SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Di'Shon Bernard of Sheffield Wednesday on the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough at Hillsborough on September 19, 2023 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) Di’Shon Bernard was nearly hit by a bottle during the fallout of a racist incident at Sheffield Wednesday last week, and had to stand through boos on Friday.
It’s been a disappointing week for the Owls after Coventry City’s Kasey Palmer was racially abused in their Championship game last week, a situation that led to the club putting out a statement and video condemning any sort of discriminatory behaviour. A man has since been arrested for ‘a racially aggravated public order offence’.
On Friday night, as the teams two locked horns in the FA Cup, an element of the supporters in the stadium booed as the Sky Blues took the knee before the game in support of their teammate, and Bernard admits that it’s hard to see that sort of reaction – especially against one of his international teammates.
Speaking afterwards he said, “It’s tough to see, and obviously it’s a big topic and hard for me to try and talk around, but it’s not nice to see and it really shouldn’t be happening in the game. Obviously I play with Kasey at Jamaica, so it’s even worse seeing it to one of my teammates.
“Boos aren’t nice, but in this day and age it’s happening again and again and again. It’s obviously not the best, and it’s hard for me to talk about.”
Bernard threw a bottle down to the ground in frustration last week as somebody from the Kop threw it towards Palmer, urging the crowd to calm down as the situation seemed to escalate.
