Ezra Mam was allegedly racially abused on Sunday
The Broncos star faced an alleged insult from Spencer Leniu
Leniu denies the accusation but mother is ‘inflexible’
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The NRL show in Las Vegas was marred after a football star was allegedly the victim of racist abuse by another player on Sunday.
Sydney Roosters’ Spencer Leniu reportedly labeled Brisbane rival Ezra Mam “a monkey” during his team’s win over Brisbane at Allegiant Stadium.
The Broncos youngster lodged a mid-match complaint against Leniu and was “adamant” that the former Penrith player made a comment that was “racial in nature”.
‘He called me a monkey!’ Mum could be heard telling referee Adam Gee.
The incident caused a melee between the two groups of players as the Roosters led 14-10 during the second half.
‘Things are heating up a bit here in the middle. “It’s Spencer Leniu who Lindsay Collins just took back to calm down,” Mick Ennis said on Fox Sport’s coverage of the big game.
Brisbane Broncos star Ezra Mam allegedly racially abused in Las Vegas
Spencer Leniu accused of calling Broncos’ gun a “monkey” during game
—If you’re not careful, Spencer Leniu, you could pull off the disappearing act.
After the melee, referee Gee called out Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds and his Roosters counterpart James Tedesco.
“Ezra has filed a formal complaint of a racial nature against Spencer, I haven’t heard it, the incident is reported and will be dealt with later, that’s where it remains,” Gee said.
Jonathan Thurston told Nine that Mum was left in tears after the incident, adding: “We’ve had two great games of football and now we have to deal with this.”
Leniu was asked about the allegation after the Roosters’ 20-10 win but appeared to ignore the allegation.
“No, nothing, it’s all fun and games when we’re on the field,” Leniu said.
When asked if he was worried about a possible sanction, he replied: “I’m not worried at all.”
Broncos coach Kevin Walters says Mom is ‘adamant’ because she heard what he alleges was said
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters said emotions were high in the Broncos dressing room.
“He’s pretty upset… but we’ll leave that to the NRL to monitor and judge, but we certainly support Ezra and our player and everything around that,” Walters said.
‘It is inflexible (it was said). But we’ll leave that to the NRL, they’re looking at it. I will not comment further on this, except that we support our player and rightly so.
‘I am certainly (upset). We don’t (condone it) in our club, certainly, but again, it’s not our doing and we won’t take any more questions except that we support Ezra in every way.