Luton Town have condemned racist abuse that was targeted towards Elijah Adebayo in the Premier League game at home to Luton Town last weekend.
The Hatters lost the game 1-0 with Spurs playing with 10 men for the entirety of the second hand after Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma was sent off for two bookable offences in the first half.
Adebayo, who played for 67 minutes, was however the subject of racist abuse online on Instagram, and Luton have since reported the incident it to Instagram parent company Meta and also to the police, affirming their commitment to combat the malaise as multiple Luton players have been abused in the past one year.
“On Monday, we reported and assisted with yet another vile, cowardly act of online abuse from an account underneath an Instagram post after Saturday’s game directed towards our striker Elijah Adebayo,” read a statement on the club website.
“Just as it was dealt with the numerous times it has already happened to several of our players in the past 12 months, the post has been reported by us to Instagram’s parent company, Meta, and the Premier League. Bedfordshire Police have also been made aware of the comments.
“We have spoken to Elijah to offer him our support. But do you know what the sad thing is? He said it’s happened so many times now that he can’t be bothered to report or respond to discrimination anymore. He’s tired of it.
“We are now treating this as abuse against the Club. We have had enough of saying enough is enough. So we will continue to fight against this heinous, obnoxious, narrow-minded and bigoted behaviour.
“We will, of course, always stand up for anyone at Luton Town who suffers at the hands of such backward and utterly deplorable attitudes. We will continue to do our bit. For everyone.”
We stand with our striker, Elijah Adebayo, who once again has been the target of a vile, cowardly act of online abuse. ????
We will continue to do our bit to eradicate racism. For everyone.#NoRoomForRacism
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) October 10, 2023
Adebayo, who was instrumental in Luton’s promotion to the Premier League, has played eight times this season, scoring once.
Rob Edwards’s side sit in 17th opposition, tied on four points with 18th-placed and fellow newly-promoted side Burnley.
