Police have arrested a man suspected of racially abusing West Bromwich Albion footballer Romaine Sawyers on social media.
West Midlands police said a 49-year-old man from Kingswinford, near Birmingham, was questioned in custody on Friday evening.
The force’s football hate crime officer is also investigating reports of another racist comment towards the Saint Kitts and Nevis international.
West Brom contacted police after Sawyers, 29, was sent a racist message during Tuesday’s 5-0 defeat to Manchester City.
A club statement said: “Albion will offer Romaine the relevant support required at this time and continues with its long-standing commitment to help rid football of racism.”
The Albion boss, Sam Allardyce, also offered his support to the midfielder and questioned what could be done to stop online abuse.
He said: “It leaves a big question about whether reporting it is enough. Romaine – or any black person across the country – should not have to be open to any type of abuse on social media.
“He is extremely upset, as anybody would be. More than Romaine have suffered throughout football in the last few days.
“Social media sites need to act in a more responsible way. We have to do our best to cut this out.”
On Monday, the government held talks with current and former footballers about tackling discrimination and abuse.
The government plans to introduce new laws on online abuse this year and the Premier League has launched its own online abuse reporting system.
In a separate incident, the Manchester United players Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial were racially abused on social media after Wednesday’s 2-1 home defeat by Sheffield United. No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
A spokesperson for Facebook, which also owns Instagram, said on Friday: “There is no place for racism on Instagram and we are committed to removing it when we find it.
“We know there is more to do and we will continue to work closely with clubs, players and football authorities to investigate instances of discrimination and collectively tackle this issue.”
Twitter also released a statement, saying: “Racist behaviour has no place on our service and when we identify accounts that violate any of the Twitter rules, we take enforcement action.
“We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our valued partners in football to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour – both online and offline.”
