A semi-professional football club have sacked a player who mocked Bournemouth's Harry Arter over the death of his baby daughter on Twitter.
A tweet from an account in the name of Alfie Barker, sent to Arter after Arsenal came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Bournemouth on Tuesday night, read: "atleast you didn't lose your kid."
It was then followed up by another tweet to the midfielder which read: "big hype just for a disappointment like the 9 months leading up to your childs birth."
Bournemouth and Arter became aware of the offensive posts following the match and reported them directly to Twitter.
On Wednesday morning, the tweets were still available for public view on the social media site.
However, later on Wednesday, the offensive posts were deleted as Barker issued an apology.
He wrote: "Im sorry for every comment made , id like to apologise to harry arter and his family , for such disgraceful comments and im sorry..."
A second message then added: ".. from the bottom of my heart."
Barker replaced his Twitter profile picture with just a black screen and his bio to simply a single full stop.
Barker played for Hitchin, who are in the Southern Football League's Premier Division, but was on loan at Spartan South Midlands League Division One side Codicote.
A club statement read: “The club adopts a responsible approach to social media and would expect any player connected to Hitchin Town to do likewise.
"In the light of the player's irresponsible and anti-social behaviour, we are terminating Alfie Barker's registration and relationship with the club with immediate effect.
"We would reiterate that Hitchin Town, as a community club with established links with various segments of the public, has been a long-time user of social media channels and expects all club stakeholders to use them appropriately."
