Prince William has reached out to a grassroots football club after learning that its young players and coaches have faced racist abuse.
Alpha United Juniors, based in Bradford, revealed in November that for a number of years, players as young as seven have been on the receiving end of vile slurs and even threats of violence from the sidelines.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince William has reached out to Alpha United Juniors
In the letter, seen by Sky News and sent on his behalf by a private secretary, Prince William confirmed he had contacted the FA about the claims.
"Racism and abuse has no place in our society," he wrote. "Abhorrent behaviour of this nature must stop now and all those responsible be held to account."
© Photo: Getty ImagesWilliam is president of the Football Association
Mohammed Waheed, who founded the youth club ten years ago, became desperate to do something about the abuse, which has understandably been taking its toll on the team.
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He said he wrote Kensington Palace after trying to get a response from the FA but to no avail.
Prince William has been president of the Football Association since 2006.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe father-of-three is passionate about football
The FA said: "We strongly condemn all forms of offensive and discriminatory behaviour and we are determined to stamp it out of our game.
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"All allegations of this nature are taken extremely seriously and we would urge anybody who has been subject to, or a witness of, incidents to report it to The FA, their local County FA, or Kick It Out."
Prince William has long been a football fan – watch him visit his beloved Aston Villa in the video below. And it's a passion he has passed on to his own three children.
In 2021, William and Kate decided to take Prince George along to cheer on the England football team from the stands in the Euros.
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In fact, Prince George is such a football fan that the couple even chose to share photos of him laughing in an England football shirt for his sixth birthday.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince George seen cheering on England alongside his parents
And just last year, William revealed his daughter is also a talented little footballer.
The Prince was visiting the England Women's team at St George's Park, where he received three personalised football shirts for each of his children.
© Photo: Getty ImagesCharlotte is a 'budding' football star
When Prince William was given Charlotte's, he revealed: 'Charlotte wanted me to tell you that she is really good at goal. She said, 'Please tell them that.' She's a budding star for the future."
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