LONDON: The Premier League has introduced new measures to tackle discrimination in the game ahead of the new season, including permanent stadium bans for supporters, it said on Tuesday.
All 20 clubs have agreed to enforce league-wide punishments, including bans, for individuals found to have behaved in an abusive manner towards any club employee, player, match official, steward or fan attending a game.
“The Premier League and our clubs condemn all forms of discriminatory and abusive behaviour. The commitment from all clubs to enforce league-wide bans demonstrates there is no place for discrimination... ,” said chief executive Richard Masters.
“Football is a diverse sport, which brings together communities from all backgrounds. We call on fans to come together with us and our clubs to help tackle discrimination by challenging and reporting abuse wherever they see it.”
The league said this month that players from all teams will continue to take the knee ahead of games this season to highlight their opposition to racism.
The new measures will also cover online abuse, with the Premier League saying it is continuing to work with clubs to challenge social media companies and authorities to take more preventative measures.
The announcement came on the day Twitter shared an analysis that said the UK was “by far” the main origin of racist posts aimed at England players after the Euro 2020 final which they lost to Italy on penalties. – Reuters
