Ian Wright praises ‘fantastic’ Rob Holding for reporting alleged racist abuse of Arsenal team-mates Nuno Tavares and Nicolas Pepe to referee Andre Marriner… and he calls for Leeds to ban the fan if found guilty
Ian Wright has praised Rob Holding for reporting an alleged racial slur aimed at Arsenal teammates Nicolas Pepe and Nuno Tavares during the Gunners’ 4-1 win over Leeds on Saturday evening.
Referee Andre Marriner briefly stopped the game 34 minutes into the first half after Holding, one of the Arsenal substitutes, appeared to alert fourth official John Brooks about the apparent racist language from a fan in the West Stand.
Marriner and Brooks spoke to each other, before the former headed over to the Leeds dugout to explain the incident.
Ian Wright praised Rob Holding for alerting the match officials to alleged racial abuse
The game subsequently resumed and West Yorkshire Police arrested one person after the match in relation to the incident.
‘You have to applaud people like Rob Holding,’ Wright told Premier League Productions. ‘When you are being racially abused it’s very difficult to get up and do that as a black person without people coming down and piling on and saying “here he goes, here he goes”.
‘So for Rob Holding to get up and do that for his teammates is something for me, being in a dressing room and knowing what that’s like wanting that kind of help, that is fantastic.
‘What should happen now is he should be found, we should be able to find him because it’s there for everyone to see and he should be prosecuted and banned.’
Holding (far right) alerted the fourth official during the first half of the game against Leeds
Referee Andre Marriner (L) was involved in talks after the alleged incident during the first half
Via their official Twitter account, Arsenal added: ‘Always stand up for what’s right. Racism has no place in our society, and we’re incredibly proud of Rob Holding for standing up for his teammates last night.’
The alleged racial abuse is understood to have been aimed toward Tavares and Pepe as they warmed up on the touchline.
Speaking after the game, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta confirmed the alleged slur was heard by one of the substitutes, although he did not know who it was aimed at.
‘It was reported to the stadium manager and now the authorities will deal with that,’ the Spaniard said.
The alleged taunts were understood to have been aimed at Nicolas Pepe (L) and Nuno Tavares
‘One of the players heard those comments. I don’t know exactly who it was [directed at], that is why they will have to be interviewed and they will deal with the authorities in that case.’
Leeds confirmed an arrest had been made and that the matter was being investigated.
‘Leeds United can confirm that an investigation into claims of racism during the first half of our game with Arsenal are underway, and that one arrest has been made in connection to the allegation,’ a statement from the Yorkshire club read.
‘Racism will not be tolerated at Leeds United and any supporter found to be using racist language will be subject to a life time ban for all Leeds United games.’
