Rob Edwards says it’s “about time” racists are called out more directly after Luton issued a “we dare you” message to a “cowardly” online abuser who targeted Elijah Adebayo.
The goalscorer reported an abusive message to him on Instagram on Wednesday night, which was posted while the Hatter was playing against Sunderland, where he scored his first goal of the season.
Police are now investigating the incident and Meta, the parent company of Instagram, have deactivated the account of the perpetrator, while Sunderland have issued a statement condemning the abuse too.
But it was a strongly worded statement from the Hatters aimed at the abuser that has caught the attention of the football world as it called their bluff called them “cowardly” and said they wouldn’t have the “balls” to come to Kenilworth Road and spew hate to the striker’s face.
“When I read it, it made me think, ‘wow, I’ve not seen anything like that before’. And I think, actually, it’s about time,” Town manager Edwards said of the club’s approach.
“I know it’s had an impact and it’s landed. And, Eli himself is fine. He’s realistic that he’s seen it before and that it’ll happen again. That’s how he sees it, which is obviously really hard to hear.
“But, I think the whole situation is being dealt with very well, first of all, by the football club, the support that Eli’s had, the strong statement that I thought was a great tone.
“Meta have obviously then closed the account and are doing what they need to do. And then the police are now investigating the whole the whole situation.
“Obviously there’s been another statement from Sunderland as well today. We don’t know where the person was from or the connections to either club, but both football clubs are dealt with it really well.”
However, it was not just Adebayo that has been abused and Edwards said:“We’re family here. We always say that and we look after our own. We want to stand with Eli on this and support him. Unfortunately, it’s not just him. I don’t think it was just him even the other night.
“We’ve been talking about this, and it’s not the first time I’ve been here, sat in front of a room full of people, talking about this in my short time here.
“I’ve not even been here two years yet. Are we fighting a battle that we’re never going to win? I don’t know.
“Speaking to Carlton Morris about it and he believes that there are there are improvements, there are changes. But is that just because people are worried about the punishment and not because really we’re making progress with the whole situation? I don’t know, to be honest.
“It’s hard as a 41-year-old white man to talk about it as well, if I’m being completely honest. But we’re doing all we can to support Eli, and he’s fine.
“It’s really frustrating. We want to be able to talk about football, but we’re not. And this is a bigger thing than football as well. Obviously (with) society and there’s a lot around it and how much change we can have.
“I suppose we’re in a position now within football to get our message out there, and maybe even more so than than anyone else, with the reach that all of these outlets you guys (media) have as well, to be able to get this across.
“It’s really important that it lands that we’re completely and utterly against any form of discrimination. And in this instance now, (with) racist discrimination, we’re 100 per cent with Eli and, and all of our players and always will be.
“Hopefully we can see change. Carlton believes there has been, but we’re still here. Like Eli said to me earlier on when I was having another chat with him about it, in his head he feels that we will be again in the future, which is which is sad.
“We’re a really diverse town and a really multicultural support base. And it’s really important to us that we want to try and be right at the forefront of getting this message out there.
“Again, I think, the way that the statement went out and how strong it was, I think it’s really, really landed with people. It’s probably captured one or two people.
“We believe in it. We stand together and there is a part of you that wishes that these people could not hide behind the keyboard and then come and stand in front of six foot five Eli and try and say that. But that’s not the world we live in now.”
