FA will not charge Millwall or West Ham over racism and anti-semitic abuse claims

 
Wire3 June 2013

The Football Association has decided against charging West Ham or Millwall after investigating allegations of discriminatory abuse during two separate matches involving the clubs.

West Ham's 3-1 defeat by Tottenham at White Hart Lane on November 25 was marred by travelling supporters mocking the stabbing of a Spurs fan in Rome.

A group of away fans was also heard hissing, mimicking the sound of Jews being gassed during the Second World War, and chanting the name of Adolf Hitler.

Millwall were investigated after TV footage showed Leeds forward El-Hadji Diouf being racially abused during a match at The Den on November 18 as part of an expose by Sky Sports News into racism, of which 56 examples were identified at the Championship club.

Both matters were also the subject of separate police investigations concerning the use of racist and/or offensive language and/or gestures.

The FA completed its enquiries once the police investigations - which resulted in arrests being made and charges issued against supporters of both clubs - had been concluded.

In clearing West Ham, the FA acknowledged the work undertaken by the club in the immediate aftermath of the match, which included one of the individuals who was arrested - a season ticket holder - being given a lifetime ban.

A statement issued on the Hammers' official website read: "The club works extremely hard to address all forms of discriminatory behaviour, wherever they occur, and operates a strict zero tolerance policy towards anyone who behaves inappropriately when following the team."

For the incidents of racism at Millwall, the FA noted that following separate police investigations, the individuals caught on camera making offensive/racist remarks were identified, arrested and charged with the club also imposing bans.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in