Bournemouth striker Antoine Semenyo has urged that tougher sanctions be imposed on racist abusers after he was subjected to vile abuse at Anfield last week.
The 25-year-old Ghanaian forward was taking a throw-in during Bournemouth’s Premier League opener against Liverpool when a fan in a wheelchair hurled racist insults at him.
Semenyo immediately reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor, while Merseyside Police escorted the offender out of the stadium and later arrested him on Saturday.
Mogan, a lifelong wheelchair user from Liverpool, has been released on bail for three months as investigations continue.
Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, who scored twice in the match, has now spoken publicly about the “mind-boggling” racist abuse he endured.
Speaking to ITV News, the 25-year-old said:
*“It was pretty sad to hear, to be honest. I feel like in this day and age players are still getting racially abused and it just doesn’t make sense. We just want to know why it keeps happening.
I felt it was the right thing to do to report it to the referee. I wasn’t going to hide away. If I didn’t say anything, it would have played on my mind.
At half-time I was pretty angry, but I used it as fuel and motivation — and those two goals, you could say they came from that.
It’s mind-boggling, the punishment isn’t enough when things like this happen. There has to be great punishment. Any players who experience it shouldn’t shy away from reporting it, and the punishment should be maximum. It shouldn’t be happening in this day and age.”*
When asked what punishments he believes would be effective, Semenyo suggested jail time or lifetime bans from stadiums, stressing that stronger measures are needed to deter such abuse.
The Ghanaian striker has since received overwhelming support from fans, teammates, and the football community following the incident.
