Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo has urged authorities to impose harsher punishments on racist offenders after being subjected to vile abuse during his side’s Premier League opener against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Ghanaian international, 25, was preparing to take a throw-in when a supporter in a wheelchair hurled racist slurs at him. Semenyo immediately reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor, while Merseyside Police removed and later arrested the man. The suspect has since been bailed for three months pending further investigations.
Speaking to ITV News, Semenyo described the abuse as “mind-boggling” and stressed that football still has a long way to go in tackling racism.
“It was pretty sad to hear. In this day and age, players are still being racially abused and it just doesn’t make sense. I felt it was the right thing to report it – if I didn’t say anything it would have played on my mind,” he said.
The striker, who scored twice in the match, admitted he turned his anger into motivation:
“At half-time I was pretty angry, but I used it as fuel. You could say those two goals came from that.”
Calling for tougher measures, Semenyo added:
“The punishment isn’t enough. There has to be great punishment. It could be jail time, it could be a lifetime stadium ban – but something stronger has to be done. This shouldn’t be happening in this day and age.”
Semenyo has since received widespread support from fans, teammates, and anti-racism groups.
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