Samson Tovide reports racist abuse from crowd as Accrington draw with Colchester

Posted Sunday, September 01, 2024 by PA

Accrington’s 1-1 draw with Colchester was overshadowed by an allegation of racist abuse aimed at U’s forward Samson Tovide.

Kesley Mooney gave Stanley a 25th-minute lead before substitute Ben Goodliffe levelled for Colchester five minutes from time.

However, in the final minute, Tovide appeared visibly upset after he reported something was said from the crowd as he waited for an Accrington corner in front of the home end.

Tovide spoke to referee Tom Reeves, with the game held up for several minutes as his team-mates gathered around him and the match official spoke to both managers.

After the match, the referee took statements from both Accrington and Colchester officials.

Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “Samson said there were two incidents. He didn’t report the first one, but reported the second one.

“Someone in the crowd made a racist remark and, as a white person in this country, I feel embarrassed and ashamed we are in the 21st Century and this is still happening.

“I am not blaming Accrington Stanley, this is an issue in our society.

“It’s not the first time it’s happened to Samson, he has had some stuff on social media. It’s totally unacceptable. Credit to the referee, the security people at Accrington, as they dealt with the incident.

“It’s difficult and my heart is with Samson.”

About the game, Cowley said: “We brought Ben on as he is an attacking threat in the box and he has got three goals now this season. We had dominance of the game at that point and it was good to find the goal.

“It’s the third game in a week, away from home, and that was a big challenge and I thought it did look like we played a Premier League game on Wednesday and had an eight-hour trip here but we were resilient and durable.”

Stanley manager John Doolan said: “In the first half we were good, in the second half they were slightly better than us.

“There were loads of positives from the game. We can do better in the second half and Shaun (Whalley) at the end could have won it, but if you are not going to win the game, don’t lose it.

“We scored a great team goal, an unbelievable goal, and I am proud of the effort and desire.

“Goodliffe is a threat from set plays and it’s worked for them but we can be better at marking him.”

Stanley later put out a statement regarding the racism allegations, which read: “Discrimination of any form is not okay, and instances of discriminatory or prejudiced behaviour will not be tolerated by Accrington Stanley.

“Please note, the club will be making no further comment at this stage.”