After receiving racial abuse online, Bristol Bears have come out to defend their player, Simi Pam.
A short statement from the club reads:
“Bristol Bears is disgusted by the racist abuse sent to women’s player Simi Pam on social media.
The club finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour totally unacceptable and is working with Simi and the RFU to offer support and investigate this incident.”
Supporters have been vocal in their support for the Bears player:
We support @BristolBears in condemning the abuse received by @simsimpam https://t.co/Gpc08xiTtO
— Paul Morgan (@PaulMorganMedia) February 9, 2023
Simi Pam is literally great. She deserves respect just the same as anyone in the game!
— Elizabeth Thomas (@MissElizabethCT) February 9, 2023
This comes just 18 months after Simi originally stopped using social media due to the amount of abuse she was getting from trolls. Saying at the time: “I’ve had some nasty things. I’ve had sexist things, misogynistic things, I get racial abuse quite a lot as well.
“The most recent message I got was sent to me at 6am by someone who has never communicated with me before, they just sent me a DM with a racial statement.
“It hurts sometimes, because no matter what you do to that person all they’ll ever see is that I’m a black person and for whatever reason that upsets them, offends them.
“I probably am powerless to do anything to change that, which is a shame.”
The 28-year-old has been at Bristol Bears since 2018 and has recently celebrated her 50th appearance in a Bristol shirt. Unfortunately for Simi Pam and her teammates, the scoreline did not favour them on her milestone, as they fell just short against local rivals Gloucester-Hartbury.
Besides being a key player in the Bristol Bears side, Pam is also a tireless key worker as she works the wards as a hospital junior doctor.
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