British footballer sparks fury after 'blacking up'

An international rugby player is at the centre of a race storm after blacking up as an African football star for a photograph.

Wales full-back Liam Williams dressed as Premier League striker Wilfried Bony for the picture, which he then posted on Twitter. Williams, 23, wore the white strip of Bony’s club, Swansea City, donned a black wig and painted his face black to impersonate the Ivory Coast footballer.

Yesterday he was accused of racism over the image, which was retweeted 160 times and favourited 345 times after he shared it with his 31,000 Twitter followers.

Williams, who plays for the Llanelli-based Scarlets rugby union team, insisted Bony had given him permission, through a friend, to wear the costume.

But Show Racism The Red Card criticised the player – who featured in one of its campaigns last season – saying his behaviour was unacceptable.

Campaign manager Sunil Patel said: ‘I can’t comment on whether Wilfried is fine with it, but I am sure many black people would not be fine with it. It’s something we might have seen 30 or 40 years ago but it is not something we expect to see in a multicultural society.’

And Weyman Bennett, secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added: ‘This picture is absolutely not appropriate. It is racist to black up.’

But yesterday he tweeted: ‘I am very sorry for any offence caused by my actions. I’m not a racist and there was no malice behind it.’

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Innocent fun under attack