A TEENAGER who racially abused an England footballer on social media has been asked by an anti-racism organisation to apologise for the harm and upset caused.

The 15-year-old from a small village near Salisbury, who the Journal is choosing not to name due to his age, was given a youth caution by Wiltshire Police for the tweet he sent to Danny Welbeck on Monday, March 9.

It was posted on Twitter after the Arsenal striker, 24, scored the winning goal in his side's FA Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester United.

Anna Jönsson, reporting officer for football's equality and inclusion organisation Kick It Out, said: "The racist message directed at Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck was brought to our attention by a Twitter user and we immediately reported this via True Vision – the Police’s online reporting facility.

"We are pleased to see Wiltshire Police reach the end of their investigation after they announced they have issued the individual concerned with a youth caution, and we now hope to see this followed through to a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned.

"We will also be looking to ascertain whether an apology has been, or will be sent to Danny Welbeck by the individual, to ensure he understands the harm and upset a comment of this nature can cause. We are constantly seeing the volume of abusive messages posted on social media escalating."

The organisation say they want to put the teenager through further education, which they are happy to deliver, as part of a rehabilitation process.

Anna added: "We are liaising with Wiltshire Police to establish whether the individual will undertake further education, and have offered to deliver this training. We feel this is an extremely important aspect of the rehabilitation process to help the individual fully realise the consequences of their actions.

"Our mid-season reporting statistics, recorded from August 2014 to December 2014, showed a 24 per cent rise in incidents of football-related hate crime on social media reported to us when compared to the same time period the previous year.

“We encourage anybody who witnesses or is on the receiving end of football-related hate crime posted on social media platforms to report the incident to us by informing us via our official account on Twitter – @kickitout – or by emailing us on info@kickitout.org."

A spokesman from Arsenal FC said: "Arsenal Football Club does not tolerate discrimination of any type and support any action taken to help eradicate such behaviour."