Former QPR striker Richard Paquette explains how he was racially abused by opponent who then got thrown out of his non-league club
Former Queens Park Rangers striker Richard Paquette has told talkSPORT an opposition player was kicked out of his club for racially abusing him on the pitch over the weekend.
The 36-year-old is now player/coach at non-league side Harefield United.
He was playing in an FA Vase game against Barnet-based club, North West London, on Saturday when one of their players called him a ‘f*****g monkey’.
Paquette said it’s the first time in his long career in the English football pyramid he had been racially abused by a fellow player on the pitch.
And he said the rest of North West London’s players and manager all turned on his abuser and substituted him at half-time, saying after the match he would never play for them again.
Paquette’s story comes after an alarming number of incidents of racism have made the football headlines, with the abuse of Inter star Romelu Lukaku by Cagliari supporters the latest to hit the back pages.
And the veteran says he fears the younger generation of players may decide to quit the game if nothing is done to stop discrimination.
Speaking to talkSPORT producer Joe Amphlett, the striker explained how the incident played out on Saturday:
“I tackled the fella and won the ball, but the ref thought otherwise, and we had a little disagreement.
“He took a quick free-kick and then shouted, ‘you f*****g monkey’ towards me.
“I thought to myself, ‘did I just hear correctly?’
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“So then I just lost my head, I charged back towards him. My manager saw my reaction, they’ve ever seen me react like that before.
“I was calling to the ref at the same time, telling him, ‘he just called me a f*****g monkey’. So I got pulled away, the ref paused the game and I told him again, ‘he just called me a f*****g monkey’. I was proper losing my head.
“The ref called their captain over, I don’t know what he said to him because my players were trying to calm me down, but as we went to restart the game the ref came over and said to me, ‘I totally believe you’.
“The other player didn’t come out for the second-half.
“Some of their players were saying, ‘he’s an idiot, what’s he doing, what’s he doing?’
“After the game I was walking back to the changing room and their manager and captain were standing by the tunnel.
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- Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba tells black players to leave Serie A after reading Inter fans’ defence
- Inter fan joins talkSPORT to apologise to Lukaku and condemns abuse from Sardinian club
- Lukaku should think about leaving Inter, one month after joining club, Clinton Morrison believes
“The manager said to me, ‘I asked around the dressing room and they all confirmed what he said. We’re a multicultural club and we don’t condone racist language like that. I’m sorry you had to experience that’.
“I’ve never experienced another player being racist to me on the pitch, I think that’s what got me more angry.
“I’m playing for enjoyment now, I’ve still got the buzz, so to come here at 36 years of age and get that? No way. I didn’t expect that in non-league.
“This is getting a bit ridiculous now.
“I’m very strong minded and I still love what I do, but I can see players in the younger generation who probably think, ‘I don’t need this’, and they might just quit.”
Listen back to former QPR striker Richard Paquette on talkSPORT in full above
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