A group of black professional soccer players dining at a branch of Pizza Hut in Bournemouth, England, were asked to pay before their food arrived and were told it was “because of the way you look.”
The five players from League One side Bournemouth were told that they would have to pay first, despite a Pizza Hut employee admitting to them it was not company policy.
The incident prompted the soccer club’s chairman, Eddie Mitchell, to say on Monday that it was “upsetting to hear that people are treated differently because of the color of their skin.”
Pizza Hut apologized on Monday, but claimed that the incident was not racially motivated. The restaurant had called police after the men refused to leave the branch in Castle Lane West.
“We ordered our food. The manager came up with the bill and said, ‘would you mind paying first?’ We asked if that was the policy and he said ‘no,’” midfielder Anton Robinson, 24, told the Bournemouth Echo. “When we asked why he had asked us, he said: ‘It’s the way you look.’ We had a good idea what he was trying to get at. A group of white kids came in straight after us and they weren’t asked to pay before they had their food. The only thing different was the color of our skins.”
Robinson said that the group of players, including first-team regulars Marvin Bartley and Liam -Feeney, told the Pizza Hut employee that they were professional soccer players and were happy to pay when they had finished the meal.
“That’s what normal people do,” Robinson said. “He hadn’t asked other customers to pay before their meals. It got a little bit heated, then he said, ‘if you’re not going to pay the bill now, I’m going to call the police to escort you off the premises.’”
Robinson said that during his group’s lunchtime visit to the cafe all the players had been smartly dressed.
“When the lads go out for a meal we know we’re representing the club. We know that people recognize us and we have to behave,” he told the Echo.
Dorset police were called to the cafe during the incident on Thursday, after receiving a call from Pizza Hut.
“A group of men had been asked to leave. They weren’t happy about this, but we spoke to them and they did leave,” police said.
“Our players are magnificent ambassadors for AFC Bournemouth. Their behavior is exemplary and they are a credit to the club,” Mitchell said.
A Pizza Hut spokeswoman said: “This incident was not racially motivated. We have recently had a spate of customers leaving without paying their bills, so were advised by the police to ask people to pay before dining. We have been doing this at our discretion and in this case the situation was poorly handled.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite