Cardiff City: Brian Barry-Murphy hails response to alleged racist incident in Lincoln game

Lincoln won the fixture 2-0 to rise above Cardiff into top spot in the third-tier table.

The game was halted for around four minutes as referee Tom Reeves spoke to both dugouts after Rob Street netted the opening goal.

Speaking in a press conference before Saturday’s trip to Exeter City, Barry-Murphy said some Cardiff academy players were racially abused during a recent trip to Barcelona.

The Irishman said he hopes anyone found guilty of racist abuse will be educated to prevent further issues occurring.

“Our supporters are incredible and for this to happen in our stadium I think is not reflective of them, but the person who did this obviously needs educating on the effects this can have on the person that he does it to and also the people who witness it,” Barry-Murphy added.

“So many of our supporters are from different backgrounds – it’s one of the beauties of our club.

“Our academy went to Barcelona two weeks ago and suffered racial abuse to our players. (Academy manager) Gavin Chesterfield and the FAW (Football Association of Wales) have been really active in supporting and making sure that the strongest possible sanctions are in place and the strongest possible support is in place for the people, the players and staff.

“I think the process has to be really clear and if it happens to another player in our stadium, our responsibility is to make it clear what we stand for as a club, what support we’re going to offer to the player it happened to, and also for our own players and supporters to see what it looks like to be in our club at this time.”

The alleged abuse during the Lincoln game comes a month after the Football Association charged Cardiff over alleged homophobic chants made by some fans during their EFL Cup tie against Chelsea in December.