Social media accounts deactivated after abuse of Sikh referee during International Champions Cup
Sunday 6 August 2017 12:32, UK
A number of social media accounts have been deactivated after a Sky Sports story detailed racist abuse aimed at a referee.
Earlier this week, Sky Sports contacted Kick It Out after racist comments surfaced online, directing abuse at Sikh referee Sukhbir Singh.
The Indian-origin referee took charge of the International Champions Cup pre-season friendly between Chelsea and Inter Milan in Singapore last weekend.
Singh's performance was criticised in some quarters, and some social media users made discriminatory comments online about the match official. Some of them made inaccurate and offensive references to Singh's race and ethnicity.
Sky Sports followed up on this with anti-discrimination campaigners Kick It Out on Tuesday morning. By the weekend, more than 80 per cent of the social media accounts reported for making discriminatory posts had been deactivated.
Singh, who was last year named Referee of the Year in Singapore's S-League, has since been asked for his thoughts on the matter.
The 33-year-old told the Straits Times he had not seen the offensive social media posts, before conceding racism in football is "something that definitely needs to be looked into".
Lim Kia Tong, president of the Singapore Football Association (FAS), added: "The FAS stands with organisations such as Kick It Out who are dedicated to eradicating racism and discrimination from football.
"Should they require our assistance, we are ready to provide them with any help they need in their investigations on the racial abuse that Sukhbir received. Furthermore, we will not hesitate to report the culprits to the authorities for their action.
"Racial abuse, whether on the pitch, from the stands or online, cannot be tolerated."
