Burnley pledge action after alleged racial incident at Bradford
Sunday 24 July 2016 13:38, UK
Burnley and Bradford have confirmed that a fan was asked to leave the Northern Commercials stadium during their pre-season encounter on Saturday for allegedly racially abusing a player.
Burnley striker Andre Gray took to Twitter after the game to share what he witnessed, claiming he saw a Clarets fan hurling racist abuse at one of the Bradford players.
"Well done to the two racist Burnley fans still living in the stone ages I see! Ignorant prats," said Gray. "It's alright you've only got black players playing for you anyway."
Burnley and Bradford have now confirmed via statements that an incident did occur during the game and that a man was ejected after repeatedly abusing a player.
"The club has received details of an alleged racial incident during the pre-season friendly at Bradford City on Saturday, July 23, 2016," said the Premier League club on their website.
"During the game, one male Burnley supporter was asked to leave the stadium following repeated racial comments aimed at a Bradford player, who reported the incidents at the time to the officials.
"The person involved denied any racist behaviour, but witnesses have confirmed racial comments were made.
"As the supporter was ejected, another male supporter left voluntarily at the same time. No arrests were made.
"We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the player involved and to Bradford City Football Club.
"We will now be working with the police and Bradford City Football Club, who have CCTV footage of the incident, to hold a full investigation and identify the persons involved, when action will be taken accordingly."
Bradford revealed the Clarets fan was warned by match stewards to stop and when he continued, the player in question made a complaint to the assistant referee.
