"We believe that it did NOT in fact contain any racial element"
AFC Sudbury have denied that a fan who shouted 'black c***' at Colchester United goalkeeper Shamal George was being racially abusive.
George was allegedly subject to racist abuse during his team's 4-0 win in the FA Cup at Sudbury on Friday night.
Seventh-tier Sudbury weren't able to cause an upset as Colchester ran out 4-0 winners in an all-Suffolk clash, becoming the first team to qualify for the second round of the competition.
The result was overshadowed by actions off the pitch, with viewers of the tie - which was televised on BBC Two - hearing racist abuse toward George from a crowd member at The MEL Group Stadium.
https://twitter.com/londonshrimper/status/1456741852724482056
The former Liverpool shot-stopper has stated that the win was "ruined" by the alleged abuse.
In a video posted on Twitter, a male voice can be heard saying: "George you’re lucky there init, you big black c***", after the 23-year-old made a routine save.
The incident occurred in the 76th minute when the U's were winning 3-0, with referee Simon Mather temporarily halting the match after the abuse was reported.
Following the match, George tweeted: "Good result. Ruined by s*** like this.
"Honestly. 2nd time in space of a few months. Bet it goes under the carpet again."
https://twitter.com/shamalgeorge/status/1456748473672519680
Despite there being footage of the incident occurring, Andrew Long, Chairman of AFC Sudbury, has released a
statement claiming that the club believes the video "did NOT in fact contain any racial element".
He said: "AFC Sudbury would like to confirm that, following extensive analysis of the footage, once the incident had been isolated on audio, we believe that it did NOT in fact contain any racial element.
"It is however clearly abusive in nature and the club will deal with this in the strongest possible manner.
"We would like to publicly state that AFC Sudbury condemns abuse of ANY kind and any visitor to the club who uses language or behaviour of this kind will be banned indefinitely from the football club.
"We are proud of our reputation as a family community club and know that anybody associated with AFC Sudbury in whatever capacity will join in this condemnation."
The FA have stated that they are investigating the alleged abuse and will be liaising with both clubs and the police.
It is believed that a suspect was interviewed under caution, but Cumbria Police could not proceed with an investigation because there was "insufficient evidence".
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