Bristol Rovers have contacted Avon and Somerset Police following a racist message sent to defender Mark Little on Instagram.
Little tweeted a screenshot on Sunday afternoon of the offending post which contained a number of monkey emojis in response to an image of the 32-year-old warming up for the Gas, from January 4.
The user has since deleted his account from the platform but Avon and Somerset Police are understood to be looking into the matter.
In a statement, the club said: “There is no place in sport or society for racism. Racism and discrimination will not be tolerated at Bristol Rovers.”
Gasheads have rallied round Little, sending the right-back, who has made four appearances for the club this season, messages of support and solidarity.
Rovers Community Trust CEO Adam Tutton wrote: "Utterly horrendous. So sorry to see this mate, it fills me with rage."
Lucy Ford added: "That’s actually disgusting, I’m so sorry to have received this abuse today."
Kevin Chubb said: "Can only express my disgust at such behaviour, Mark. You should not have to put up with that. Nobody should. Still so much to be done."
Last week, the UK government threatened social media companies with large fines if they continued to fail to tackle abuse as the troubling trend continues.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden made the statement in the wake of Southampton midfielder Alex Jankewitz receiving racist messages following his red card in a match against Manchester United.
United forward Marcus Rashford has been one of a number of Premier League footballers to have also been a victim this season and on Saturday night, teammate Axel Tuanzebe was subjected to online abuse for a second time in as many weeks.
Last week a 49-year-old man was arrested following an “abhorrent message” sent to West Brom midfielder Romaine Sawyers.
Last season, four Bristol City players – Korey Smith, Joe Wollacott, Jay Dasilva and Famara Diedhiou - were also victims of such abuse.
Little is a popular figure across Bristol having also represented City for three seasons and was part of their double-winning squad in 2014/15.
