Brighton's Gaetan Bong says he was disappointed to be on the receiving end of boos at Burnley at the weekend

Brighton defender Gaetan Bong says he was left disappointed after being booed by sections of Burnley supporters on Saturday.

Earlier this month, former Burnley forward Jay Rodriguez's charge of discriminatory misconduct towards Bong during a game in January was found not proven by the FA.

Brighton boss Chris Hughton was unhappy with the reception Bong was afforded at Burnley, where home supporters also chanted "Jay Rodriguez, he's one of our own".

Speaking at the Best Africa Awards on Monday evening, Bong addressed the situation for the first time following the hostile atmosphere at Turf Moor.

"It wasn't easy because when I came here I wasn't expecting to be in this kind of situation, but like I have said before I am professional," Bong told Sky Sports.

"I have to do my job but at the same time I am a man, but for the issue I just try to move on because the most important thing for me was to say it, what happened, say some things should not happen.

"But now they [FA] make a decision and I cannot change it. I was very disappointed but my message for all African, all black people in the world to just, if something like this happens, say it. Don't have a bad reaction just say it because this shouldn't happen on a football pitch.

"First of all I enjoyed the game [at Burnley], but I cannot understand some people.

Brighton manager Chris Hughton has welcomed the FA's condemnation of the Burnley fans booing of Gaetan Bong at the weekend

"I have a little girl and I try to learn her good things about the world, about the people, and you have good people and bad people but I cannot understand because we're all here because we love football and we want to enjoy it, we love to play.

"When I'm on the pitch you can play hard or sometimes play bad but everything is always with respect and I think that's the most important, I was very disappointed it's the Premier League and it's strange."

Bong went on to question why supporters feel it is acceptable to act in this manner, while also admitting he has not spoken to Rodriguez since the incident.

"The men who do stuff like that, just why? You come to watch your team play and you want them to win.

"No [I haven't spoken to Rodriguez] because first of all I didn't know him before this happened. There is no point. Like I said, we just need for some people to maybe grow up a little bit.

"For people who don't know the world I want to say the world is big, is massive, we have different people and different cultures and different colours and this is something amazing."

Jay Rodriguez was cleared of discriminatory misconduct after the FA found it not proven

The FA moved to condemn the action of Burnley supporters, saying in a statement: "The FA considers the behaviour of some supporters on Saturday towards Gaetan Bong to be unacceptable.

"It needs repeating, following the recent disciplinary matter, that there was no suggestion by any party involved in that case that the player made a malicious or fabricated complaint. The FA was wholly satisfied that the complaint was made in absolute good faith.

"The FA takes all allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and continues to encourage all participants who believe that they have been the subject of or witness to discriminatory abuse to report this through the appropriate channels."