A County Durham footballer has been suspended by the FA after heckling shocking ableist abuse at a disabled fan.
The Northern Echo reported in March how Thomas O’Connor, who has one leg, was watching West Auckland Town’s reserves play at home against Deerness Valley FC on February 3 when a player for the visiting side shouted the awful comments at him.
Thomas, who is a regular at West Auckland games was watching from behind the goal in his wheelchair when the incident happened.
The 61-year-old claimed the game got heated and he shouted onto the pitch “Don’t speak to the referee like that!”, when the player “lost it”.
He alleged the Deerness player heckled: “Shut up you fat b****rd, at least I’ve got two legs!”.
When Thomas went to report the incident to the club secretary, he said the player then shouted: “F*** off or I will turn your wheelchair off”.
Allegations against the player were found proven after the FA took over an investigation, the Echo understands, and he has been suspended for nine games and must do online anti-discrimination training before returning to the pitch.
A spokesperson for West Auckland FC said: “It was very important to get the message out that this kind of behaviour would not be tolerated. The player has been given quite a lengthy ban and has to do an online course.
“I am pleased that this is not going to be accepted by the FA and they are going to be taking cases like this seriously, and it won’t be tolerated in any football ground.
“We are signed up to the ‘Kick it out’ campaign and we are proud of that. We want to be a place everyone feels welcome, and we were never going to brush this under the carpet when the allegations were made.”
Thomas, of West Auckland, said he was happy with the outcome, but the incident had left him unsure about returning to the stands.
He said: “I was angry, really angry when it happened. I always thought people were looking down at me but have never felt it like this before.
“I am happy in terms of the outcome - he got a nine-game ban and he can’t start again until he completes this online course. I wasn’t too bothered about the suspension, it’s the fact he has to have some awareness training.
“I haven’t decided whether I am going to renew my season ticket yet or not. I don’t really want to stop going because that’s my only enjoyment but this is the only thing putting the doubt in my mind.
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“I have been going for five or six years and I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before. I’ve been in a wheelchair eight years – it took a lot for me to start going out in the first place.
“I am a big Sunderland fan but I the only reason I stopped going was because of the crowd – everything is above me. I used to be 6ft, now I am nearer to the floor I worry with the crowd.”
The FA said it was committed to ensuring discrimination is eliminated from the game.
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