A man has been banned from all football grounds in the UK for three years after racially abusing Ivan Toney on social media.
In what has been described as a 'landmark ruling' by Toney's current club Brentford, it is the first banning order issued under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
At Newcastle Magistrates' Court, Antonio Neill admitted sending an offensive message to Toney, who shared the message on his Twitter account back in October.
Neill's comments were described by a judge as "exceptionally offensive" with "racial overtones".
The 24-year-old man apologised to Toney in court, but Neill was handed a four-month suspended jail sentence, on top of his football stadium ban.
Brentford released a statement following the hearing to say: "Ivan Toney has been subject to sickening racist abuse on a regular basis, and we want to see tough action taken against anyone found guilty of such abuse."
The new act has brought in legislation at tackling discrimination and hate speech online, widening the scope of how people can be punished for committing these sorts of offences.
Andrew Delaney
