ENQUIRIES into allegations of racism and violence at a match between Worcester Raiders and Darlaston Town have been met by a wall of silence this week.
One of Darlaston’s players took to Twitter to claim his manager “got punched in the changing rooms” and that his assistant “got directly spat (at) on his face” at Saturday’s West Midlands (Regional) League (WMRL) Division One clash at Claines Lane.
The post from Twitter handle @Beckstheturk21 went on to say “some of the racism I heard today and shouts were absolutely appalling towards certain players on the pitch. Not on at all”.
A subsequent tweet linked in the official Twitter handle of the Kick It Out campaign, the campaign group for equality in football, as well as the Darlaston’s feed and two unofficial WMRL news accounts.
Replies from Raiders assistant manager Chris Cornes (@chriscornes10) asked “what about all the damage to the dressing room and showers! Or shall we not talk about that?” followed by “what about when adult players grab a 14-year-old kid round the throat?”
Darlaston manager Andy Parkes agreed to speak with Worcester News earlier this week but has yet to respond to an arranged call.
Darlaston chairman Neil Chambers then indicated “we will not be making any public comments on any of the incidents at last Saturday’s game” via message having not responded to phone calls.
Raiders chairman Kevin Jenkins, manager Karl Gormley and Cornes have been unavailable for comment since Tuesday.
Raiders finished the match with nine men after the dismissals of Anthony Smith and Martin Fowler, both of whom were sent off for receiving two yellow cards by referee Jozsef Jakab.
If any alleged incidents made it into Jakab’s post-match report, the details would be scrutinised by Worcestershire FA. The relevant representative of the county association was not available prior to going to press.
A WMRL spokesperson said: “We have had nothing from either club with regard to Worcester Raiders v Darlaston Town. Nothing has been sent to the league secretary.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel