Tom Adeyemi was visibly upset after the alleged incident of racial abuse at Anfield. But, he can now take solace in the fact that a man has been arrested following the incident.
Adeyemi, 20, was last Friday playing for Oldham Athletic against Liverpool in the FA Cup 3rd round at Anfield, when the incident of alleged racist abuse by fans occurred.
The game was stopped briefly after Adeyemi brought the incident to the notice of the referee, Neil Swarbrick.
A probe into the incident was launched soon after the Friday night's Liverpool v Oldham FA Cup third-round game.
Merseyside Police said a 20-year-old man from Aintree, Merseyside, was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence, after the club provided CCTV footage to the cops. The man was later bailed out.
The incident occurred just about two weeks after Indian student Anuj Bidve was shot dead in a Manchester suburb. The verbal abuse of the black soccer player is being viewed as an obnoxious reminder of racism that keeps surfacing from time to time in British society.
Liverpool has already issued an apology to the Oldham defender. The Merseyside club said it sincerely regretted the distress caused to Adeyemi after a fan sitting on The Kop allegedly hurled the racist abuse during the latter stages of the FA Cup third-round tie. The club has also vowed to ban the supporter for life if he is found guilty.
Liverpool’s statement read: “Whatever the outcome of what is now a police investigation, all of us are deeply sorry for what happened on Friday night and our players and our Club pass on our sincere regrets to Tom Adeyemi for the upset and distress he suffered as a result of the matter at hand.
“Regarding the incident that occurred on Friday evening, we have given Merseyside police every possible assistance we can and will continue to provide the necessary support to their investigation in order to ensure this particular incident is dealt with properly. We will continue to take the strongest possible action(s) against unacceptable behaviour during our matches.”
Liverpool issued a statement on Saturday evening saying they’ll “continue to work closely with Merseyside Police to establish all the facts surrounding the incident that occurred during last night's game. We take this matter extremely seriously and have today provided the police with the evidence we currently have available to us."
