Swansea City boss Vitor Matos has backed the use of anti-racism protocols after his side's win over Millwall on Tuesday night was stopped due to alleged abuse aimed at winger Eom Jisung. The Swans head into Saturday's clash with West Ham United top of the Championship after Ronald's last-minute winner handed them all three points at The Den.
It's the best start Swansea have made for over a century, but their jubilation in south London was somewhat tainted by an incident involving Eom, who was allegedly subjected to racist abuse while warming up on the touchline midway through the second half.
Game stopped for seven minutes
The game was stopped for around seven minutes as officials spoke to the coaches of both teams, while an announcement was made over the tannoy that an allegation of racist abuse had been made. Both sides released statements on the back of the incident, while the matter is also being investigated by police.
"Of course it is a situation that is always sad for everyone, either in football or in society," Matos said. "I think it's more important for us that we are here to support Jisung and he feels that way, he feels supported."
"Then I think the officials did really well to follow the protocol to try to investigate. We stand against any form of racism or abuse. That should not be tolerated whether it’s football or in the society, that is quite clear."
Matos defends officials' actions
Commenting on the details of what unfolded that night, the Swans boss added: "What happened was someone did that kind of behaviour towards Jisung. We were there, staff was there, we made the complaint to the fourth [official] and then they just followed the protocol."
Millwall boss Alex Neil expressed his frustrations after the game around the length of the delay, adding he "didn't see the point" of stopping the game. His comments have been roundly criticised by fans and anti-racism campaigners. But Matos insists the current protocols play an important role in combating racist abuse, adding that officials were right to stop the game.
'If the game needs to stop, the game will stop'
"I think when this kind of situation happens, you have a tool that you can use against these situations. You need to use it because that's how you can somehow bring attention to a problem and try to fight against that problem as well. So in that moment football is, let's say, the least important of all in that."
"I think it's a tool. For however long in human history we have had these kind of problems, and we are always trying to sort it out. At the moment that's the tool we have in football to do it. So that's what we should use. If that happens we will report it in the future and if the game needs to stop, the game will stop. We will not change our approach if we have the tool to do that."
Matos says Eom has received support from the club and his team-mates, and has backed the winger to move on from the incident, while also revealing he has also spoken to striker Adam Idah, who was himself the victim of alleged racist abuse while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland recently.
Support for Eom and education call
"You complain about the situation and you have the strength as well to move on. That's how we should handle it," he said. "I spoke with Adam about it [the incident on international duty]. It's a different situation because in the end the referee said didn't hear anything so they could not stop the game. But I was not there so it's hard for me to judge the situation."
"I was there [at Millwall], I was quite clear the fourth [official] followed the protocol which I think is the right thing to do in these situations and now there's an investigation."
Matos believes greater education is needed to try and stamp racism out of the game, and that football should explore every possible avenue to combat the issue. "I think it starts with education, that's where it starts, what you can do in schools, what the teachers can help and that's how you could help as a society, try to highlight when these situations happen and try to use the tools that we have on your disposal to try to change the mindset, try to change some minds and to stand against that. That's how it should be. That's why it's so important to spend a lot of money on education I think."
