Rio Ferdinand, a former England hero, has come in court to testify against a football fan who denies racially assaulting him.
Jamie Arnold, 31, claims he did not perform monkey motions or yell racist obscenities at the former defender while working as a BT Sports commentator.
On May 23, last year, he was accused with using racist comments and gestures during a match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United.
He and Ferdinand are both in court today for the opening day of the trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The game was the first time Wolves’ Molineux stadium had been open to the public in more than a year, after the pandemic lockdown.
Arnold was detained during the game and accused of making homophobic remarks to the referee.
Arnold, of Stone in Staffordshire, had appeared before JPs at Dudley Magistrates Court.
Prosecutor Mark Cooper said, ‘On the day in issue, Rio Ferdinand was working as a television analyst.’
The defendant is reported to have made monkey chants and shouted obscenities towards Rio Ferdinand.
Ferdinand tweeted about an incident during the game, which United won 2-1 due to Anthony Elanga and Juan Mata goals.
‘The past several weeks, it’s been incredible to watch fans return,’ he wrote.
‘However, to the Wolves supporter who was just ejected for performing a monkey chant at me, you should be expelled from football and schooled.’
‘Come meet me, and I’ll show you what it’s like to be racially assaulted!’
West Midlands Police said Arnold was charged after an investigation led by PC Stuart Ward, the UK’s first specialist hate crime investigator within a football section.
‘He is at the heart of our unit’s continued operation to root out any abuse towards players and spectators,’ a police official stated.