ANTOINE Semenyo believes prison sentences should be considered as a punishment for racial abuse in football, following his “painful” experiences at the hands of a supporter last week.
The first game of the new Premier League season was marred by an incident that saw the Bournemouth forward allegedly targeted by a pitch-side spectator at Anfield, during his side’s 4-2 defeat by Liverpool.
The London-born Ghana international, who scored twice in the match, reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor and a 47-year-old man was subsequently arrested.
The man was released on bail on suspicion of an aggravated public order offence and has been banned from any regulated football match in the UK as part of his bail conditions.
In his first interview on the matter, Semenyo told ITV News the available sanctions should be even more severe.
“It’s unacceptable, it shouldn’t be happening in this day and age. The punishment has to be the maximum,” he said.
“It could be jail time, it could be banned from stadiums for a lifetime, it could be anything along the lines of that, but I feel like there has to be something else.
“I’m speaking out for all players: if it does happen, make sure that the maximum punishment is something that happens.
“Those (anti-racism) campaigns, they’ve worked for a while but for the long term it hasn’t really worked. I feel like something else needs to be done.”
Asked if he felt the level of attention around last week’s incident would act as a deterrent in future, Semenyo added: “I’d like to think so.
“I hope it does, but if it doesn’t, then it just shows that what we’re doing, what the Premier League are doing, it’s not enough and there’s more to be done.”
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters echoed similar sentiments last weekend, telling BBC Sport: “No Premier League footballer should ever have to, in their workplace or online, suffer that sort of abuse.
“It makes people like me and other football people in charge of the game think twice about what else we can do to ensure that these things don’t happen in the future.
“If you are found to be using discriminatory language inside a football ground you will be ejected, second you will be banned, and third you may face criminal charges.”
Semenyo, who thanked the team-mates, opponents and fans who showed him support on the day, also revealed he was subjected to further abuse on social media in the aftermath of the incident.
“I feel like in this day and age it just doesn’t make sense and we want to know why it keeps happening. It was pretty painful to hear,” he said.
“I got back on the coach and I was just going through my messages. I wanted to reply back to family and friends, to be honest and then it obviously popped across the screen on Instagram, I was getting racially abused as well, and it’s just like straight after the game that’s happened.
“Someone has felt the need to come online and do that, so that made me angry, to be honest. Why would you want to do that?”
Read the full article here