Exeter Chiefs captain Jack Yeandle condemns racist abuse of Ugo Monye - 'It's not acceptable'

Exeter Chiefs captain Jack Yeandle has condemned the racist abuse aimed at Ugo Monye following his side’s 25-24 victory over Gloucester on Sunday.

Monye, a former England and Harlequins player, was leaving Sandy Park when the incident occurred and reported it on X – formerly Twitter – before it was picked up by Devon and Cornwall Police.

Exeter Chiefs released a statement saying they would be “launching a full investigation” and extended their “sincerest apologies” to Monye.

Yeandle, the Exeter captain and hooker who played on Sunday, described it as “not acceptable” and called for more to be done to stamp racism out not just in rugby, but throughout society.

“I think it's not just the game, is it? It's society as a whole has got to sort of, not self-police, but society as a whole has got to just clamp down on it massively,” Yeandle said.

“It's not okay. It's not acceptable. We're all human and we need to, you know, be kind to each other. Things like that just aren't on.”

Yeandle also said that he had reached out to Monye privately through social media to apologise.

“I think there's... a few tweets and stuff went out. I just dropped him a message on Instagram just to say, you know, mate, I'm really sorry,” he added.

“That person doesn't represent the club or anything like that. If any of the boys were around I'm sure it would have been dealt with straight away because all our views are not on the same level as that complete muppet.

“And yeah, hopefully he gets dealt with pretty swiftly.”

Devon and Cornwall Police have “made contact” with a man in connection to the incident.

A police spokesperson said: “We have identified and made contact with a man in connection to the incident and we are in the process of speaking to the victim.

“Our inquiries are currently ongoing.”

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