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Son of Bradford supporter speaks of his Dad getting called a monkey prior to Port Vale game last night

Bradford City are investigating after a supporter was allegedly racially abused by fellow Bantams fans before last night’s game against Port Vale.

Collis Robinson was with his 67 year old father as they made their way to Valley Parade but was subjected to disgusting slurs.

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He said on Twitter: “Tonight whilst he was walking to the game, my 67 year old dad who was wearing his Bradford City scarf, was racially abused by a few fellow Bradford City “fans” (a couple were wearing City shirts) who thought it was acceptable to call him monkey and do monkey chants. I use the term “fans” very loosely because it’s not really something I associate with the club but it saddens me to now accept that it probably is a part of it. Racism in football and in general has been highlighted recently due to incidents at high profile games but to have this occurring so close to home, to a member of my own family, absolutely sickens me -some people did say that as a country, we needed to get our own house in order before calling out others (Bulgaria) and I guess they were right.

“I didn’t find out about what had happened until I met my dad at the ground but I haven’t stopped thinking about it since; why people think they have the right to do this and why I couldn’t have been there for my dad at the time. My dad has supported City since the 70’s, he was there on 11th May 1985 and for me, he’s part of that club whether he was born in this country or not – the colour of his skin makes him no less a fan, or person, than anyone else. I simply cannot understand the mindset of some people to racially abuse my dad, whilst they’re on their way to “support” a team that features a number of players from various ethnicities; makes me wonder whether they cheered when Vaughan scored tonight, or when Akpan has scored, or Donaldson, or whether they’ve had to force their elation through gritted teeth because a player of colour scored a goal for the team they apparently support.

“Unfortunately, I’m sure there are a number of people who probably think this isn’t a true story, or that’s it’s just pc gone mad and well, that’s really on you and your conscience – for anyone else of a sane mind, which I hope is the majority; this shouldn’t be happening in football or society in this day an age and I hope that if you ever bear witness to anything like this, you’d have the courage to call it out and I also hope you never have the misfortune to experience it yourself. It’s not acceptable, ever.

“If you’re reading this and know that you were one of the people that did this, or you’re someone who is inclined to do something like this in future, or has done so in the past – then I feel sorry for you, I genuinely do; because with such a bigoted and closed mind, you’ll never be able to fully experience the abundance of joy in the world that lives outside of the single-minded existence you live in. You weren’t born that way, you chose a path at some point that made you think acts like this are rational but I’m here to tell you it’s never too late to change.”

Ryan Sparks, City’s director of communications, said: “We are disgusted to hear of this incident and will do everything in our power to identity those alleged to have been involved.

“Racism has no place in society and we treat all forms of discrimination with the utmost seriousness.

“We as a club have been working closely with the Bradford Hate Crime Alliance and Bradford Council.

“Over the weekend, we supported the #BradfordNoPlaceForHate campaign and play our part in a host of diversity and inclusion projects and initiatives.

“Bradford is proud, multi-cultural city and racism is absolutely unacceptable. We would urge anyone who witnessed last night’s incident to come forward and contact the club. This can be done anonymously.”

 

After seeing the fan and club’s Twitter posts on the racist abuse prior to the Port Vale game, fans took to slam the culprit and wish they got bans – see those tweets on the next page.

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