Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Corry wife in racist rant row
Apology after hate tweet aimed at ref who gave penalty
THE wife of Northern Ireland star Corry Evans issued a grovelling apology yesterday after a racist Twitter outburst against a referee.
Lisa Evans said sorry after aiming the slur at Romanian Ovidu Hategan after he awarded a disputed penalty against her husband.
A tweet on her account said: “Romanian gypsy c***!!! And to actually think Northern Ireland has probably homed one of his smelly relatives!! Ungrateful t***!! Anyway onwards and upwards. #GAWA”
But last night there was a more contrite message on the page.
It read: “I would like to sincerely apologise to anyone I offended for the language contained in my tweet.
“I understand it was completely unacceptable, I should have never have let my emotions take over. I would never condone racism in any way.”
The penalty led to the only goal in Switzerland’s 1-0 World Cup play-off first leg win. The return match is in Basel on Sunday.
In a brief statement issued by the IFA, the midfielder insisted the view expressed in the tweet on Lisa Evans’ Twitter account after was not “representative of her views”.
He said: “On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologise unreservedly for the content and language contained in the tweet that she issued last night.
“The comments were published in the heat of the moment and are not representative of her views.”
Replays showed the ball hit the Blackburn midfielder on the back, with the referee coming in for significant criticism after the game.
The tweet came amid a big online reaction to the ref ’s decision.
Angry fans even edited Hategan’s Wikipedia page to say he had died in Belfast following the decision.
His name was also changed, while his role was described as “complete clown”.
The page was edited at 9.21pm on Thursday night by one user before being restored to its original state at 9.24pm. He was booed off the pitch after he pointed to the spot in the 57th minute when Xherdan Shaqiri’s shot cannoned off the top of Evans’ shoulder when the midfielder had his back turned. Evans was also booked for the offence which results in him missing the return leg due to suspension.
Supporters took to social media to vent their fury at the decision which now leaves Michael O’neill’s side with a huge uphill task to qualify for the World Cup next year.
The Northern Ireland boss fumed after the game saying he doesn’t think he’s seen a worse decision in games he’s been involved with.
He said: “It is staggering, especially after seeing it back.
“The ball clearly strikes Corry on the back. He has turned his back on the ball, and the referee saw the incident.
“I thought the referee had given an offside or something. “Obviously having hit Corry the ball went out for a corner, so maybe a corner was going to be awarded.
“I spent three hours in a conference the other week at FIFA about video assistant refereeing, and certainly when you see what happened tonight you would be an advocate of it.”
Comments were published in the heat of the moment CORRY EVANS YESTERDAY