Rio Ferdinand has stated that he was racially abused by a Wolves supporter as he attended the Manchester United game at Molineux on Sunday.
West Midlands Police quickly followed up to confirm that a 31-year-old man has been attested for directing a ‘racist gesture’ at the United legend, who was working as a pundit for BT Sport.
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After the game, Ferdinand wrote on Twitter: “The last couple weeks, it’s been unreal to see fans back.
“However, to the Wolves fan who has just been thrown out for doing a monkey chant at me, you need to be dismissed from football and educated.
“Come meet me and I will help you understand what it feels like to be racially abused!”
Not long later, a statement from West Midlands Police was released, informing the public that a 31-year-old man had been arrested.
It read: “A 31-year-old man has been arrested at the Wolves vs Manchester United match this afternoon after a racist gesture was directed at Rio Ferdinand.
“We will not tolerate football hate crime.”
Wolves then posted a public statement of their own, quote-tweeting Ferdinand’s original message.
The club said: “We are deeply sorry Rio.
“This person does not represent our club, our supporters or our values.
“We can confirm that this individual has been arrested by West Midlands Police, who we will support to ensure that the strongest action is taken, including a lifetime ban from our club.”
Ferdinand spoke out in more detail on the BT broadcast at full-time.
He said: “Fortunately I’ve just had a tweet come through from West Midlands Police saying that the fan has been arrested and he’s currently in custody.
“It says they take racism very seriously which is pleasing to see and refreshing.
“But listen, I’d love to meet up with the fella and just educate him a little bit.
“I think that’s part of the problem, punishing people without education isn’t the way forward and it’s disappointing.
“People have waited all these months, over a year to get back in the stadium and then you come in with ignorance like that.
“Uncalled for, not needed, not warranted at all. Disappointing really.
“But listen, that’s just a very small minority in the stand that was doing it.
“We were having banter with the fans and stuff. The fans here, the emotion and atmosphere they created today was fantastic and that’s one person that tries to destroy it for everybody else.”
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