Racist violence against Ian Wright: teenager investigated after surrendering to police | Football news

A teenager went to the police after Ian Wright shared racist messages he had received online.

The 56-year-old former Arsenal and England striker published Instagram posts for his 1.7 million Twitter followers yesterday.

He wrote: "I know I'm not supposed to be watching them, but these messages always hit me very hard. He's a boy! This boy has a direct line to me and can send it without any worry."

The messages included a number of racist terms and one that said, "If I receive a crown, I will spit your face."

Irish police yesterday said that an "adult male adolescent had volunteered" at an Irish police station and had been interrogated. A file is in preparation for the director of the Irish parquet, indicated the force. Sky News.

Law enforcement officials said no formal complaints have been made, but they are still investigating the matter. Instagram also confirmed that it is investigating the account in question.

Wright received a lot of support from fans and other stars after revealing the messages, his original post garnering 20,000 retweets.

He thanked them in another post that said, "Thank you all for your kind and encouraging messages. Normally I had better ignore it, but it happened to me. There must be consequences. Everyone teaches everyone !! Peace and love of peace. "

Show Racism, Red Card executive director Ged Grebby condemned the abuse.

He said: "Ian Wright put his head back on the parapet and I saw him in today's match with Gary Lineker a few weeks ago talking about the racist abuse he suffered as a player."

"This shows that racism is a problem in society and, unfortunately, it is on the increase. People have stayed at home, but that does not prevent them from mistreating people on social networks and this is a surprising example. . "

Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor also received an abusive and racist message on Instagram, and Kick It Out demanded that those who attacked him and Wright be punished.

The anti-racism group said in a statement: "We are horrified in this difficult time by the shameful abuses directed against Ian Wright and Gabriel Agbonlahor and their families. Racial hate speech and violent threats are completely unacceptable, but have come to an end. unfortunately normalized in social media. "