Say it to his face, we dare you – Luton support Elijah Adebayo over racist abuse

Luton have reported a racist comment sent to forward Elijah Adebayo on social media during Wednesday night’s Sky Bet Championship match against Sunderland.

The Hatters forward had been subjected to racist abuse last season while playing in the Premier League, which at the time left Adebayo “tired” and contemplating not reporting the matter over his disillusionment.

Luton said the latest incident had been reported to both the police and social media company Meta, with the latter confirming on Friday the account in question had been disabled and that it was in contact with the club.

A club statement under the headline “Is it ever going to stop?” read: “Twelve months ago Elijah Adebayo was subjected to racist abuse on social media. A wave of vile and disgusting messages pouring into his account from faceless racists. Fast forward a year later and it has happened again.

“At 8.28pm BST on Wednesday evening, an account in the UK on Instagram messaged Elijah with a racist comment.

“After Elijah notified us following last night’s game with Sunderland, in which he scored his first goal of the season, we reported the incident to the police and to Meta. It is now being investigated.

“Just like we said a year ago, and just like we will do whenever a player or staff member is subjected to abuse, we will stand by and support Elijah unequivocally.

“To the individual who cowardly dropped into Elijah’s DMs (direct messages): We know who you are and you know who you are. You’re not a faceless account, one which we have sadly become accustomed to reporting in recent years.

“But as if you have the balls to come to Kenilworth Road and say it to his face. We dare you. If you do, you will be faced with everyone at Luton Town Football Club, standing side-by-side with Elijah.

“Abuse of any kind is unacceptable. But does everyone know that? It’s why we are doing our bit to educate everyone that racism and all forms of abuse is abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Luton lost Wednesday night’s game against Sunderland 2-1, with Romaine Mundle putting the visitors back in front shortly after Adebayo’s equaliser during the second half.

The club’s statement added: “We are all Luton and we will continue to support and champion these initiatives until such time that the message gets through to the ignorant minority.

“But the question remains: how much longer will our players, our heroes – fellow human beings for crying out loud – be targeted because of the colour of their skin? There is no room for racism.”