A 49-year-old man has been charged by police for allegedly racially abusing West Brom star Romaine Swayers.
Simon Silwood was arrested in January by police after the 29-year-old midfielder received a racist message on social media during a 5-0 home defeat by Manchester City at the Hawthorns.
But now West Midlands Police has confirmed the man from Kingswinford in the West Midlands has been charged and will appear at a magistrates court on 29 April.
A man has been charged after being accused of racially abusing Romaine Sawyers
The 29-year-old received the racist message in West Brom’s defeat by Manchester City
A statement read: ‘We’ve charged a man after West Bromwich Albion player Romaine Sawyers was racially abused online.
‘Simon Silwood is accused of sending an offensive message to the footballer via social media in January of this year.
‘The 49-year-old from Kingswinford has been charged under the Communications Act to appear before Dudley Magistrates Court on 29 April.
‘The investigation has been carried out by PC Stuart Ward who is the UK’s first dedicated hate crime officer within a football unit.
Sawyers is the third Albion player to be targeted, with Callum Robinson also receiving abuse
Robinson shared an image of the abuse he received on Instagram which has been reported
‘He is at the forefront of our unit’s ongoing work to stamp out any abuse against footballers and fans.’
Sawyers is one of three Albion players to have been racially abused this season, with Callum Robinson and another star who does not wish to be named also targeted online, club boss Sam Allardyce said last week.
The news comes after Sportsmail revealed Premier League clubs are set to unite and boycott all social media for a full weekend in their bid to stand against the vile racist abuse of footballers.
Son Heung-min is the latest top-flight star to have received abhorrent racial abuse after being accused of play-acting in Tottenham’s defeat by Manchester United, after the visitors were disallowed a goal after he received a hand to the face.
But speaking last week, West Brom boss Allardyce believes the Government must take a more active role to stamp out racist abuse after striker Robinson received 70 separate messages from 20 different Instagram accounts.
The news comes as Premier League clubs look set to boycott social media for a full weekend
‘The solution can only be brought about by people in the hierarchy of the government and those in these businesses (social media companies),’ said Allardyce.
‘People hiding behind false sites and posting obscene messages, in the world we live in today and the technology, is simply not good enough.
‘The club have done their best – they’ve written to Instagram, but I feel we’d get a feeble response, not a good one.
‘The people running these sites, making trillions of pounds, have the technology to know where it’s happening and what’s going on. They are clearly not doing enough at the moment.’
West Brom boss Sam Allardyce has called for the Government to intervene to stamp out abuse
Premier League clubs set to unite to BOYCOTT all social media for a full weekend of fixtures… as they make a stand against vile racist abuse of footballers and look to ramp up pressure on Twitter and Instagram to take action
By Mike Keegan and Sami Mokbel
Premier League clubs are considering a blanket social media boycott for a round of fixtures before the end of the season.
A growing number of sides want to send out a powerful message that racism will not be tolerated – after the torrent of abuse suffered by players in recent months.
They believe that a synchronised approach, which would see each club swerve the likes of Twitter and Instagram during a matchday weekend, would be not only symbolic but would show a united front and ramp up pressure on social media firms.
Premier League clubs are considering a blanket social media boycott for a round of fixtures
It is understood the idea of a boycott from this Friday at 5pm through to 9am on Monday has been floated among clubs.
Though this was considered unlikely to gain enough traction with this weekend’s FA Cup semi-finals meaning a number of clubs are not in action.
As revealed by Sportsmail last week, English football’s key stakeholders were locked in talks on Monday over the possibility of what would be an unprecedented joint blackout.
Swansea became the first club to ditch social media last week with a self-imposed ban lasting seven days. North of the border, Rangers did likewise.
The situation, however, is complex. Many clubs have commercial agreements with firms that include promotion on their social media channels.
Indeed, the use of social media is now a key asset for many when they negotiate deals, especially for those within the big six.
Despite that, there is a belief that such hurdles can be overcome given the potentially-damaging optics that would no doubt follow should companies object to the proposal.
Indeed, there is growing hope that the Premier League, who even up until last week have maintained they would prefer to resolve the problems that overshadowed the season through dialogue with social media companies, are changing their view.
The EFL has held talks with its clubs, with a league-wide boycott one of the options discussed
The feeling among top flight clubs is that they must move collectively and avoid a situation where an individual team would call their own blackout.
‘What we don’t want is a situation where some clubs have their own boycott while others do not,’ a source at one Premier League club explained.
‘This is very much all or nothing. If every club decided to do a blanket ban at the same time – and if that was around the same round of fixtures – it would have the maximum possible impact.’
The Premier League are under mounting pressure to take matters into their own hands following a season of abhorrent abuse directed at a number of players.
Tottenham star Heung-min Son and Raheem Sterling are the latest high profile players to be targeted for abuse through their own social media channels.
Additional reporting by Adrian Kajumba.