He gets bombarded with abuse by other teams so called supporters, just check his twitter account to see for yourself, and last night he seemed to have snapped with one such abusive comment and retorted with what has been regarded as a racist remark, telling one TWITterer to go home to his own country.
It was wrong for him to reply in that manner and he very quickly realised that himself removing the comments and apologising very soon after making it, though it was to late to stop it making the headlines in todays tabloids.
Both his parent club Wolves and Hibs were made aware of the incident with both clubs releasing statements with regards to it.
Hibs have said they are dealing with it and a disciplinary process between the club and Leigh is under way but will remain a private matter between the two parties.
Hibs statement >
Hibernian FC today confirmed that it had spoken to player Leigh Griffiths about exchanges on a social media website. The player had realised that despite the provocation, the language he used was totally unacceptable and had already apologised for what he said. The player has closed access to the account.
The player supports the club and the whole of Scottish football in its stance against racism, bigotry and anti social behaviour. The player will be subject to a disciplinary process which will be a private matter between the club and the player.
Sparkies parent club Wolverhampton Wanderers also released a statement which can be seen below.
Wolverhampton Wanderers statement >
11:25 11th January 2013
Wolves are aware of an alleged racist comment made on Twitter last night by Leigh Griffiths.
The Club condemns such comments in the strongest possible terms and are extremely angry and disappointed.
The player is currently on loan at Hibernian FC and is likely to remain there for the rest of the season.
He is, therefore, subject to the disciplinary procedures of Hibernian FC and those of the Scottish Football Association. However, Wolves are in dialogue with Hibernian and are making their feelings known on the matter.
Sparky has to wise up to the morons who bait him on the social network sites and rise above them though Hibs-mad believes that he has now closed his twitter account.
On a more positive note, the Wolves statement above does suggest that we are getting to keep Sparky at Easter Road for the remainder of the season which in the 'footballing sense' of things is very good news to Hibs fans.
Brian Hine
GGTTH