Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo has said he believes prison sentences should be considered as a punishment for racist abuse in football, following his “painful” experience at Anfield.
During the first game of the new Premier League season last Friday, the London-born Ghana international was allegedly targeted by a pitch-side spectator at Anfield, during his side’s 4-2 defeat by Liverpool.
Semenyo, who scored twice in the match, reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor during the game, and a 47-year-old man was later arrested.
The man has been released on bail on suspicion of an aggravated public order offence and has been banned from any regulated football match in the UK as part of his bail conditions.
In his first interview about the incident, Semenyo told ITV News that the punishment for racist abuse in football should be tougher.
“It’s unacceptable, it shouldn’t be happening in this day and age. The punishment has to be the maximum,” he said.
“It could be jail time, it could be banned from stadiums for a lifetime, it could be anything along the lines of that, but I feel like there has to be something else. I’m speaking out for all players: if it does happen, make sure that the maximum punishment is something that happens.”
He said the anti-racism campaigns have “worked for a while but for the long term it hasn’t really worked”.
“I feel like something else needs to be done,” he added.
Asked if he felt the level of attention around last week’s incident would discourage future offences, Semenyo said: “I’d like to think so. I hope it does, but if it doesn’t, then it just shows that what we’re doing, what the Premier League are doing, it’s not enough and there’s more to be done.”
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters expressed a similar view last weekend, telling BBC Sport: “No Premier League footballer should ever have to, in their workplace or online, suffer that sort of abuse.
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“It makes people like me and other football people in charge of the game think twice about what else we can do to ensure that these things don’t happen in the future. If you are found to be using discriminatory language inside a football ground you will be ejected, second you will be banned, and third you may face criminal charges.”
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Semenyo said he is grateful to his teammates, opponents, and fans for their support and also revealed that he faced additional abuse on social media following the incident.
