FA issues warning to Burnley player care consultant for liking Islamophobic posts on social media

The Football Association has issued a warning to a Burnley player care consultant after she liked a number of Islamophobic posts on social media.

A number of posts on X were liked by Laura Wolfe in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Sky Sports News understands that Wolfe is externally contracted by Burnley as player care consultant and had a close working relationship with Vincent Kompany and the first-team squad.

The FA issued a formal warning, but Wolfe was not charged and the matter was not referred to an Independent Regulatory Commission.

Kompany, who featured in the Football’s Hidden Talent documentary exploring the lack of South Asian representation in English football, has just been unveiled as Bayern Munich manager.

Burnley has a significant South Asian population, with the majority of the community hailing from a Muslim background.

In a statement, anti-discrimination campaign group Kick It Out confirmed they had passed the allegations to the FA, urging all those involved in football to be cautious with social media engagement due to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza.

A Kick It Out statement read: “Kick It Out is aware of the decision by the Football Association to formally warn a contractor at a club about their social media activity.

“From the outset, we passed the allegations to the FA and the club, and kept the complainant informed, as is our normal policy.

“As the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza continues, we urge all those involved in football to be cautious with their social media engagement, which could endorse words or have impacts that we do not intend.

“We also reiterate the recent call from our Islamophobia Working Group for football to adopt the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Working Definition of Islamophobia so that all stakeholders are working to the same standard.”

Burnley and the PFA have been approached for comment by Sky Sports News.

Kick It Out calls on football to adopt Islamophobia definition

Kick It Out wrote to football’s governing bodies earlier this year urging them to adopt the working definition of Islamophobia after receiving a rise in reported incidents during the season.

The letter was sent ahead of March 15 – the United Nations’ International Day to combat Islamophobia – after consultation with Kick It Out’s newly-formed Islamophobia Working Group.

The working group’s members include Aldershot Town chair Shahid Azeem, former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq, FA director Yasir Mirza, broadcaster Reshmin Chowdhury, Muslimah Sports Association chair Yashmin Harun and the first-ever Muslim member of the FA Council Yunus Lunat.

The letter highlighted how the definition was created after extensive research and testing by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2018, and has since been adopted by most major UK political parties, and many local governments and educational establishments.

The definition sets out how Islamophobia is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness. But it is also clear about its limits, including how it is not intended to prevent critique of religious belief, and how the definition is not legally binding.

The call comes after Kick It Out successfully lobbied football to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Antisemitism in 2021.

It also follows a fourfold increase in reports of Islamophobia in the first half of the 2023-24 season compared to the same period the previous season.