What Taylor Harwood-Bellis is said to have told Luke Ayling after Southampton defender was called out for ‘discrimination’
Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis has been accused of saying “discriminatory” things to Middlesbrough’s Luke Ayling.
On Tuesday night, Southampton won their spot in the Championship play-off final with a late goal from Shea Charles, but an incident between Harwood-Bellis and Ayling took attention away from the win.
With 38 minutes played at St Mary’s, Ayling got a yellow card for fouling Leo Scienza. Soon after, Ayling and Harwood-Bellis had a heated exchange, which made the referee, Andy Madley, stop the game and talk to both managers, Tonda Eckert and Kim Hellberg.
Sky Sports reporter Jonathan Oakes explained what happened at halftime: “There were words swapped between Luke Ayling and Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Ayling said what Harwood-Bellis said was discriminatory, and other players heard it too. The referee then spoke to both managers, and said he would report the incident.”
The FA will now look at the referee’s report before deciding if Harwood-Bellis will face any punishment for what he said.
On Wednesday, The Athletic reported that Harwood-Bellis made a comment about Ayling’s stammer during the incident, which some of Ayling’s Middlesbrough teammates also heard.
Southampton boss Tonda Eckert said Ayling and Harwood-Bellis talked after the game. “I’m not sure exactly what happened,” Eckert said. “But I did see they spoke after the match. There were strong emotions, but they seemed okay.”
Back in 2022, Ayling spoke openly with the BBC about living with a stammer. He shared how it affects his daily life, like asking his partner to order for him at drive-thrus because it makes him feel insecure.
“When I first joined Leeds, I was really uncomfortable doing interviews,” Ayling said. “Now, I don’t care as much. If I stutter, I see people online comment about it, saying I use words like ‘then’ and ‘like’ a lot, but that’s actually my safety net. It helps me get the words out.
“I used to be scared to do interviews, but now I think, someone wants to hear what I have to say, so why be scared? But I still get nervous ordering at drive-thrus, so I let my partner do it.
“It’s tough because I have lots to say but sometimes I can’t get it out, so I end up rambling. That’s probably why I’m loud in the dressing room—I just say what I feel.”