Norwich have vowed to ban anyone found to have subjected boxer Anthony Ogogo to racial abuse following the Carabao Cup defeat at Arsenal.
London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Ogogo was at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night to watch the Canaries as they suffered a 2-1 extra-time loss, having earlier looked set for a shock victory.
The 28-year-old middleweight, who grew up in Lowestoft and had a spell in Norwich’s youth squad, highlighted the problems in a series of posts on Twitter following the match.
Ogogo wrote he felt “utterly disgusted” by the abuse allegedly directed his way, which was, he later said in quotes to the BBC, from “an older guy ... maybe in his 70s”.
The London-based boxer was sitting in the home section, using the ticket of a friend, and had stayed behind to clap the Norwich team off when he was mistaken for an Arsenal fan.
Zero tolerance
Norwich have been in touch with Ogogo and will launch an investigation into the incident.
A statement from the English Championship club read: “We are very concerned by reports from Anthony Ogogo that he suffered racial abuse from a supporter in the Norwich section.
“As a club we have a zero-tolerance policy on racism and all other forms of discrimination and we have contacted Anthony this morning.
“As always, any supporter found to be guilty of discriminatory abuse will be banned indefinitely by Norwich City and face possible criminal investigation.”
Ogogo is currently preparing to make a comeback in the ring after suffering a fractured eye socket in his loss to Craig Cunningham.
The boxer, though, has no intentions of letting the issues of Tuesday night stopping him from going to games, and praised the Norfolk club for their response.
“Classy phone call with NorwichCityFC this afternoon regarding the abuse I received from a bigoted (so called) fan last night. Thank you,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
– PA
