Section:GDN 1N PaGe:41 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 19:54 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019 The Guardian •
41‘People think they
can say what they
want, even if it’s racist’
Reading’s Yakou Méïté hit
back after being abused on
social media by publishing
the troll’s vile messagesEd AaronsE
ven 24 hours on Yakou
Méïté is struggling to
comprehend the events
of Sunday afternoon. “I
was happy because we
had won but personally
I was a bit upset after missing the
penalty,” the Reading striker says of
his side’s 3-0 win over Cardiff.
“To see that message when I
checked my phone afterwards made
me very sad – it’s the fi rst time I’ve
ever experienced anything like that.
To be honest for the fi rst 30 minutes
I think I was in a little bit of shock but
then I realised it’s not everyone who
is like this. Unfortunately there are
some bad people who like sending
messages like that but it’s important
not to let it aff ect you.”
Minutes after his spot-kick had
been saved during injury time of
the Championship match three
direct messages from an account
named “saw_pyay_htoo” registered
in Singapore were sent to the Ivory
Coast forward: “mother fucker”;
“can’t score penalty”; “fucking
monkey”.
It was the latest incident of racist
abuse to have blighted the start of
the football season, with Chelsea’s
Tammy Abraham and Paul Pogba of
Manchester United also subjected to
online discrimination over the past
week having missed a penalty. Méïté
decided to take things into his own
hands by publishing the messages
to his 35,000 followers on Instagram
with the reply : “I don’t think I need
to speak.”
“I was very angry so I decided to
share it so people could see what
kind of stuff we players have to
put up with sometimes,” he says.
“People think they can say whatever
they want, even if it’s racist. But
of course they would never say
that to my face. They hide behind
Instagram or Facebook and that’s
why I posted it.”
After the Abraham incident in
the Super Cup in Istanbul last week
the anti-racism organisation Kick
it Out issued a “call to action” to
social media companies to clamp
down on online abuse. Even after
the off ending account was swiftly
deleted Méïté agrees.
“Everyone should be together
to try to do something about this
because it is unacceptable,” he
says. “We are all the same and we
are playing to make people happy
and to see this kind of message is
not good for the sport. I want to
say thank you to everyone who has
sent me messages because I havereceived a lot of love – even from
supporters of other Championship
clubs. They make me feel I am not
alone and these kind of messages
are not only hurting me but
everyone.”
Now settled in Berkshire after
signing from Paris Saint-Germain
in 2016, Méïté enjoyed his best
campaign as he scored 12 league
goals despite Reading fi nishing 20th
in the Championship last season.
A hamstring injury that forced him
out of the last few matches also
ended up costing him a place in
Ivory Coast’s squad for the Africa
Cup of Nations in Egypt, where
Ibrahim Kamara’s side were beaten
on penalties in the quarter-fi nal by
the eventual champions, Algeria.“It was diffi cult but I think the
coach decided I wasn’t 100%,” he
says. “I accept that because when
you go to a tournament like that
you need to be at your best. It was a
disappointing tournament because
with the quality we had in the team
we should have done better.”T
hat was underlined
when Arsenal paid
a club-record £72m
to sign the forward
Nicolas Pépé from
Lille last month. Méïté
has off ered his services to the
player he has known since the age
of 12 when they and Tottenham’s
Georges-Kévin Nkoudou were
team mates at FC Solitaire in the 19th
arrondissement of Paris.
“He was a goalkeeper at this time
so I used to practi se trying to score
against him. Life is weird!” he says,
laugh ing. “Sometimes he would get
bored and come out to play on the
wing. He was very good.
“We used to live near each other
and also went to the same school
so we are good friends. I’ve already
tried to help him a bit. I said to him
I am not far from London, so let me
know.
“He is very happy to be at Arsenal
and is very excited for the season.
I’m sure he is going to do well
because he has a lot of quality.”
As for Reading, the victory
over Cardiff has eased some of the
pressure on the Portuguese manager
José Manuel Gomes after two
defeats. Reading started the summer
under a “soft” transfer embargo
having breached the Football
League’s fi nancial fair play rules but
the purchase of the forwards Lucas
João and George Puscas, a Romania
Under-21 international who scored
twice on Sunday, for a combined
£13m has raised expectations at a
club last relegated from the Premier
League in 2013.
“I don’t know where we are going
to end up,” says Méïté. “Every team
is capable of surprising you.”
But having swapped the gilded
surroundings of PSG for the rough
and tumble of Championship he has
no regrets.
“I’ve been here for three years and
feel half-English now,” says Méïté.
“The fans have always been so good
to me and they have made me feel
welcome. Last season was great
for me but now I have to prove
myself again.”▲ Yakou Méité misses from the penalty spot during Reading’s win over Cardiff
ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES‘Of course they would
never say that to my
face. They hide
behind Instagram
or Facebook’
bbYakou Méité said
racist tweets ‘were
hurting everyone’Chelsea v
Liverpool
The England
forward Tammy
Abraham (
right) was
abused by
Chelsea fans
on social media
after missing a
penalty in the
Super Cup.
Reading v
Cardiff
The Ivory Coast
forward Yakou
Méïté received
a racist message
on Instagram
after missing
a penalty in
Reading’s 3-0
win over Cardiff
on Sunday.Wolves v
Manchester
United
Paul Pogba was
subjected to
abuse by United
fans on social
media after
penalty miss
against Wolves
at Molineux
on Monday.14
August18
August19
AugustTime for
change
on social
mediaManchester
United
and Harry
Maguire have
called for
social media
companies
to tackle the
Paul Pogba
abuse
NICK POTTS/PACoast striker Yakou Méïté was a tar-
get after missing a penalty against
Cardiff. This followed Tammy Abra-
ham being abused after the Chelsea
centre-forward missed the decisive
penalty in the Super Cup shootout
against Liverpool.
Frank Lampard, Abraham’s man-
ager, said social media companies
should do more to stop the abuse, a
stance supported by Kick It Out, the
equality and inclusion body.
In the EFL Stoke ’s James McClean,
Southend ’s Theo Robinson, Bambo
Diaby of Barnsley and the sister of
the Fulham defender Cyrus Chris-
tie were targets of abuse based on
discrimination.
Kick it Out said : “The latest round of
fi xtures have again seen unwarranted
and vile racist abuse sent to players.
This time Reading’s Yakou Méïté and
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba.
The number of posts such as these
since the start of the season further
highlights how discriminatory abuse
online is out of control.
“Without immediate and the strong-
est possible action these cowardly acts
will continue to grow. As always, we
have contacted the respective clubs to
off er support to those aff ected.”
A July study from Kick It Out indi-
cated that reports of racist abuse
increased last season by 43%, with 274
cases compared with 192 the previ-
ous season. Twitter said in a statement
that it “takes action against behaviour
that targets individuals with hateful
conduct”.myaRELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws