IRFU keen to ‘hold people to account’ for racist abuse

Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) director of communications Aoife Clake is hopeful “we can bring something to the Gardai (Irish police)” following the racist abuse directed at Edwin Edogbo.

Munster forward Edogbo came off the bench for his Ireland debut in Saturday’s 20-13 victory over Italy in the Six Nations.

In a follow-up social media post congratulating the 23-year-old a number of abusive replies resulted in the IRFU turning off further comments.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday, Clarke confirmed they are awaiting a report from Signify, a UK-based company that has the ability to collect online data, before they take the next step.

“Through their technology, they are able to scan open source commentary and anything we get to players, match officials or staff through direct messages can be reported,” Clarke told Good Morning Ulster.

“They take that and conduct investigations and at the moment they are investigating a number of accounts. They will look to see if there are patterns from these accounts or if it’s one-off.

“We can then decide if we can refer it to local law enforcement for the next step. We’d be hopeful we can bring something to the Gardai that could lead to prosecutions.

On Monday, the IRFU confirmed the “cowardly” comments are subject to an investigation and Clarke reiterated the IRFU’s stance that “rugby is a welcome space for everyone”.

“There is no place for racism in our sport, in any sport or even society. When things like this happen, it makes you bond and step back to look at everything you can do.

“In Munster, Edwin has been playing for them and they haven’t experienced anything like it up until now either, so it seems to have been magnified with that step up to international level.

“It has no place at any club, province or international level, so we will do all we can to eradicate it and support the players, match officials and staff.”

The 23-year-old second row has made 24 appearances for Munster and has registered 30 points.

After that nervy victory on Saturday, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell praised the debutant’s contribution in his post-match news conference.

“Well, we need to celebrate Edwin’s first cap, that is for sure as it is one amazing story,” Farrell said.