By Middlesbrough Football Club

The club have introduced a new text message service as a further way for fans to report discrimination and hate crime.

We’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion across all of our operations as a football club, and want the Riverside Stadium to be a welcoming environment for everyone.

We have a zero tolerance approach to abusive behaviour, and the text line is an an additional way for supporters to help us target and eradicate discrimination and hate crime, both at the Riverside and in the wider football community.

Everyone attending a match at our stadium has the right to feel safe, valued and included and we encourage supporters to play their part in this by reporting any incidents they are a victim of, or are witness to.

From now on on matchdays at the Riverside, fans can send a text message to 07340 718965, giving full details of the incident and which stand, row and seat it took place if possible.

The text will be sent to the matchday safety team who will investigate via steward intervention as well as direct or remote observation.

There are a number of other ways to report discrimination and hate crime:

  • Inform a steward or other member of staff
  • Report it to Kick It Out via their app, or the Kick It Out reporting feature accessed via the menu of the official MFC App
  • Email supporters@mfc.co.uk or call 01642 757640

We also encourage supporters to report any incidents witnessed on social media platforms that directly affect Middlesbrough Football Club, staff, players or supporters, by email to supporters@mfc.co.uk, sharing details of the incident and screenshots of any offensive social media posts where possible.

Our advice to fans who see or receive hurtful, abusive or discriminatory comments is not to engage directly with those accounts/perpetrators but instead to first report the post to the relevant social media platform, and then to block the user from any further contact.

More info on reporting discrimination can be found here.