Two men charged over Latrell Mitchell racist abuse

Two men have been charged for allegedly sending abusive messages to South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell.

The NRL – after being informed by Mitchell of “racially charged” social media messages – referred the online trolling to the police after an investigation by the NRL integrity unit.

The New South Wales police arrested a 22-year-old male and 25-year-old male with both being charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

The NRL chief executive, Andrew Abdo, said the competition would not tolerate racist trolling of players and praised Mitchell’s handling of the situation.

“Any fan who racially abuses or threatens our players will be referred to police,” Abdo stated.

“I want to commend Latrell for the leadership role he is taking. We wholeheartedly support Latrell in reporting this matter. He is a leader in the fight against racism in our community.”

South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly also commented Mitchell’s decision.

“Racism is absolutely abhorrent and has no place in our game or society in general,” Solly said.

“We fully support Latrell’s decision to refer the abuse to the NSW police. Latrell has shown great courage in taking this position and I would encourage other NRL players who are subject to abuse of this nature to do the same thing.”