Professional middleweight boxer Anthony Ogogo has revealed that he was racially abused by a Norwich fan during their Carabao Cup loss at the Emirates, according to a report on BBC Sport.
The boxer was at the match and is a fan of Championship side Norwich City, but a fellow fan mistakenly assumed that Ogogo was cheering for Arsenal and remarked ‘Go back to your own country’.
Twitter: Terrific support tonight by @NorwichCityFC fans 9k strong. Although I did get racially abused for cheering. In this day & age its disgusting (@AnthonyOgogo)
The boxer found the remark “disgusting” and was clearly very upset to experience such a thing at a football match while supporting his team.
Twitter: Worst of all it was by a Norwich fan that thought I was Arsenal. Utterly disgusted by that behaviour. It shows how backwards some ppl are ?? (@AnthonyOgogo)
Ogogo played for the Norwich youth team before he switched to become a boxer and has been following the club ever since.
Ogogo was sat with the Arsenal fans after one of his Arsenal supporting friends gave him a ticket to the game but he stayed behind after the game to applaud the Norwich players after a terrific performance.
He said:
I went to the front of the stand and was clapping and singing in time with the Norwich fans below me. Then my friend said it looked as if an older guy with the Norwich supporters was trying to get my attention as if he knew me. I bent down to listen and quickly realised he didn’t know me. He probably thought I was an Arsenal fan and he was shouting and swearing at me, saying pretty nasty stuff. I was flabbergasted.
Ogogo doesn’t want to make a formal complaint but has opened up about his experience to raise awareness about racial abuse at football grounds.
