Southampton release statement on racially abusive social media posts sent to Alex Jankewitz

It’s hard to keep faith in society these days and football continues to shine an ugly light on the behaviour of many.

Anonymous idiots online have sent racist abuse to a string of footballers over the past couple of weeks.

Manchester United players have been targeted, including Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe, and Marcus Rashford, a man has done a ridiculous amount of good for the United Kingdom since the coronavirus pandemic landed on our shores.

Chelsea’s Reece James has been sent racist abuse, as has West Bromwich Albion’s Romaine Sawyers.

That latter case saw a 49-year-old man get arrested on suspicion of sending racist abuse Sawyer’s way online.

Shamefully, Southampton’s Alex Jankewitz is the latest player to be on the receiving end of racist abuse.

Southampton released a club statement strongly condemning the racist abuse sent to Jankewitz, saying they are passing on all identified messages on to Hampshire Police.

The statement reads:

“Southampton Football Club can confirm that it has identified a number of posts on social media directing racial abuse at our 19-year-old midfielder Alex Jankewitz, following last night’s result at Manchester United.

Abuse of any form will never be tolerated at Southampton. Our club prides itself on its inclusive nature, and supporters who stoop to such abhorrent and archaic standards are not welcome as Southampton supporters, or anywhere else within football.

The club will continue to fight every day to remove such people from our sport and our community in order to protect our players, our staff, Southampton fans and football supporters around the world who recognise and celebrate the diversity that makes football special.

The club is passing on all abusive messages to Hampshire Police and hope they are able to permanently remove those individuals from our football community.”

Jankewitz, a promising youngster, made his full debut for Saints last night against United. It didn’t last long as he was rightly red carded for an ill-advised challenge on Scott McTominay after little over a minute.

Instead of being angry at him, any fan of sound mind should be disappointed for Jankewitz - a 19-year-old who is still finding his way in the game. That’s regardless of whether your team goes on to lose 9-0 or not.

If you are a “fan” who feels it’s OK to send racist abuse towards a footballer, you are a deplorable human being. Simple as that.