Fan banned for offensive tweets

Everton have banned a supporter for tweeting racist and homophobic comments to Malaysian superfan Ric Wee.



It is believed to be the first time a Premier League football club has banned a fan for remarks made on the social media site.



The club confirmed they sent a letter to twitter user @whereareyaefc on Friday.



In the letter head of security and stadium safety Dave Lewis described the tweets as “offensive and abhorrent”.



Everton tracked the fan they believe is responsible through an email address linked to the Twitter handle which was also used to send messages to the club’s email address.



Ric Wee hit the headlines in February when his plans to see Everton live for the first time in 30 years of supporting the team were thwarted when the Blues’ match against Crystal Palace was postponed.



The account @whereareyaefc, which has since been deactivated, sent at least five offensive tweets mentioning Ric Wee by name in two of them.



The club has said the accused fan has seven days to contact their legal department with proof that he did not send the messages.



An Everton spokesman said: “The club has contacted a supporter informing them of our decision to ban them from all Everton matches indefinitely after they appeared to have posted homophobic and racist comments linked to the Club on the social media site twitter. This is a breach of our ticket terms and conditions.



“Everton has a zero tolerance policy on racism and homophobia.”



Mr Lewis said: “Everton Football Club does not welcome those who display such homophobic and racist views and to that end the decision has been made to ban you from attending all Everton FC matches until further notice.



“In accordance with our normal practice this ban may be reviewed annually in the event that you submit a written request after 20 June 2015.”