Watford Under 18’s were ordered from the pitch by Head Coach and former Aston Villa Defender, Dave Hughes during a tournament match in Italy yesterday.
It is alleged that during a ‘Torneo Wojtyla’ group game, a competition in which Italian youth teams from Serie ‘A’ clubs Lazio and Roma are both also involved, racist abuse was aimed at one of the young Watford players following the sending off of what appears to be 2 players from opposition team, Latina Calcio, one of whom was a substitute. It is not clear whether this abuse came from an opposition player, staff member or a spectator.
A video has emerged in which, during the second half and with Watford 1-0 down to Latina, a linesman is seen to run half the length of the pitch to an incident which is off screen (5min 32 secs).
An English voice is heard to say “What’s he said?” before Dave Hughes begins to call his young players from the pitch and back into the changing rooms amid boos from the local crowd.
The incident is reminiscent of the AC Milan and Pro Patria match in January during which AC Milan players walked off the pitch following the racist abuse of their black players.
Source: DSG
