Burnley vow to ‘identify and prosecute’ fans seen in a gone viral video tragedy chanting and gesturing in the game against Man Utd.
The Clarets will take action on supporters who engaged in inappropriate chanting and gestures towards Manchester United, following the release of a video showing a supporter seemingly mocking the Munich air disaster.
The video surfaced on social media after Burnley’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
After Zeki Amdouni scored the equaliser from the penalty spot in the 87th minute at Old Trafford, Clarets went wild, but one fan in particular completely lost his head and made airplane and ‘slit throat’ gestures towards Manchester United supporters while allegedly uttering the word ‘Munich’ in reference to the tragic 1958 Munich Air Disaster, where 23 individuals lost their lives while returning from a European match, including several members of the Manchester United team known as the ‘Busby Babes’.
Burnley tweeted: “We are aware of offensive footage currently circulating on social media from the away end of today’s fixture at Old Trafford.
“Tragedy related gesturing and chanting is completely unacceptable, and Burnley Football Club take a zero-tolerance approach.
“We will continue to work with Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire Police and Manchester United to help identify and prosecute the individuals responsible.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: “We can confirm that we have charged Nathan Rawlinson (25/08/1979) of Bacup, Lancashire with Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and has since been bailed.
“This charge is after our specialist operational football investigation team made an arrest of a man in the away section of the Old Trafford crowd who was tragedy chanting yesterday (Saturday 27 April 2024) towards the end of the Manchester United v Burnley fixture.
“As we have enforced recently, continued incidents of tragedy chanting by anyone will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.
“We understand the interest this case will have generated but it is imperative that the suspect has a fair trial so members of the public must refrain from engaging in conversations online, at least until proceedings have concluded. Previously circulated videos should be removed.”
In March, two fans were arrested on suspicion of tragedy chanting during the FA Cup match between Man Utd and Liverpool at Old Trafford, with both club since coming together to educate schoolchildren about the impact of the Munich and Hillsborough disasters, while managers Erik ten Hag and Jurgen Klopp called for an end to tragedy chanting.
Football authorities and police are also cracking down on tragedy chanting. Under guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service, chanting about tragedies can be classed as a criminal offence under the Public Order Act 1986, which outlaws behaviour in public that intentionally causes ‘alarm or distress’.
SEE MORE: Police urged to take action against Liverpool fan for grim gesture at Everton supporters
Errors by Man Utd cost them their first back-to-back league wins since February, Antony’s first league goal of the season ended up being cancelled out by Zeki Amdouni after Andre Onana gave away a penalty. Burnley are now two points from safety after that late winner.
Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag said: “A strong start to the game. We had loads of chances and then in the second part of the first half we lost control of the game.
“Burnley had some good chances as well and Andre saved us a couple of times.
“In the second half, it was again all ours with loads of chances. We were in a winning position and again we gave the game away.
“I’m very frustrated. In phases of the game, we did very good but in the end you have to take the three points. We gave it away and it’s very frustrating.
“In the final minutes of the game, it is so unnecessary.
“We are so not lucky with the refereeing. We concede so many penalties. This one was justified, but on the other hand I have seen two or three penalty situations and at a minimum one was 100 per cent a penalty.”
He added: “We have some very young players and that’s why we built this club back. That takes time, and we build this by bringing in young players.
“Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo – they are all in the first season of the Premier League and the Premier League gets more intense year by year.
“We have seen the data and it’s much more intense than last season, especially when you see over the last four or five seasons. Those players have to adjust and that takes time.
“I am sorry for everyone. So, I am very impatient but there we need patience and fans they need patience. We built here a team, and they need experience.”
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany said: “If we come here playing with Real Madrid, I might be debating with who has chances.
“For me, we had big chances, we showed team spirit. Burnley did themselves proud today. That’s all that matters.
“The energy, the sacrifice as well from players for each other was there and for Burnley that’s massive.”
Twitter users have their reaction as Burnley say they are to ‘identify and prosecute’ fans seen in the video tragedy chanting against Man Utd…
@Burnleynuts: The bloke doing the Munic air crash symbols deserves all he gets. Seriously doesn’t deserve to be a part of the generally good natured Burnley fan group.
@footballqueeen: Good. Well done for speaking up!
@Jamiebirt199024: Doesn’t represent the Burnley fan base either… Your a class bunch as far as I’m concerned. Just a bell end being a bell end managed to take away your class performance at old trafford today. Good luck for the rest of the season.❤️🖤🤍
@djaidyj: why is there always one or two that lets an entire club down by thinking any sort of behaviour is fine because they are inside a football ground. Every club has them. Hopefully we can name and shame the people involved and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Tossers
@sami_fallah: Fair play Burnley FC…. I’ve seen plenty of Burnley fans calling it out online as well you’re a good bunch 👏🏾
@Stuey_H: Good. Should be easy to identify him. The footage is clear with a decent approximation of where he’s sitting.
@da5705: All clubs need to start calling out the dickheads in their fanbases tbh. Good to see Burnley taking a stand.
@TheHuddleYT: This is one of the reasons why I love my club. 11:41pm and they are dealing with dick heads that try to ruin our good name whilst mascarading as fans.
@trickyclaret: Such a joke how people actually think its a good idea to do stuff like that 🤯 it’s just a game of football it’s not that deep, just have some light banter and leave it at that.
@wow_ste: That one bloke should be dealt with, named and shamed. Then we can move on to the next game…
@jobyhadenough: Good disgusting behaviour from a 50 odd year old bloke
@Sashton72: He did it right in front of the stewards. He should’ve been dealt with right there.

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