The Malta Football Association, the Youth Football Association and the Malta Football Players Association were among those who condemned the racial abuse and expressed solidarity with Maltese goalkeeper Rashed Al-Tumi.

Rashed Al-Tumi was attacked in comments on a Facebook post after he condemned the murder of George Floyd in the United States.

In its statement, the Malta Football Association “expresses solidarity with Maltese goalkeeper Rashed Al-Tumi who has been the target of racially-motivated comments on social media.”

“As the derogatory comments have been made by a member of a local youth football nursery, the Malta FA will be formally asking the Youth FA to look into the matter.”

“Regrettably, this is not the first incident of its kind in recent days as Maltese footballers Yannick Yankam and Jacob Walker were also subjected to racial abuse on social media.”

“During this delicate time when the world is in shock over the tragic death of George Floyd in the United States, the Malta FA reiterates that racism and discrimination have no place in our society.”

The Youth Football Association, in another statement, expressed solidarity with Rashed Al-Tumi.

“The YFA does not condone any misconduct and has always acted on any reported wrong doing, including racially-motivated incidents. The YFA Secretary General can confirm the nursery official in question has now been dismissed, and further action by the YFA is not excluded.”

“The YFA is adamant that racism has no place in football.”

On the other hand, the Malta Football Players Association expressed solidarity with Rashed Al-Tumi.

“The perpetrator was a nursery official, whose role it was to educate our youth, not hate them because of their skin colour.”

“Not only is this a hate crime against a player who serves and represents Malta, but it is also a spineless act that goes against anti-racism values shared by the football community.”

A product of the Valletta FC nursery, Rashed Al-Tumi played for the Malta national team at youth level and was part of the senior squad for the last two qualifiers against Spain and Norway.

Al-Tumi moved to Sicily in 2016, joining ASD Katane Soccer and then moved to Palermo where he played for their Primavera side. Last summer, he joined Casarano in the Serie D.