Football racism row sparks questions over FAW Trophy final

STM Sports played Cefn Albion in Saturday's FAW Trophy semi-final.

The Football Association of Wales must seriously consider whether a final goes ahead following allegations of racial abuse by fans, a Cardiff MP has said.

Two players from STM Sports, from Llanrumney, Cardiff, said they were abused by Wrexham's Cefn Albion fans in the FAW Trophy semi-final on 16 March.

Dyfed-Powys Police said it sent extra reinforcements to the match in Newtown, Powys, and is investigating.

The FAW said the game would go ahead.

"The FAW, alongside Dyfed-Powys Police, are currently investigating a number of alleged incidents during the FAW Trophy semi-final fixture between Cefn Albion and STM Sports," a statement said.

"The FAW Trophy Final between Pontardawe Town and Cefn Albion will go ahead this Saturday as planned."

Cefn Albion said in a statement it had not been made aware of any issues and said it had not received any direct contact from police, STM Sports or the FAW.

The club said it prided itself on "being ambassadors for the community and on providing a welcoming and friendly environment for players and supporters from all backgrounds", and would "not tolerate any behaviour which brings our good name into disrepute".

'Sad day'

Two players from STM, Hermon Yohanes and Lamin Conteh, said they were repeatedly racially abused by fans while playing in the match.

Mr Yohanes said: "I have never been treated like this before.

"It was a very sad day and it has affected me a lot and I didn't play yesterday, just sat on the bench.

"Something has to be done."

Mr Conteh said: "I have never come across such racism and poor behaviour in my entire football career," adding racist abuse was shouted into his face.

"They cannot get away with intimidating us like this, the whole day was spoilt for everybody."

There were also allegations of sexism, with a female fan saying she was confronted and assaulted in the cafe at Latham Park in Newtown.

Jo Stevens wants a widespread anti-racism programme in schools across the UK

Jo Stevens, MP for Cardiff Central, said: "I think the FAW needs to think about this seriously, whether [the final] should go ahead.

"But the most important thing is that the investigation is done, that it's transparent, efficient and we get the results of it quickly."

Vice-chairman of STM, Nigel Bircham, wrote an email to the FAW, which said: "Can somebody offer me some kind of logical explanation as to why these people are allowed to play in the final of the FAW Trophy after all that happened to us?

"Intimidation, racial abuse, sexist abuse and abuse in front of children from the ages of five to nine years old. I hope you are all very proud of yourselves. I can only assume from this that you actually condone what happened that day."

A study in December found half of football fans in the UK had seen or heard racist abuse at matches.

Dyfed-Powys Police, which provided officers for the match, said police "quickly gained control" of the situation and was reviewing body camera footage to see if further action is required.

Ms Stevens called for racism to be tackled from childhood.

"Children are not born racist, they learn about racism from people around them so I think we need a widespread anti-racism programme in our schools right across the UK, and the people that are best-placed to do that are charities," she added.

"I don't think any organisation in sport can be complacent about tackling racism. It is a problem, particularly in football - what's worrying is we've seen this spike over the last couple of months.

"Every organisation including the FAW needs to look at what they're doing, what they could do better and to look at other sports to see where it's done really well and learn from best practice."