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Rodrigo Bentancur, 27 year old Uruguayan midfielder for Tottenham, has been handed a seven match ban and £100,000 fine for racist comments in an interview, regarding club teammate Son.

In the interview, Bentancur was asked to provide a shirt belonging to a Spurs player. “Sonny's," he replied. “It could be Sonny’s cousin as they all look the same.”

The interview took place earlier this year, before the season had started, in his native Uruguay.

Since, he offered a private apology to Son and Spurs have issued a statement saying “We can confirm that the Club has appealed against the length of Rodrigo Bentancur’s FA suspension, issued earlier this week.” While we accept the guilty finding against Rodrigo by the independent regulatory commission, we believe the subsequent sanction is severe.”

This follows the club’s appeal to have his ban reduced from 7 games to 6 games. This would mean he’d be available for their clash against league leaders, Liverpool.

When charging the Uruguay international, the FA labelled it as “an alleged breach of FA rule E3 for misconduct in relation to a media interview".

Bentancur’s comments support research from anti-racism charity Kick it Out, who say there has been a rise in both incidents of racism towards East and South East Asian players, 55% of the 395 reports of "player-targeted" racist abuse in stadiums and online to KIO in the 2023-24 season were towards those from an East Asian background.

Just a fortnight after the Hammers went into the international break off the back of a formidable 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town, Julen Lopetegui saw Spurs beat his fragile team by an identical, sorry scoreline.

“It’s been very frustrating and, as a coach, I have to be concerned,” conceded the shell-shocked Spaniard following the claret and blue capitulation.

“Defensively, we have to do better and focus on our concentration. We need to be calmer, show more personality and display more character.

“If I’m honest, we must have better moments than today. The Premier League season is very long but, only at the end of it, will it be time for us to be judged on where we finally finish.”

Certainly, there was little sign of the things to come, when Mohammed Kudus slotted the visitors in front on 18 minutes.

But it all went downhill for both the Hammers head coach and his subsequently red-carded Ghanaian goal-getter, after that.

Dejan Kulusevski levelled just before the break and, after Yves Bissouma put Spurs ahead early in the second half, an Alphonse Areola own goal plus a strike from the fit-again Heung-Min Son then quickly put the contest out of reach.

“We played one of the Premier League’s best attacking-phase teams but we needed to stay mentally strong after we conceded that second goal because we still had lots of time left to get back into the game,” added Lopetegui.

“When we’re suffering, we must handle these bad moments in a much better way and, for sure, it’s not good to end up conceding three goals in eight minutes.

“The first half was interesting, the players did very well and we can still take away some good things from today but that’s not enough because everybody needs to play well for the full 90 minutes and more in every game.

"We must stay competitive and keep our mentality right until the end. Now we will go away and work very hard for our next challenge."

A fourth reverse of the season leaves the Hammers in 15th-place with eight points from as many games, but they must now face Manchester United at London Stadium on Sunday (2pm) without the suspended Kudus, following his skirmishes with Micky van de Ven and substitute Pape Matar Sarr in a feisty finale.

“It is not good for him or the club and we will speak together,” concluded Lopetegui, who waits to learn whether the enraged 38-cap Ghana international will be banned for more than three matches as a result of his derby dismissal for violent conduct.

The teenage player joined in light exercises at Tottenham Community Sports Centre, across the road from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in High Road.

His visit came after the programme was shortlisted for this year’s Sports Business awards.

“The work that Spurs does in the community is fantastic,” he said. “Helping the community is important for me — I always think I’d want my club to be there if a family member needed support.”

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The programme of physical activity sessions is run for people from the north London boroughs of Haringey, Enfield and surrounding areas who have had a cancer diagnosis in the last five years.

It runs one-to-one and group sessions as well as online, tailored according to the needs of each person, exercising with light equipment such as dumbbells and resistance bands.

Those taking part are also referred to open gym classes, yoga sessions and other group activities.

Spurs supporter Joanna Ashmore, who joined after surgery and immunotherapy for bowel cancer, is among those currently taking part.

She revealed: “The side effects from my treatment have lasted way longer than the treatment itself and my body’s changed beyond belief.

“But I’m already starting to see changes thanks to this programme. It’s everything I’ve wanted because activities are tailored for me.”

Another cancer survivor taking part is Angela Epps, who also met Gray.

Angela, who had pre-breast cancer but has now been given the ‘all clear’, said: “This programme has been helpful to push me in a safe environment. I found sessions quite tiring at first but we’ve built up slowly by tailoring something that’s right for me.”

The programme runs more than 1,000 tailored sessions every year and the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation claims they bring an uplifting effect for those taking part, whatever the future holds for them.

They aim to improve people’s physical ability to move by helping to maintain and strengthen their muscles and creating positive habits to assist their long-term treatment.

The club’s number one goalie helped run an all-day ‘football camp’ using coaching methods with drills and exercises for 40 boys and girls aged eight to 13.

“Sometimes the biggest excitement as a kid is to score rather than to save,” Vicario said. “But maybe this changes as time goes on, seeing so many young keepers enjoying being between the posts.

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“Their passion for football reminds me of my time as a kid playing and not thinking too much — just enjoying the game.”

The session, held in the grounds of Richard Hale School in Hertford was part of Spurs development programme that helps around 45,000 aspiring players and coaches a year, run by FA and UEFA-qualified professionals.

Tottenham landed Vicario for £16 million last year, the price tag club chairman Dan Levy wanted to pay for his new No 1 goalkeeper.