Liverpool FC have confirmed that they will take action against the man who called two Muslim men praying at Anfield ‘a disgrace’.
Stephen Dodd tweeted an image of Asif Bodi and Abubakar Bhula praying in the corner of an Anfield stairwell during the half-time break at Liverpool’s game with Blackburn Rovers on March 8.
He accompanied the image with the comment ‘Muslims praying at half time at the match yesterday #DISGRACE’. The tweet – now deleted – was met with a flood of replies from Liverpool supporters branding Dodd as the disgrace for insulting the two worshippers’ actions.
The club have now released a statement in reference to the incident. It explains that following a number of complaints, the club reported the offending tweet to Merseyside Police.
It continues that following the police investigation, the club are in the process of deciding upon appropriate action to take. The full Liverpool statement is as follows:
Asif Bodi told the Liverpool Echo that he hadn’t expected such a bigoted response, but was heartened by the reaction of fellow Liverpool supporters since the incident:
“My little boy said at the time ‘someone is taking a picture of us’ and I thought maybe it was someone who hadn’t seen prayers before. I certainly didn’t expect to be called a disgrace for doing it. But the support since has been very nice and I’m thankful,” said Bodi.
The Liverpool squad includes a number of Muslim players including Kolo Toure, Emre Can and Mamadou Sakho. Toure was part of a feature on the club’s website about the religious month of Ramadan.
