‘Abhorrent behavior of this nature must cease’: Prince William’s fury after boys as young as seven were abused by racists while playing football
- Alpha United Juniors first spoke out about racial abuse and threats in November
- It revealed that children up to seven years old have been threatened with violence
- Prince William has written a letter to the club, saying he has contacted the FA
Prince William condemned racial abuse and threats directed at footballers as young as seven and called for “abhorrent behavior of this nature” to stop.
The Prince of Wales, who is also FA chairman, shared his deep concern over the abuse and insisted that those involved must be held to account.
His fury was in response to the children of Alpha United Juniors experiencing racial abuse and even threats of violence.
The Bradford, West Yorkshire-based youth club first denounced the vile mistreatment of its young footballers in November.
Since then, Prince William has written a letter to the club, informing them that he has contacted the FA, the Mirror reports.
Prince William has condemned racial abuse and threats directed at footballers as young as seven.
The Prince’s fury was in response to the children of Alpha United Juniors suffering racial abuse and even threats of violence.
‘Racism and abuse have no place in our society. Abhorrent behavior of this nature must stop now,” she said.
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the youth club 10 years ago, revealed that one of his players was called the n-word on Saturday, as the torrent of abuse continues to plague the club.
Desperate to do something about the abuse, the 36-year-old wrote to Kensington Palace to say he had contacted the FA on multiple occasions, but to no avail.
But on discovering that the Prince of Wales had approached the FA, Mr Waheed admitted that “it was nice to hear… to know that he had raised it”.
The 36-year-old has shockingly revealed that his players have suffered racist abuse ‘since the first game’ they played 10 years ago, and it has only gotten worse since Brexit.
Waheed, who says the club has reported as many as 60 cases, explained that they cannot afford to walk out of games, otherwise they will face a fine from the FA.
West Riding FA said: ‘We need witnesses to be involved in our legal process. Despite our best efforts, the club did not support this process.”
They say they are investigating cases flagged by the club, but Alpha United Juniors insist they have provided evidence and risk further compromising the anonymity of their players.
The FA said: ‘We strongly condemn all forms of offensive and discriminatory behavior and are determined to remove it from our game.
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the youth club 10 years ago, revealed that his players have suffered racial abuse from day one. Pictured: Alpha United Juniors
“All allegations of this nature are taken very seriously and we urge anyone who has been a victim of or witness to incidents to report it to the FA, local county FA or Kick It Out.”
The FA continues to fight racism within the sport at all levels of the game, with players receiving vile abuse every season.
However, just this week, a man who sent racist messages to Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney was banned from all UK stadiums for three years in a landmark ruling.
Campaign groups are hoping it will set a precedent.
