SAFC condemns racism as Cats fan is banned

Sunderland AFC and supporters have underlined their opposition to racism after a travelling fan was arrested during Saturday’s game at Burton Albion.

A 52-year-old, from Blackhall, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence after an incident at the Pirelli Stadium.

He is due to appear before South Derbyshire magistrates next month.

Sunderland AFC’s head of safety, Steve Neill, said: “Sunderland’s travelling supporters attend away games in huge numbers.

“They have a tremendous reputation and only recently safety officials at Gillingham Town praised the behaviour of our fans, when 2,500 travelled for a Wednesday night game.

“This isolated incident does not represent our sup- porters or, indeed, our football club and we condemn this and any form of discrimination in the strongest possible terms.

“We would urge our supporters to contact the club or the police should they ever witness any incidents of discriminatory behaviour at football matches. By working together, we can send a powerful message that this will not be tolerated by Sunderland AFC and its supporters.”

Andrew Hird, chairman of the Red & White Army supporters’ group, said: “There is no place in the game or society as a whole, for discriminatory behaviour.”

The man has been banned from attending all Sunderland games until the outcome of the court proceedings are known.