English Soccer Player Eniola Aluko Says Manager Made 'Racist' Ebola Comment
English soccer player Eniola Aluko says national team manager Mark Sampson told her to make sure her family didn't "bring Ebola with them" when coming to see a game at Wembley Stadium in 2014, according to Daniel Taylor of the Guardian.
Aluko was born in Nigeria and moved to England with her family at a young age. According to the Guardian, she was paid £80,000 by the Football Association to sign a confidentiality agreement in regards to the investigation over Sampson's comments, but she has recently gotten consent to provide her perspective on the situation.
"I remember laughing but in a very nervous way," Aluko toldthe Guardian about the incident. "I went back to my room and I was really upset. It might have been easier to take if it was about me alone. Lots of things had been said about me over those two years but this was about my family. I called my mum and she was absolutely disgusted.”
Additionally, Aluko claims that another staff member spoke to her in a mock Caribbean accent.
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The Guardian also says Sampson was also being investigated for asking a mixed-race player about how many times she had been arrested. According to the Guardian, that player was never interviewed as part of the investigation.
Aluko told the Guardian about a handful of players, including herself and the mixed-race player, who stopped getting invites to play for the national team after incidents.
Sampson was cleared of all allegations in the investigation.
