Black NHL star has banana skin thrown at him during match by racist fan



Resolute: Wayne Simmonds is one of the few black players in the NHL and says he has learnt to ignore the racist taunts

The NHL is embroiled in an embarrassing racism row after a fan threw a banana skin at one of ice hockey's most famous black players during a match.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds had to swerve the peel as it landed on the ice in a match against the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario, last night.



It landed directly in Simmonds' path as he raced towards opposition goalie Jordan Pearce during the game's shootout, but despite the taunt he still managed to score.



It is understood more than one attempt was made to throw bananas at him during the match but the fruit fell into the crowd.

The same racist fan tried when Simmonds scored with 52 seconds remaining in the third period to tie the game.



When he succeeded the 'ignorant' spectator then fled the stadium and has not been traced, but people within the game have promised a $500 reward if he is caught.

'I caught it from the side of my eye,' Simmonds said after the match. 'It was a banana. Hopefully, that wasn't directed towards me being black.

'Because if it was, that's just somebody being ignorant.

Talent: This image was taken just after he swerved the banana skin as he slammed the puck into the net

Job done: Simmonds skates back to his team after scoring his goal, completely ignoring the racist gesture

'When you're a black man playing in a predominantly white man's sport, you've got to come to expect things like that.

INFAMOUS RACIST MOMENTS IN SPORT

Footballer John Barnes had a banana hurled at him during a Merseyside derby match with Everton at Goodison Park, which he casually backheeled away



Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton was taunted at the Spanish Grand Prix when one fan, above, painted his face black and dressed like him to taunt the star

Then Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o was subjected to such violent racial abuse by Real Zaragoza supporters that he threatened to walk off the pitch and had to be persuaded by players and his manager to stay on the pitch



After his move to West Brom was announced Lokomotiv Moscow fans celebrated Peter Odemwingie's sale with a racist banner showing a banana and the message: 'Thanks West Brom.'

'Over the past 23 years of my life, I've come to expect some things like that. But I'm older and more mature now, I kind of just left things roll off [my back]. I try not to think about stuff like that.'

After the banana was tossed onto the ice at the 9,000-seat Comcast-Spectacor-managed arena, an announcement was made to stop fans from throwing things.

But embarrassingly they would not acknowledge the act itself was racist, claiming it was a safety issue instead.

'Unfortunately, we weren’t able to identify the individual,' Comcast-Spectacor president Peter Luukko said.



'We certainly don't condone such a foolish act [like this] as a player could potentially be seriously injured. This is ninth time we have played here in London and the fans have always been wonderful to us. The Flyers consider this our ‘home away from home’ and that's because this city, the fans and this spectacular arena have been so supportive of the Philadelphia Flyers.'

Today Simmonds' teammates backed him, with one saying 'I would have went and kicked that fan's ass myself. That's just not right.'

Players and fans from around the league have expressed their outrage and the incident was trending worldwide on Twitter.

'Wayne Simmonds dealt with some awful stuff tonight in London,' said Coyotes forward Paul Bissonnette, the game’s most popular player on Twitter with 135,000-plus followers.

Icon: Liverpool and England star John Barnes had a banana thrown at him by racist fans in 1988, and the image of him backheeling it away kickstarted a backlash against racism in English football

One of Simmonds’ closest friends from his hometown in Scarborough, Chris Stewart said: 'The incident that happened in London tonight involving my best friend Wayne Simmonds was simply disgusting. It’s 2011, ppl [sic] need to grow up.'

This is not the first time this has happened in ice hockey, which is a predominantly white sport.



Carolina Hurricanes black goaltender Kevin Weekes had a banana thrown at him in Montreal during a playoff series in 2002.



Former Florida Panthers forward Peter Worrell had also experienced the same racist threats.

Weekes, now a commentator for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL Network, said 'I’m extremely disappointed with what happened to Wayne Simmonds tonight'

