Director of ‘Football Against Racism’ under fire for racist slur in Twitter row

The executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) has sparked fury after referred to an Asian football fan as a 'coconut' in a Twitter spat.

Piara Power of FARE used a racial slur during a Twitter exchange with football fan Prmjit Singh. Mr Singh had tweeted Piara and noted: "Interesting how u haven't given your opinion on the news that a £mufc fan was arrested on Wednesday for alleged racial abuse."

The tweet was concerning a Manchester United fan that was fined £200 this week and banned from attending football matches for three years. 57-year-old Howard Hobson had been found to have shouted: "You f*****g w**! You f*****g n*****!" at Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones.

However, Mr Singh was shocked when he received a privately sent reply from FARE's executive director, which read: "Get lost Singh. Have no false consciousness. Don't be a coconut." The racial slur 'coconut' is meant to infer that a person is brown on the outside but white on the inside.

"At first I was shocked because in all my life I have never been called a coconut," Mr Singh told the Daily Mail.

"I've been called p**i, a rag head and other racist names by non-Asians but never a coconut. It is more insulting to me to be called a coconut than a rag head because some of the people who used that term are just ignorant. But for one Asian to call another Asian man a coconut is like being called a traitor.

"It is like saying you're betraying your own race or roots, in my opinion." FARE have since declined to comment on the matter.