Sheffield United could sack player for racist act directed at Renee Hector

It’s been a few days since Tottenham Hotspur Ladies defender Renee Hector leveled an accusation that a Sheffield United player racially abused her on the pitch in a FA Women’s Championship match, and all sides are taking the incident extremely seriously. According to The Guardian, that could extend to Sheffield United sacking the player should the allegations be proven to be true.

Hector posted on Twitter after the match that a Sheffield United player “made monkey noises” at her on the pitch during Spurs’ 2-1 win at the weekend. Both Tottenham Hotspur Ladies and Sheffield United Women released statements afterwards declaring that they were aware of the allegations and were conducting an investigation. The Guardian also notes that the FA has opened an investigation of its own. The Sheffield player has remained anonymous pending conclusion of the investigation.

These are, obviously, very serious charges, and neither club is commenting anything beyond their initial statements that they are aware and have reported the incident, and are fully cooperating in the investigation. No doubt we will learn more about the investigation in due course. In the meantime, however, if the allegations against the player are proven, that player losing her job as a (semi-)professional footballer would be the very least Sheffield could do to redress Hector’s grievances.