Richard Dunne has spoken out on abuse he faced as a player for Man City, comparing it to the treatment of Raheem Sterling by Chelsea fans during his side's 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge last Sunday.
Certain Blues supporters have been reprimanded after footage appears to show them calling the Man City player a 'black c**nt' during the game.
Writing in the Herald, former City captain Dunne revealed that Chelsea fans called him an Irish c**nt when he played at Stamford Bridge:
When I played at Chelsea, I was called an “Irish c***”. So I can understand why there is so much talk about the Raheem Sterling incident last week and the difference between being called a “black c***” and a “Manc c***”.
There is a difference between abusing someone over the colour of their skin and their nationality but it’s still abuse, it happens in football. And it has to stop.
People didn’t take it seriously when I was called an Irish c*** but whoever said that had a problem with the country I came from, and that is racism. Irish players still get it a lot, James McClean gets it a lot of the time and football can’t ignore that it’s there.
Dunne called on the Premier League to take a stand and educate football fans on what is acceptable behaviour.
He also singled out Chelsea as a club where he was subjected to the most abuse as a player:
Maybe it’s unfair of me to pick out one club but Chelsea was where I heard it the most, there was even something so stupid as me going to take a throw-in and someone shouting ‘potato’ at me.
