Millwall captain Danny Shittu said he is saddened by evidence of racism from his club’s supporters directed at Leeds forward El-Hadji Diouf.
Millwall captain Danny Shittu said he is saddened by evidence of racism from his club’s supporters directed at Leeds forward El-Hadji Diouf.
Footage of the incident during the two sides’ meeting on November 18 was recently shown on Sky Sports News, and Shittu said he was disappointed by the actions of the fans, despite the fact Diouf himself remained unaffected by it.
“I asked him because there was word flying around that it could have happened,” Shittu told reporters.
“I spoke to him and he said there wasn’t really anything that happened.
“I spoke to him after the game and I haven’t spoken to him since, I will be talking to him over the next couple of days.
“He was fine when I spoke to him after the game, I actually gave him a lift home in my car. I think that is the character that Diouf is, he tries not to let stuff like that bother him.
“There were a lot of things on the TV that were happening on the pitch that I didn’t see happening during the game. It was something that was unfortunate to see and I know that club is working hard to stop it happening.
“I watched it like everyone else, obviously anybody would be disappointed by what was shown.
“As captain of the club it was disappointing, I have been here a while now and I’ve seen the hard work everyone does to eradicate it in football and at this club as well.
“It is just the minority that is doing these things, it is something that happens everywhere, I’m sure it happens at other clubs and it happens outside of football as well. It is about trying to get it stopped completely.”
Following Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng’s stand against racism in a friendly match last month, Shittu admitted he would not know what to do if confronted in such a way, but said he has a lot of respect for the former Portsmouth player.
He added: “When you’re out on the pitch there are a lot of things you have got to deal with. It doesn’t make me feel vulnerable but it just makes you more aware of what is going on and there is no place for this in football.
“Maybe I wouldn’t say the word ‘fortunate’ but it is something I haven’t had to deal with myself in my career and to be fair I don’t know how I would react to it if I was playing in a game and something like that was going on.
“For him to have done that – I give him a lot of respect because I know people who would have reacted in a worse way. To just walk off the pitch when something is hard to take, then all respect for that.”
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