POLICE PROBE RACIAL ABUSE
POLICE have confirmed that they are investigating after Wales footballers Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo were racially abused on social media.
Cabango and Matondo, both 20, received abusive messages on Instagram after Wales’s 1-0 win over Mexico in Cardiff on Saturday.
As reported in yesterday’s paper, Matondo has criticised Instagram, while the Football Association of Wales (FAW) said it was “disgusted”.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, said it had permanently removed the accounts from which the messages were sent and was “committed to doing more”.
Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd Williams, of South Wales Police, said: “Tackling hate crime has always been a priority for South Wales Police – this behaviour is something that will not be tolerated in our community.
“The force takes hate crime seriously and we have worked closely with those involved in football to raise awareness of hate crime among players and supporters.”
Winger Matondo, who is on loan at Stoke City from German side Schalke 04, wrote on Twitter: “And it continues... another week of @instagram doing absolutely nothing about racial abuse.
“My insta will get taken down if I post any clips from my games though... #priorities”
The FAW said it was “disgusted” by the racial abuse directed towards players.
“The FAW are in dialogue with South Wales Police to ensure this kind of abhorrent behaviour is reported and investigated,” said a statement on Twitter.
“The FAW joins other national associations and clubs in urging social media platforms and regulatory authorities to take stronger, more effective and urgent action against this despicable behaviour.”
Cabango’s club, Swansea City, offered their “unequivocal” support to the defender.
“As a football club we are appalled by this. Noone should have to endure this type of abuse,” said chief executive Julian Winter.
Wales skipper Gareth Bale addressed the issue yesterday ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic.
“It was not nice to wake up on Sunday to hear these things,” Bale said.
“Ben, Rabbi and anyone else knows we are here to talk to them and support them if they need it.
“Something needs to happen in terms of the social media companies, whether it is people getting an account need to put a passport in. I think that will stop people saying things because then you will be able to trace them down and hold them accountable.”
In a statement, a Facebook spokesman said: “We don’t want this type of abuse on Instagram and have removed the accounts that sent these messages to Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo this weekend.
“We recently announced that we’ll take tougher action when we become aware of people breaking our rules in DMS. This work is ongoing and we are committed to doing more.
“We also know these problems are bigger than us, so are working with the industry, government and others to collectively drive societal change through action and education.”