Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Football Association has asked the European governing body Uefa to investigate claims of racism made by the Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy.
The 28-year-old South African alleged he had been abused by Wisla Krakow's Serbian defender, Nikola Mijailovic, in their Uefa Cup match on Thursday night. Blackburn have called for strong action to be taken, and the FA confirmed: "We have written to Uefa, asking them to investigate allegations of racism made against Benni McCarthy by Nikola Mijailovic."
Blackburn confirmed that a statement from McCarthy and another player who witnessed the alleged abuse had been forwarded to Uefa and the FA.
The club are backing McCarthy and the manager Mark Hughes said: "The issue regarding Benni overshadowed our performance - but we must try to take this kind of thing out of football. If you ignore it and accept it, it will continue to be in the game. We have done great work in this country with the 'Kick It Out' campaign. Maybe other countries are lagging behind us in that respect.
"There is no place for abuse like this in sport or in life. There is banter and sledging but this was a lot stronger than that. It is important to make a stand, not just from the game's point of view but the relationship with our players. Obviously Benni feels very strongly about the situation as we do as a club."
Hughes said McCarthy approached the Swedish referee Stefan Johannesson at half-time, but the taunts continued. "I think people can make up their own mind as to what these comments were," the manager said. "Benni, to his credit, did not react to them. He highlighted the issue to a number of Krakow players and the referee at half-time. The situation still developed and there were more comments at the end of the game."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments