LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 18: Kevin Danso of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 18, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images) | Getty Images I’ve had to write this article far, far too many times during my tenure as blog manager. Every time it disgusts me. In the wake of Tottenham’s 2-2 gutting home draw against Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday that saw the visitors equalize in extra time of the second half, Tottenham Hotspur defender Kevin Danso found himself the subject of vile racial abuse from Spurs supporters on social media.

And it’s worse — it happened during No Room for Racism weekend.Since yesterday’s fixture against Brighton, which took place during the Premier League’s No Room For Racism weekend, Kevin Danso has been, and continues to be, subject to significant and abhorrent racist abuse on social media.There is no place for racism at Tottenham Hotspur.… pic.twitter.com/KxKKgHXCIS— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 19, 2026Danso made a mistake in the game. His decision to pass the ball out of the back instead of clearing the ball is what let to Brighton’s equalizer. It was a singular mistake in what was otherwise a brilliant performance by the Austrian.

None of that excuses racial abuse, and it feels worse that the majority of it came anonymously by supposed Spurs fans on social media. Soccer is a team sport, and Kevin Danso’s mistake was not the sole reason why Tottenham dropped two points yesterday. In the club’s defense, they came out with a very prompt statement on the club’s website decrying the racial abuse and stating that they will do everything they can to find the violators.Since yesterday’s fixture against Brighton, which took place during the Premier League’s No Room For Racism weekend, Kevin Danso has been, and continues to be, subject to significant and abhorrent racist abuse on social media.We have heard and seen vile, dehumanising racism.

Behaviour that is without doubt a criminal offence. It will not be tolerated.The club is taking immediate action. We are reporting all identified content to the Metropolitan Police and to the appropriate authorities in the country where perpetrators reside, as well as to relevant social media platforms.

We will push for the strongest possible action against each and every person we identify.Kevin has our complete and unconditional support as a player and as a person. No one at this club will ever stand alone in the face of this.Nothing about form or league position can ever excuse or explain racist abuse. There is no connection between performance on the pitch and the right to target a player with discrimination.

Criticism of performances is part of the game. Racism is not.We work with specialist third parties dedicated to monitoring online abuse, investigating incidents and identifying perpetrators.Abusers could face custodial sentences, football banning orders, criminal records, fines, community orders or police-mandated educational programmes. We have successfully secured criminal convictions following abuse of our staff and players, including individuals based overseas, and we have also issued indefinite Club bans.We call on X, Instagram and all platforms to act quickly and decisively when racist abuse is reported.

We also encourage anyone who sees abuse of this kind to report it directly to us at report@tottenhamhotspur.com so we can take the strongest possible action.There is no place for racism at Tottenham Hotspur. There is no place for racism in football.— Statement, Tottenham HotspurThere’s little I can add to this statement, except to lament that I was writing this same article 12 years ago when I was a nascent blog manager and I’m still writing the same article today. I hate it.

I hate that these vile people are so quick to abuse a black player who has been nothing but good for the club and been a fantastic servant, even in the midst of this tire fire of a season. I hate that social media platforms, which have the tools to combat this plague of anonymous racism, refuse to act. And I hate the acknowledgement that all clubs have their racist subset of fans, even ours.May we someday get to a point as a society where this doesn’t happen.