Bulldogs refer racist abuse of Okunbor to police

The racist trolling of Jayden Okunbor has become a police matter after Canterbury officially reported the incident to the authorities.

Okunbor called out abuse directed towards him on social media, declaring “I don’t understand how you can think it’s OK to attack someone because [of] the colour of their skin.”

Okunbor was responding to a series of slurs, which he reposted to bring attention to the account they were launched from. The Canterbury winger admits his form since returning to the side from injury was open to criticism, but drew the line at racial abuse.

During the Bulldogs’ clash with the Gold Coast on Monday, which they went on to lose 34-6, Okunbor copped a tirade from someone operating under the name Paul El Azzi on Instagram.

The posts included the following:

“F**k u pr**k how tf did u lose the ball”, “Dickhead”, “F****t”, “F**k u”, “Dickhead”, “N***a”, “Go back to jail prick”, “F**k u”, “Ur shit” and “Black c**nt”.

Okunbor reposted the message to his Instagram story and added some words of his own.

Censored screenshot of racist abuse sent to NRL player Jayden Okunbor and shared by the player on his Instagram story.Credit:Instagram

“I understand playing in the NRL puts yourself out there to cop criticism from anyone with a phone,” Okunbor posted.

“I’m the first to admit my first few games back definitely haven’t been my best and that opens me up to even more criticism. I can cop some of that stuff but I draw the line at racism. I can’t understand how you think it’s OK to attack someone because [of] the colour of their skin and think you’ll get away with it.

“Wouldn’t normally do this but I’ve deleted racist messages before and I’ve had enough of it. So I’m calling this out.

Bulldogs winger Jayden Okunbor.Credit:Getty

“I’m not sure of your age, but whether you’re a kid or a fully grown man, you’ve got a hell of a lot of learning to do.

“And I can speak for a lot of people in the public eye, but also everyday people who put up with this shit from uneducated, ignorant people like you, do better.”

The incident was brought to the attention of Canterbury powerbrokers on Thursday morning. After the club’s welfare team discussed the matter, the decision was made to report the incident to police.

“We have officially reported the online abuse towards Jayden,” said Bulldogs CEO Aaron Warburton.

“We will be following this matter up and assisting police with their inquiry.

“It’s completely unacceptable behaviour.

“This person doesn’t have the right to call themselves a Bulldogs fan.”

The Bulldogs also posted a message of support for Okunbor on their social channels.

“The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs stand beside our player, Jayden Okunbor, after the disgusting racist messages he received via social media,” the statement said.

“Our club will never tolerate racism in any form and and person exhibiting this sort of behaviour will be banned and reported to the police.

“We throw our support behind Jayden in the knowledge that no individual should be subjected to this. It is simply unacceptable.”

Latrell Mitchell called out racist abuse he received on social media earlier this year, which ultimately led to the perpetrator, Daniel Robert Hudson, being fined and convicted for using a carriage service to menace, harass and offend.

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Adrian Proszenko is the Chief Rugby League Reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Sarah is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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