The Mirror reports that Wolverhampton Crown Court announced that a Wolves fan was jailed for six months for racially abusing Rio Ferdinand.
Jamie Arnold, 33, was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from attending games for seven years for racially abusing Ferdinand during Wolves and Manchester United in May 2021. Ferdinand was a pundit for BT Sport at the time and Jamie-Arnold was driven from Wolves’ home ground and arrested by police.
In a statement read out in court, Ferdinand said: “To this day I still don’t know why I was discriminated against. This discrimination was unwarranted and completely unacceptable. As a former professional footballer or when I was on TV I accept that fans will have opinions about me when I’m working, but what I won’t accept is racist abuse, comments about the color of my skin or my background.”
Ferdinand said Jamie-Arnold’s racist behavior was “completely disrespectful to me, my family, Wolves and everyone associated with football.”
“I took this case to court because I firmly believe something needs to be done to stamp out racism, not just in football but in all its forms in society.”