An amateur football match was suspended at the weekend when both teams walked off the pitch in response to racist taunts from the crowd.

Hardewijk-based VVOG and Harkemase Boys left the field in solidarity with VVOG player Pernelly Biya after he was subjected to monkey chants by a spectator, NOS reported. Biya confirmed he would be reporting the incident to the police.

VVOG chairman Laurens de Kleine said the incident was ‘absolutely unacceptable’ and the club supported Biya’s action. His counterpart at Harkemase Boys, Appie van der Veen, said the supporter in question had been identified and was no longer welcome at the club’s ground. The teams play in the Hoofdklasse, the second tier of Dutch amateur football.

The match was later resumed but uncontested, with players on both sides passing the ball to each other until the final whistle.