Man found guilty for racially aggravated harassment towards Ivan Toney on social media
Wednesday 18 July 2018 09:48, UK
A man has been found guilty and prosecuted for a racially aggravated social media post towards former Wigan striker Ivan Toney in December 2017.
Toney was on loan at Wigan from Newcastle at the time of the tweet, with The Latics notifying both Twitter and Greater Manchester Police after seeing the post.
A statement from Wigan Athletic read: "The defendant, Calvin White, 25, of Hollycarrside Road, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment and was sentenced to a community order of 12 months, 120 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay £170 costs.
"The club immediately notified Twitter and Greater Manchester Police after seeing the post in December 2017 and have been fully cooperative in helping the authorities identify the person responsible for the tweet.
"We would also like to thank Northumbria Police for their support in identifying the individual responsible for the social media post."
Meanwhile, Kick It Out released the following statement: "We applaud Wigan Athletic for notifying both Twitter and the police. Discriminatory abuse is no less unacceptable when it is carried out on social media, and this shows that however and wherever this occurs there is no hiding place.
"However, it also proves that there is still a lot of work to be done in and around the game to tackle discrimination and educate offenders."
