Ryan Ferguson, 24, of Liverpool, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment towards Jordan Garrick, failing to comply with a football banning order and resisting a police constable at Forest Green Rovers’ League One clash with Fleetwood in April last year
In April of last year, during Rovers’ League One match against Fleetwood, Ryan Ferguson, 24, of Liverpool, entered a guilty plea to charges of racially aggravated harassment, disobeying a football banning order, and resisting a police constable.
“Ferguson’s actions were vile and something that none of us should ever experience at a football match,” stated Douglas Mackay, head prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s Sports National division. “This goes for fans, staff, police, and even the players themselves.”
The penalty that was issued today ought to act as a warning to any supporters who might believe that breaking the law while watching a game is okay.”
The statement indicates that the game needs to do more to support Black players, according to the Black Footballers Partnership, an entity founded to serve as a strategic voice and source of support for Black footballers.
Delroy Corinaldi, the executive director of BFP, stated, “Black excellence on the pitch has driven up participation numbers and lessened the amount of overtly racist chanting on the terraces, so that events like those discussed today stand out more.”
But although black supremacy on the field drives out overt racists, the ignorance it represents can only be eradicated when black football players are recognised as black owners, managers, coaches, and board members.
“It ends when the clubs and their representative bodies properly tackle the institutional barriers to black success off the pitch.”
“It’s absolutely vital that members see that there will be serious consequences for those who abuse players based on their race,” a PFA representative continued.
“Most of the time, this procedure begins with a member deciding whether to stop a game or notify the officials in order to report an incident. It need courage to do that.
“If players are the ones who are asked to start that process, they have to have confidence that the authorities with the power to do so are going to then finish it.”
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