THE Oxfordshire Football Association (FA) has released a statement to explain it does not condone racism in football after an alleged incident of racism last weekend, writes Rob Stevens.

The match involved two teams affiliated to the Berks & Bucks FA but both take cases such as these seriously.

It is now understood that whilst the individual is a referee, he was actually playing for one of the teams when allegedly received the abuse.

Alastair Kay is the Governance Manager at the Berks & Bucks FA. He said: "An alleged incident of discrimination towards a player has been reported to us and we will now investigate fully working alongside The FA as is standard procedure in discrimination cases.

"As an open and ongoing investigation we cannot comment on details of individual cases.


“We take all cases of abuse and discrimination very seriously and stress that there is no place for this type of behaviour in the game.

"We would encourage anyone who is victim of, or witness to, discrimination in football to report this via the appropriate channels.”

The Oxfordshire FA posted a tweet earlier today (Monday) that read: "Oxfordshire FA is aware of social media posts relating to alleged incidents of racism towards a referee over the weekend.

"We take cases such of these seriously and will be sharing with colleagues at the Berks & Bucks FA, to whom both teams are affiliated, and supporting in any way.

Ian Mason is the Chief Executive at the Oxfordshire FA. He said: "Our tweet was in response to other stories posted where we were referenced as the county FA for the teams and we just wanted to indicate that they were linked to another county FA.

"We like others feel there is no need or place for this sort of behaviour and certainly don’t condone it, either in football or in life in general.

"The FA have clear guidelines on procedures and punishments for allegations and incidents like this and, in respect of this incident, we know our colleagues will follow them.

"Also, and equally as important, the referee will receive support at this time and through the proceedings.

"The Oxfordshire FA have no further comment whilst the investigation proceeds."