Bong: Rodriguez abused me ‘because of the colour of my skin’

Matt Stead

Gaetan Bong has revealed the extent of the alleged racist abuse levelled at him by Jay Rodriguez.

The FA are to investigate claims that West Brom forward Rodriguez abused Bong during the Baggies’ 2-0 victory over Brighton on Saturday.

Bong’s complaint was lodged with referee Martin Atkinson, who included it in his report on the match and the FA will now look into the matter.

Brighton defender Bong took to French TV to explain the situation.

“I think he was upset because I blocked him in the last play,” he told SFR Sport.

“After that, he said some words, some words that I would not repeat on television because this is mean and unpronounceable.

“He said racist comments and I just can’t take it.

“As you can see, I looked for the referee to tell him. I told the referee what Rodriguez said to me. First, the referee told me to get back in position. I didn’t accept that so easily.

“We’re in 2018. And we can not tolerate this. I can not tolerate this.

“I talked to the referee. He did a report. And I hope there will be some sanctions.”

Bong was then asked whether Rodriguez made a comparison between the supposed smell and the Brighton defender’s skin colour when he pinched his nose.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “He did that because of the colour of my skin. Everybody can see this gesture. And I asked him to repeat what he said.

“At this moment, I think he realised what he said. And he tried to limit the damage.

“And I replied to him, ‘No, what you said was racist. And I will not tolerate that.’

“I signalled the gesture to the referee. This specific gesture to accentuate his comments.

“At the end of the game he tried to say ‘No I didn’t say that’.

“But I said, ‘You can’t say that; not to a human being and most of all to a black man.’

“With everything that is happening in the world, with everything that has happened for many years. We are on a football pitch.

“This is already unbelievable coming from a fan [but] sometimes that can happen in a stadium.

“But when a football player said something like that, someone who earns a lot of money, someone who’s here to entertain… this gesture must be banned.”