFL said: “The SPFL has this afternoon received and reviewed the referee’s match report from the Peterhead v East Stirlingshire game on Saturday, March 1.
“We will now conduct a full investigation into an alleged incident at that fixture and will be speaking to both clubs, match officials and Police Scotland.”
Tapping was substituted during East Stirlinghire’s 4-0 loss on Saturday. The club spoke to referee after the match who confirmed that the incidents would be part of his report.
“The club can confirm that these incidents caused extreme distress to our player and this led to our coaching staff substituting the player from the field of play to protect him from any further possible recurrence of this abuse.
“Peterhead FC took immediate steps to identify the culprits and Jordan received a personal apology from their chairman, Rodger Morrison. East Stirlingshire FC will lend every assistance possible to Peterhead FC in trying to pick out those responsible…
“Above all, though, the club has offered its complete support to Jordan and his family after what has been a very distressing episode.”
The Police released a statement saying that: “Police Scotland can confirm that a criminal enquiry has been launched into the matter.”
A police spokesperson said: “Racial abuse in any form is not only completely unacceptable, it is also criminal. We will be liaising closely with both football clubs to thoroughly investigate this incident which, at this time, would appear to have involved a small minority of people. We ask any supporters who saw or heard anything of a racist nature to get in touch with Police Scotland on the non-emergency number 101.”
An East Stirlingshire statement said: “Jordan and the club have an important match to prepare for against Stirling Albion on Saturday. We will co-operate fully with Police Scotland while trying to retain our focus on getting ready for our next game.”
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