Sheffield United Women’s Sophie Jones charged with racially abusing opponent
The Sheffield United Women’s player Sophie Jones has been charged with racially abusing an opponent during her club’s Championship match against Tottenham last month.
The news follows a four-week investigation by the Football Association’s integrity team that was launched shortly after the Spurs centre-back Renée Hector alleged that monkey noises had been made against her by an unnamed Sheffield United player.
An FA spokesperson confirmed Jones had been charged with a breach of FA rule E3. “It is alleged that words she used during an FA Women’s Championship fixture against Tottenham Hotspur Ladies on 6 January 2019 breached Rule E3[1] as they were abusive and/or insulting,” he added. “It is further alleged that the words constituted an ‘aggravated breach’, which is defined in Rule E3[2], as they included reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race.”
Jones, who has until next Friday to respond to the charge, has not spoken publicly about the alleged incident. Sheffield United said they had cooperated fully with the FA’s investigation and added in a statement: “The club works closely with the EFL, the FA and Kick it Out and would like to reiterate that it does not condone racism or any form of discrimination. We will not comment further on the subject until the conclusion of the formal FA disciplinary hearing.”
The Guardian understands that Sheffield United would sack the player if she is found guilty of racism towards Hector. The allegations were reported immediately to the referee and also reported by Spurs to the FA after the match.
Hector tweeted after the alleged incident: “Such a shame that racism seems to be rising up again in football – I received some monkey noises from an opposition player. The only reaction was to let the football do the talking and that we did ... great start to the year!”