‘Still angers and upsets me to this day’ – Leko releases statement after Casilla is banned
Jonathan Leko has released a statement after Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla was found by the FA to have racially abused him while on loan at Charlton.
It was confirmed on Friday that Casilla, 33, had been hit with an eight-match ban for the incident that happened on September 28 when Leeds played Charlton at The Valley.
The FA took a long time to hold a hearing about the incident and finally, after months of doubt, their findings were published on Tuesday, sparking a lot of reaction from fans on Twitter.
Leko has been the victim of abuse from a minority of people on social media despite being the victim of racist abuse and has now spoken out about it for the first time.
Although it has reached a conclusion, he is still angered by the events that unfolded back in September.
“I am naturally relieved that the process is now complete and the FA have upheld what I have always known to be true – that I was racially abused by Kiko Casilla in a manner which shocked me and still angers and upsets me to this day,” said Leko, as shown on the West Brom official website.
“I have been disappointed with the amount of time it has taken to reach this point. Knowing what occurred in the game that day, it has been difficult to watch Kiko Casilla continue to play for such a lengthy period as if nothing had happened.”
Leko went on to say that he wants to see the FA review their processes when dealing with racism due to the length of time between the incident occurring and the punishment being served.
The West Brom youngster also explained how the situation could impact what he’d do if something similar happens in the future based on how he was treated at the hearing last month.
“By bringing the incident to the referee’s attention immediately, I was only doing what I have been educated to do throughout my career. But I found the hearing, at which I was made to feel I had done something wrong, extremely stressful,” Leko added.
“It made me question whether I would be prepared to go through it all again were I on the receiving end of similar abuse in the future. I certainly would think twice about how to advise another player placed in the same situation.
“From the outset, all I have done is report something that had to be challenged and exposed for what it is – racial abuse. I now want to put the episode behind me and concentrate on recovering from my injury to be ready for next season.”
For a young man, that is a great statement.
The FA took way too long to deal with this case and yet you hear all the time about how seriously they take racism.
So why did it take six months to punish Casilla for what he said to Leko?
Hopefully this can be used as a learning experience for the FA, as much as it should for Casilla.
In other Leeds United news, will Ian Poveda be in the squad on Saturday?