Referee stops Sporting Gijon's game against Athletic Bilbao over racist chanting

Posted Monday, August 22, 2016 by Skysports.com

Athletic Bilbao's forward Inaki Williams had racist chanting directed at him from a section of the Sporting Gijon crowd

Sporting Gijon's game against Athletic Bilbao had to be stopped by the referee when home fans began to chant racist abuse at Bilbao's Inaki Williams.

Referee Clos Gomez suspended play temporarily before the 30-minute mark upon hearing racist chants from a section of the Gijon crowd towards the 22-year-old Spanish player.

Some of the Gijon players pleaded with the crowd to cease the racial abuse and the game resumed only after Gijon made a stadium announcement asking the fans to stop the chants.

Williams, who was born in Bilbao to Liberian parents, became the first black player to score for the Basque-only club in 2014.

Gijon's 2-1 victory was marred by the ugly scenes in the first half

In 2008, Gijon were fined 3000 euros for racist and abusive chanting in an incident involving Getafe's Joffre Guerron.

Away from the ugly first-half scenes, Gijon opened their La Liga campaign with a 2-1 win over the visitors going in front in the 50th minute with a goal from Duje Cop.

Victor Rodriguez scored Gijon's second goal with a swift counter-attacking move three minutes later.