After being found guilty of THREE charges of crowd abuse at Wigan Athletic’s DW Stadium, Millwall made a commitment to eradicate anti-Irish attitude among its supporters.
The charges pertained to the Lion’ Championship clash at Wigan last April, when James McClean – who was transferred to Wrexham in August – was repeatedly targeted by the away end.
After the Football Association was alerted to incidents that occurred in the eighth, twelfth, and forty-five minutes of play, they decided there was a case to be made.
Additionally, Millwall has been issued a written warning and action plan by an independent regulatory commission for violating FA Rule E21.
The club was not penalised even though it was discovered that the shouts contained frightening “express or implied reference to religion.”
Rather, in the event that such instances recur, they face the da
nger of ‘a very severe financial penalty’.
“Millwall Football Club acknowledges the decision of an independen
t commission to impose upon it an action plan following a breach of FA Rule E21 following the Lions’ Championship fixture at Wigan Athletic on Saturday 22nd April,” stated the club’s statement.
“The club is happy that the FA and the Commission have acknowledged its thorough due diligence and mitigating procedures during this process.
“The club has a zero-tolerance policy against such abuse and vehementl
y rejects discrimination of all types.
“Through the work of its industry-leading Equality Steering Committee, the club takes a very proactive approach to combating discrimination and continues to work tirelessly on a wide range of initiatives and measures to help continue driving positive change.”
There is an intriguing process insight throughout the entire written report.
There is a goading conduct aspect by James McClean that caused the unlawful chanting, according to Millwall’s mitigation.
Additionally, before the game began at around 1:30 p.m., Millwall CEO Steve Kavanagh personally visited the Millwall (away) end.
“The CEO of Millwall addressed as many supporters as he could, outlining his worries over chants critical of Pope.
“Those spoken to agreed that there should be no “anti-Pope” chanting.”
The following three pieces of evidence established the case.
The report stated, “Millwall supporters chant ‘f**k the Pope and the IRA’ in unison during the eighth minute of the game as the camera pans in on Wigan manager Shaun Maloney.”
Mass cries of “I bought a flute for 50 pence, the only thing that I could play was ‘f**k the Pope and the IRA'” are heard after this. In the video, this chant is repeated once more.
“Wigan was getting ready to take an offensive free-kick in the twelfth minute of the game.
“The whole Millwall fan base yells, “The only thing that I could play was f**k the Pope and the IRA,” as James McClean, Wigan’s number eleven, returns to the area to get ready to take the free kick. For the remainder of the clip, this keeps happening.
“As the camera pans in on Millwall fans and Wigan manager Shaun Maloney in the 45th minute of the game, a large group of Millwall fans yells, ‘the only
I could play the song “f**k the Pope and the IRA.”
Blackpool’s supporters hurled insults against McClean at Bloomfield Road the previous weekend, leading to a £35,000 fine and the imposition of an action plan.
Leave a Reply