The Football Association has formally reprimanded Aston Villa’s equality, diversity, and inclusion officer (EDI) over historic tweets following an investigation. 

The Athletic has seen several of the tweets in question, which could be construed as Islamophobic. 

The tweets were sent by Lucy Keeling between 2012 and 2017, before she became EDI officer. 

Keeling has been in her role as EDI officer since 2019, and previously worked for the Aston Villa Foundation for four years. She has apologised unreservedly for the comments to Villa and the FA.

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She will not lose her job at Villa, with the club hoping she will learn lessons from the investigation. They consider it out-of-character, and were surprised when the tweets came to light due to her previously exemplary conduct.

An FA spokesperson told The Athletic: “The FA stands firmly against all forms of discrimination and one of our key strategic objectives is to use our influence to deliver a game free from discrimination. 

“We are striving to ensure our sport is a safe environment for all, which truly embraces diversity and inclusion, and challenges hateful conduct both on and off the pitch. 

“We take all allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and would urge anybody who has been subject to, or a witness of incidents of discrimination, to report it to The FA, their local County FA, or Kick It Out immediately so it can be investigated thoroughly.”

The Athletic also contacted Villa for comment.

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