Southend face racism probe

Last updated : 11 December 2005 By Daniel Elwes
Donovan was sent off for gesturing to the crowd at Roots Hall on Saturday, with his club claiming he was responding to racial abuse from a fan.

Supt Tony Payne, in charge of policing at the match, said: "We have appointed officers to investigate the allegations to discover if they were made and to attribute them to an individual.

"The Bradford City goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts alleged that racial comments made him react in the way he did on the pitch.

"Southend United has never in the past been known to experience racial abuse and I do not think that this is a recurring problem but we are investigating nevertheless."