Marcus Karlström scored 2–1 for Almtuna away to Tingsryd on Friday evening.
Immediately afterwards, someone in the home audience blurted out racist abuse against him.
– I have never been involved in this, it just felt sick, says Karlström The Express.
In TV4’s broadcast, you can hear how a person in the home crowd starts shouting for the goal.
One of the words that is clearly heard is “damn black skull”.
– It’s horrible, of course, but it’s nothing that touches my back directly what a person gets out of themselves, probably drunk. When I heard that, it just… I actually laughed, not because it’s a funny thing, but more because it’s tragic. I’ve never been part of this, it just felt sick, says Almtuna’s team captain Marcus Karlström to The Express.
“Don’t Belong”
Hockeyallsvenskan’s CEO Gabriel Monidelle emphasizes that the league strongly distances itself from all forms of racism.
– All forms of racism and racist slurs do not belong in our environment or society at all. It is something that I and the league condemn in the strongest possible terms. It shouldn’t be like this and sport has a function to be a force in a society, where you can show what is right or wrong. Because of that, it is even more important that this does not belong in our environment, he tells Expressen.
He adds that the league will work together with Tingsryd and the association to get a clearer picture of the course of events.
Taif apologizes
Tingsryd’s board writes the following to Expressen:
“As a club, we take the situation extremely seriously and strongly distance ourselves from what was expressed. All forms of racism are unacceptable and the association has a zero tolerance policy. We as match organizers apologize that this has occurred at our event”.
Almtuna won the match 3–1 – Marcus Karlström scored two of the away goals