Agencies & People

Nigel Lewis

An estate agent in Lancashire has been banned from his football team’s home ground after posting an ‘obscene series of tweets’ about the death of Cardiff player Emiliano Sala from a Twitter account linked to his business.

36-year-old Gary Kay, who runs an estate agency in Burnley, used his Twitter account following a match between Burnley FC and Cardiff FC to mock Sala’s death, saying “We all live in a Sala submarine…. the latest number 1 in Cardiff”.

The 28-year-old Argentinian player died in January when the Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea north of Guernsey, killing both him and the pilot.

The comments enraged many on the social media platform including Welsh politician Neil McEvoy who said he had reported “this dreadful abuse” to the Football Association, and Kay was interviewed voluntarily by Lancashire police.

Zero tolerance

Officials at Burnley FC, which is in the Premiership, have now said that Kay is banned from its Turf Moor ground (pictured, above) pending the outcome of the police investigation and that it had a “strict zero tolerance policy to any racial or discriminatory behaviour” by fans.

Following the tweets, Kay subsequently said on Twitter that he regretted making the remarks, saying that: “I would like to take the opportunity to apologise unreservedly for any offence caused to Cardiff City, Cardiff City fans or anyone affected by the recent post yesterday on this profile”.

Kay and his estate agency have now both deleted their Twitter accounts.