Rovers player denies racial abuse

Soccer: The Shamrock Rovers player accused of racial abuse by Derry's Eamon Zayed has denied the claims. The Dublin-born Libyan international made the allegation after the teams drew 1-1 at Tallaght Stadium on Monday night.

Zayed scored the second-half equaliser in the game but was “quite upset” afterwards, according to manager Stephen Kenny, and an official complaint was lodged with the match delegate and referee Richie Winter.

The FAI and Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI) today announced they were investigating the allegations but Rovers have tonight stood by their player and expressed their disappointment with how the inquiry has been conducted thus far.

“Shamrock Rovers became aware (today) of a complaint made by a Derry City player against one of our players after (Monday) night’s game,” the club said. “The club has spoken to the player in question and he completely refutes the accusation that has been made against him.

“The club will of course cooperate with the FAI investigation in a bid to clear the name of the player involved and the club.

“We also regret that our name was publicly associated with such claims on the basis of an accusation and without any investigation taking place.”

Kenny was first to highlight the alleged incident in his post-match briefing and his comments were followed up this afternoon by an FAI statement announcing an investigation was underway.

“The FAI takes all instances of racist abuse very seriously and does not condone nor accept any racist behaviour or attitudes,” said Airtricity League Director Fran Gavin. “However, there is a complete process to go through when allegations of this nature are made. We will look for comments from the club and individuals allegedly involved and will address the matter in a sensitive fashion.”

“We’ve shown in the past that the league and the Association will act swiftly on these matters. All our clubs have supported our Show Racism the Red Card campaign for several years now in conjunction with the PFAI. Racism is something we will not tolerate in our game and thankfully it hasn’t been a feature in our games. However, it is something we must always be mindful of.”

The PFAI also spoke with Zayed but urged "caution until the full facts emerge and the FAI investigation is complete.”

Kenny also claimed after the game that Zayed had suffered racial abuse at the hands of St Patrick’s Athletic fans at Richmond Park last Friday.

“Any complaint that we get will be dealt with seriously,” said Pat’s secretary Anthony Delaney in response. “We don’t condone racism in any form and racism will not be tolerated in the ground. We’ve got notification from the FAI that there is an investigation pending so we will be investigating it ourselves.”