Teen striker sacked over vile tweets to Harry Arter

Semi-professional footballer Alfie Barker has been sacked by parent club Hitchin Town and faces an investigation from the FA for offensive comments sent on Twitter to Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter about his stillborn daughter.

The tweets from an account in the name of Barker were sent to Arter after Arsenal came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Bournemouth on Tuesday night. One of the messages said: “at least you didn’t lose your kid”.

It was then followed up by another tweet to the Ireland international which said: “big hype just for a disappointment like the 9 months leading up to your childs birth”.