SOCCER CROWD VIOLENCE:THE FOOTBALL Association's inquiry into the violent scenes that marred Tuesday night's League Cup tie between West Ham and Millwall at Upton Park will look into the alleged racist chants directed at players from both sides during the match, with the game's governing authority determined to maintain its policy of zero tolerance by seeking to have any fan found guilty of the offence banned for life.
The England striker Carlton Cole admitted in the aftermath that he had heard the monkey chants aimed at him by some Millwall fans in the Trevor Brooking stand just before his substitution towards the end of the game.
The forward had retrieved the ball from behind the goal-line when sections of the visiting support appeared to barrack him. Cole then seemed to make an offensive gesture at his tormentors as he departed the pitch.
“Yeah, I heard it but it’s football, you know,” said Cole.
“I don’t care. I know I’m not a monkey. I might be as strong as a gorilla but I’m not a monkey. That’s life, isn’t it. You’ve just got to carry on and get on with it and we got the result – that was the main point. The fans got what they deserved.
“As you get bigger in football, you’re going to get taunts. I look at someone like Frank Lampard as an example. He gets abuse everywhere but he still gets his head down and carries on. That makes him a bigger and better person. It’s about mental toughness.”
The FA is aware both of the suggestions of racial abuse and of Cole’s post-match comments and will take into account all aspects of a disgraceful occasion as it conducts its inquiries, along with the clubs, the Football League and the London Metropolitan Police. Both clubs were united in their condemnation of racial abuse with allegations that the visitors’ substitute Jason Price was subjected to similar taunts from the home fans.
“Millwall Football Club condemns racist abuse by supporters of both sides on Tuesday night,” the League One club said in a statement. “There is no place for racism in society and both Millwall and West Ham work tirelessly in our respective communities to tackle this problem.”
A West Ham spokesman said last night: “We take any sort of racist chanting seriously. If found guilty, we will treat that with the utmost severity.”
Cole described the fractious occasion as “a unique experience” but, while both sets of players were oblivious to the violence that had occurred outside the Boleyn Ground before kick-off and continued throughout the game, the Millwall forward Neil Harris echoed the sentiments of his manager, Kenny Jackett, in criticising the West Ham fans for encroaching on to the playing area three times towards the end of the game, which West Ham won 3-1.
Fans sprinted on to the turf to taunt the away support following Junior Stanislas’s two goals and again at the final whistle.
Millwall’s players grouped on the touchline after the second pitch invasion, at which point it appeared the game might be abandoned, and Harris conceded that he and his team-mates had briefly feared for their safety. “It was extremely hostile and volatile but what happens on the terraces is not our concern,” said the veteran forward. “All my concern was for my team-mates. At one stage it wasn’t very pleasant.
“I’ve played in these games before and know what it is all about - big local derbies and red-hot atmospheres. They are terrific games to play in and that is why you play football. It means so much to the supporters of both clubs but sometimes they get a little bit over-zealous.
“Anything can happen when they [the supporters] are on the pitch but most of the time fans are on the pitch to celebrate a goal, not to attack players. We’ve had it at Millwall when fans come on to celebrate and everyone makes a big hoo-ha about it. I’m sure if it was our fans on the pitch people would be very keen to report that.” - Guardian Service
