FA to probe Millwall racist taunts at Diouf

The Football Association has contacted Leeds to ask for El-Hadji Diouf’s version of events as part of an investigation into footage which showed the striker being racially abused during a match at Millwall in November.

Last night, British police arrested a 53-year-old man in connection with the incident. Millwall have also reopened an investigation, saying they are “appalled” by footage shown on Sky Sports News.

The film appeared to show the Senegal international alerting the referee, Mark Halsey, and making stewards aware of his allegations but Millwall insisted no complaint of racist abuse was made by the player at the time. The FA is now investigating the footage — and not just the incident with Diouf. It is understood Leeds have provided the governing body with the Senegal striker’s version of what happened.

An FA statement said: “We will work with all the relevant authorities including the police to investigate fully.”

Football League chairman Greg Clarke stressed the need for players to be given the support to report incidents of racist abuse. Clarke admitted something in the game may be “terribly wrong” if black players felt unable to do so.

Clarke said: “To have our players subjected to such vile and filthy abuse deserves nothing more than the culprits being arrested and facing the full weight of the law.

“If we’ve created an environment that doesn’t support black players in confronting this issue we’ve done something terribly wrong.”

However, Reading striker Jason Roberts was dismissive of the FA’s recent action plan to deal with racism. “We need to do better. We need to have proper zero tolerance. We need to hit the offenders hard.

“The FA has come up with a 92-point plan but there’s nothing in that plan that makes me think we are going to change this situation.

“When I go out on the football pitch I don’t want to be subjected to that kind of abuse. Get CCTV cameras working properly, get the police and stewards doing their jobs properly.”

Millwall captain Danny Shittu said he was “deeply saddened” by the Sky Sports News documentary.

He said: “As the current Millwall captain, racism is something I do not stand for or condone. I am currently in talks with the club about any further measures we can take in dealing with and eradicating racism at matches.

“I do not want the events shown yesterday to tarnish the hard work done by the club thus far and their efforts in tackling this issue.

“Every player at all levels has the right to represent their club without being subjected to homophobic or racial taunts.”