Everton ban fan for abusive tweets
Everton have became the first Premier League club to ban a supporter from attending matches after being alerted to a series of racially abusive and homophobic tweets.
The supporter, who tweets using the handle @WhereAreYaEFC, had directed a torrent of abuse at fellow Blues fan Ric Wee. Wee hit the headlines in February after a long planned trip to watch his beloved Everton was scuppered when the match against Crystal Palace was postponed.
At the request of the copyright holder we have removed an image of the letter, however we have copied the contents below:
“Dear Mr (name removed),
I am contacting you in respect of a Twitter account with the tag of @WhereAreYaEFC. It is my belief following an email communication with the Club at 13:31 hours on the 18th June 2014 that this tag name relates to your Twitter account. My reason for this is the email account used to contact communications@evertonfc.com…and this account shows a (name removed) as the named owner of the email and from our…information held in your name.
I have veiwed and have copies of Tweets, now taken down, that are homophobic and racist in their content. They specifically appear to target Ric Wee but regardless of whom the intended target is suich comments are offensive and abhorrent.
The particular comments I refer to are as follows:
- Ric is a nonce
- Fat cockeyed nip
- Fuckoff ya slanty eyed fags
- I hope the plane does a MH370
- shut up Ric you daft tiddly wink
Everton Football Club does not welcome those who display such homophobic and racist views and to that end the decision has been made to ban you from attending all Everton FC matches until further notice. In accordance with our normal practice this ban may be reviewed annually in the event that you submit a written request after 20 June 2015.
If you would want this decision reviewed you must submit written reasons why you should not be banned to the Head of Legal Services within 7 days following the date of the letter.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Lewis
Head of Security and Stadium Safety”
We can’t find fault with the club’s stance on this issue and don’t believe any right minded individual could either, however we would be interested to know what if any impact the use of EFC in the account name had on this decision.
No brand would want to be associated with the abuse that was dished out, so it would be entirely understandable if the use of the Everton name resulted in the club taking such drastic action.
