FA Investigates Claim That LFC Goalkeeper Borggräfe Uttered Offensive Comment
The FA has initiated a racism inquiry following reports that LFC Women's shot-stopper Rafaela Borggräfe allegedly made reference to skin colour in a remark overheard by a number of staff and teammates.
The claimed remark is understood to have happened while the squad were preparing to arrange a team picture, and the Merseyside outfit is reported to have quickly investigated the matter internally.
The player has allegedly denied the accusations during the proceedings of the current inquiry.
The club's internal review was ongoing at the time when the goalkeeper – who signed for the WSL side this close season on a no-fee move from SC Freiburg – did not feature in their inaugural fixture of the campaign.
When asked about her omission, manager Gareth Taylor described it as an “private matter.”
Later on, when talking about her selection status prior to a fixture against the Midlands club, Taylor stated: “She has returned in the squad. No update as of now however she’s in sessions with the squad so she is available for the weekend.”
The goalkeeper was later named in the bench though she was uninvolved substitute.
A club statement issued on Friday said: “The club is aware of a claimed utterance of racist comments by one of our players. We has followed its guidelines to the fullest extent and the reported event has been escalated to the FA, which is carrying out an inquiry with our backing. We reject all forms of discrimination; it has no role in soccer or the world. We are not able to elaborate while the process is active.”
The goalkeeper, who spent more than 10 years with the German club after entering their youth system, is in her debut campaign in English football but is still awaiting her debut for the Merseysiders.
The team are among a trio in the Women's Super League without a positive result, along with West Ham and the last-ranked recent arrivals the Lionesses.
Liverpool play Villa on the road in the competition on Sunday. There is no confirmation whether the keeper will be in contention. Sources suggest she did not train recently but this missing was due to private circumstances and unrelated to the inquiry.
