A football club is investigating an incident in which an opposition player was racially abused during a home match.

South Wales side Merthyr Town were playing in a Southern Premier League match against Hungerford Town when the incident occurred on Monday.

Berkshire club Hungerford have accused some home fans at Penydalen Park of racially abusing their defender Ramani Medford-Smith.

Hungerford manager Danny Robinson said it was “absolutely inexcusable” for players to “be subjected to racial abuse in 2024”.

“I should have been stronger because I didn’t think we should have gone out in the second half,” he said an emotional post-game interview.

“I don’t blame him [Medford-Smith] Left angry but we kept talking to him and he wanted to continue playing.

“It marred a great performance from a top team.”

Merthyr Town Football Club’s board held an emergency meeting on Monday night to ensure the matter was “resolved” as quickly as possible.

The club said it condemned any form of racism and urged anyone who witnessed abuse to contact them.

“As a community club, Merthyr Town Football Club will not tolerate any form of racist or homophobic behavior and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” ​​the club said in a statement.

A Hungerford Town spokesman said: “Hungerford Town Football Club strongly condemns any form of racist, sexist and homophobic abuse.

“Sadly, one of our players was targeted with racist and abusive language during yesterday’s game at Merthyr Town Football Club.

We are actively assisting match officials and Merthyr Town with their investigation into the incident and the home club in their attempts to identify the perpetrators.

As a club we work side by side with the manager and the players.

The spokesman added: “We fully support them and we will continue to do our best to help eradicate this abhorrent and unacceptable behavior from football.”

The Football Association of Wales has been contacted for comment.

South Wales Police said it had not received a complaint about the incident.

Anti-racism organization Kick It Out received a record 1,007 reports of discriminatory behavior during the 2022/23 football season.

Racism is the most common form of discrimination in professional and grassroots football, accounting for nearly half of all reports.