Tigers condemn ‘abhorrent’ Vaz abuse as police vow to trace offenders
STATEMENT: Hull City
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Hull City have condemned the “abhorrent” racist abuse directed at new signing Robinio Vaz on social media.
Police have vowed to identify those responsible.
The talented young French striker was among six signings made by the club on the final day of the summer transfer window on Tuesday.
But within moments of Vaz’s arrival being announced by City on the club’s official social media accounts, he was being subjected to racist abuse.
The posts were extremely offensive but The Hull Story is not repeating them here to avoid causing further distress.
Others even took it as an opportunity to target the club’s owner, with an account on X under the name “Leon” posting: “Is hull city [sic] owned by a British person? Nope Ali Acun Ilıcalı another immigrant”.
However, some social media users leapt to Vaz’s defence and also condemned the abuse. One wrote: “If Robinio Vaz comes on for Hull City against Aston Villa, I hope he gets the loudest reception. 19 year old lad, berated with racism on day 1, some of the comments were honestly disgusting.”
The club said in a statement: “Hull City condemns the abhorrent racist abuse directed towards our new signing Robinio Vaz on social media.
“No individual should ever experience discriminatory abuse, and the club will provide Robinio with our full support.
“Hull City has a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of discrimination and in the last 24 hours, we have been in communication with the Premier League, anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out and the relevant social media companies.
“We are also working with Humberside Police and other relevant authorities to identify the accounts responsible for this disgusting abuse, so that appropriate action can be taken against those individuals.
“We are delighted that Robinio has joined our Hull City family, and we know our supporters share our excitement to watch him in action at the MKM Stadium.
“We stand with Robinio and encourage all supporters to continue to report any form of discrimination.”
Head coach Sergej Jakirović also condemned the abuse, telling BBC Humberside Sport: “Disaster. Unacceptable. Zero tolerance on this abuse. I don’t know, we are living in the 21st century? I don’t know. And all this coming from fake accounts. If you are so brave why don’t you put your name, surname?”
He added: “Police are involved, we report everything so we will see. We are 100 per cent behind him, all the club.”
A spokesperson for the UK Football Policing Unit said: “As we have said repeatedly, there is absolutely no place for racial abuse, either online or in person, and anyone who believes they can hide behind their keyboards should think again.
“The UKFPU condemns this abhorrent behaviour and we will ensure that, through our dedicated team of officers, we will do everything possible to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out received a record 1,744 reports of abuse last season – a 25 per cent increase on the previous campaign.
The Tigers have won their first two games on their return to the Premier League this season and face Aston Villa at the MKM Stadium on Saturday.