Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Daniel Podence was flashed a straight red card for punching a Como 1907 player after alleged racist abuse had been targeted at teammate Hwang Hee-chan during a pre-season friendly in Marbella, Spain on Monday.<\/p>\n
Hwang reported the incident during the second half of the closed-door match, which immediately led to angry reactions from his teammates.\u00a0The ensuing fracas saw Podence shown a straight red card for punching a rival player, although it is unclear whether the player he struck was the one who is alleged to have abused Hwang.<\/p>\n
The Korean midfielder gamely insisted on playing on after the incident, according to a long statement from Wolves manager Gary O\u2019Neil published on the club\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanny heard a racist remark which is really disappointing,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cI spoke to Channy about it, checked whether he wanted to take the team off or come off himself, but he was keen the team carried on and got the work they needed. It\u2019s really disappointing that it happened, that we have to talk about it and that it impacted the game \u2014 not ideal and things like that shouldn\u2019t be around.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really disappointed, of course, and understandably. I\u2019m proud of the fact that he wanted to carry on and put his team first in a difficult moment for him. He knew it was a pre-season trip and he wanted the lads to work and get their minutes, even though he\u2019d suffered something hugely offensive. Channy will be OK, he\u2019ll get our full support and we\u2019ll pick him up in the morning and make sure he\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a together group. Of course, there\u2019s ways to handle that and we don\u2019t want to leave ourselves short on the pitch, but it\u2019s a together group. We\u2019ve worked really hard this week, had a good week, had some great moments in the game, but it\u2019s an unfortunate incident we have to deal with and have to discuss when, ideally, we\u2019d be talking about the game. Of course, when an incident like that happens in a game, it\u2019s the first thing we discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside O\u2019Neil\u2019s comments, Wolves said Monday that they would be filing a formal complaint to UEFA regarding the incident.<\/p>\n
The incident is not the first time Hwang has been the target of racist abuse during a pre-season game, as he was a target in 2022 during a friendly against Portuguese side Farense\u00a0at Est\u00e1dio Algarve in the Algarve, Portugal.<\/p>\n
Such untoward ugly episodes are not uncommon in the Premier League, with both Hwang and Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s Son Heung-min subjected to racist abuse from opposing fans at least once a season. Along the same vein, former prominent Manchester United star Park Ji-sung also used to get the same treatment, with his own fans even singing a highly objectionable song about Koreans eating dogs.<\/p>\n
Son was recently even the subject of a racist joke, albeit allegedly unintentionally, from one of his own teammates earlier this summer as Rodrigo Bentancur told a presenter on Uruguayan TV that all Koreans look the same, a comment he immediately apologized to the South Korean for subsequently.<\/p>\n
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