Man who sent racist messages to Brentford’s Ivan Toney is banned from football for three years

A man who sent a vile racist slur to Brentford star Ivan Toney in October has been given a three-year soccer banning order, banning him from all UK stadiums, in a landmark ruling.

Toney had shared a screenshot of a message on social media calling him ‘black c***’ after the striker scored twice against Brighton in a 2-0 win last year, uploading it with the caption: ‘I wasn’t even going to post this, but I woke up angry.

An investigation was then launched by Northumbria Police, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, and officers traced the message to a man who lived in the North Shields area.

Antonio Neill, 25, pleaded guilty to sending the message before magistrates in Newcastle in January and has now received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years, and a three-year banning order from all football games. in the United Kingdom.

It is the first of its kind to be issued under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Antonio Neill sent vile messages to Toney on social media after he scored against Brighton

It will prevent Neill from attending any matches in Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two and National League games. He will also be banned from England’s home international matches.

In a statement, Brentford said it was pleased to bring the matter to an end and hoped it would deter racist abuse of footballers in future.

“Brentford FC are delighted to see the Antonio Neill case resolved and brought to a conclusion by Northumbria Police,” the club said.

“Court appearances set a strong precedent for anyone else who commits hate crimes and we expect sentences to increase in severity until this type of crime is eradicated.

“Ivan Toney has been the subject of disgusting racist abuse on a regular basis, and we want to see tough action taken against anyone found guilty of such abuse.

Brentford said he hoped the landmark ruling would deter others from abusing footballers.

“The club firmly believes that there is no place for racial abuse in football and we continue to support and implement a zero tolerance policy towards discriminatory behavior of any kind.

“All authorities have their part to play in this and again we call on social media companies to make their platforms safe for all participants and remove all hateful content.”

Superintendent Scott Cowie, Northumbria Police’s head of hate crime, said: “Discrimination has no place in any society, whether in our communities or online.”

“I hope this reinforces our commitment to take action against anyone who commits a hate crime – it will not be tolerated and we will do everything we can to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Toney was also the target of racist abuse after he scored against Arsenal in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in February.

Toney also received racist abuse after scoring in Brentford’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal in February.

Brentford said at the time: “Immediately after Brentford’s match against Arsenal, Ivan Toney received a barrage of abusive and racist direct messages via his Instagram account.

“We are disgusted and saddened that Ivan has had to deal with this once again. We will not stand for it and will do everything we can to prosecute the people involved.

Ivan was subjected to similar abuse in October last year, and the perpetrator is now facing the consequences in court. How many times does this have to happen?

“We call on football fans everywhere to enjoy the competition and rivalry that exists between us, but to respect and accept our differences and celebrate the diversity that exists in the Premier League.

‘There is no place for racism’.