News / Bristol Rovers
Racism charity backs Rovers red card plan
An anti-racism charity has backed a plan by Bristol Rovers to “show racism the red card”, after a fan allegedly abused a visiting player at the Memorial Stadium.
Dartford goalkeeper Jason Brown was allegedly repeatedly racially abused during the second half of a game last week.
Rovers said the abuse had come from “one or more of our supporters who were on the terrace behind his goal” and promised a full investigation to identify and ban those involved.
The club has now announced a plan to give the first 5,000 supporters to Saturday’s home game a red card and ask them to raise them in the air for one minute when the players come out on to the pitch at 2.55pm.
The plan has been praised by anti-racism campaigners at Show Racism the Red Card, who said today: “The club have shown that the actions of one individual will never be representative of the club as a whole, and Show Racism the Red Card are delighted that Rovers are using this weekend’s fixture to reinforce the message that prejudice will not be tolerated and that diversity is something to be celebrated.”
The club has said it wants to “show the football world that we are not a racist club” and has urged as many supporters as possible to get involved in the action.
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