Man left injured after fighting breaks out at 8th tier match with police called

A man has been left injured after fighting breaks out at an 8th tier match on Saturday with police called to Harborough v Corby.

The Leicestershire Police sent additional officers to the fixture, but there were reports of trouble when the fans left the ground.

One man sustained minor injuries after being struck in the face by an officer, but they are not life-threatening.

Corby also criticised the treatment of their supporters ahead of the Northern Premier League Midlands tie at the Community Stadium. They claimed that it was their supporters and not their children who were searched as they entered the venue.

Grown men fighting! Absolute brass pic.twitter.com/lrxfSvpqCl

— Mark Chilton (@mchiltz40) January 28, 2023

HARBOROUGH STATEMENT:

The club are appalled at the behaviour of a minority of supporters from both clubs upon leaving the ground this evening.

This type of behaviour will not be tolerated and goes against all of the values of Harborough Town FC, and the club will work closely with the Police to identify any supporters involved in these incidents.

Any Harborough Town supporter who is identified to be involved will be subject to a ban from all activities at the club.

The club will be making no further statement on this matter until we have concluded investigations with the local police.

The scenes following the football match in Market Harborough this evening were totally ridiculous! Why would you allow both sets of supporters to leave the club at the same time, especially when all the pre match social media would suggest there would be some trouble. pic.twitter.com/BKNRKvbt1P

— SiD (@ElfEleven) January 28, 2023

POLICE STATEMENT:

“Early this evening (Saturday January 28), a number of officers were called to a disorder among a group of people in Northampton Road, Market Harborough, following the end of a local football match.

“Police were deployed to the scene to deal with the crowds and ensure the groups left the area safely.

“During the incident, a man in his 20s was hit in the face. He was treated at the scene by officers and the football club’s paramedics before being taken for further medical treatment. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening or life changing.

“As a result of the disorder a dispersal order – which grants police the power to move on anyone deemed to be a nuisance or who is committing a crime – will be in place in the area until midnight.

“An investigation is now underway and officers will be carrying out enquiries to establish the full circumstances.

“Officers would like to speak to anyone with information or video footage that could help with the investigation.

“Please contact PC 1524 Steve Winn from the local neighbourhood team by calling 101, quoting incident number 215 of 28 January.”

Well it all kicked off at harborough town after the game against Corby. pic.twitter.com/qJvdvpzqnV

— Garfieldlineker (@garfieldlineker) January 29, 2023

CORBY STATEMENT:

Corby Town are aware of both the Leicestershire Police and Harborough Town statements.

As this is an ongoing investigation, we will not be commenting on the events at the end of the match and will provide assistance to both the police and yesterday’s hosts.

Corby Town do have a zero tolerance policy on Anti Social behaviour both in and around the ground, be it a home or away game.

We await the full report but any person’s involved will be banned from Steel Park.

The club though are disappointed with the outside company that was hired by Harborough Town to conduct searches pre game.

We have been made aware by numerous supporters that they were thoroughly searched, including children as young of nine, while home supporters were brought to the front of the queue without being searched and given priority entrance.

This caused many of our supporters to miss kick off, with some fans still entering the ground 40 minutes in to the game.

We fully supported the searches taking place, but did not think it would just be our own supporters who would be subject to this.

We sympathise with those fans will work with Harborough to make sure this does not happen again.

Here’s the Twitter reaction with a man left injured after fighting breaks out at the 8th tier match with police called…

@Keano80: Embarrassing from all, never seen so many 14/15 year olds wearing Stone Island .. Shambles considering what happened at the game last month … Shit outside & the match was no better, a game of who could hoof the ball the furthest for the majority. One good move won the game 🤷🏻‍♂️

@PL2NL: This is not the kind of fan interactions I normally see at step 4 football. Don’t let the knobheads spoil grassroots

@vallance76: Gents I was there today and yes I’m a Corby fan but I think both set of fans let their club down today. From what I witnessed young and old fans were acting like ‘kids’ and were looking for trouble. #shame #areyousupportersofyourlocalclub

@andylovegrove: I wouldn’t call them fans just there to cause trouble

@ch77az: Shame that in Harborough’s biggest home game in their history, a group of thugs have completely embarrassed the club, overshadowed a great result and brought shame on the area

@sammight_say: Same old Corby. Always trouble when they’re around. What a bunch of scummers

@SamWB13: Most of them were not fans of either team, bunch of scumbags

@spongefry (Replying to @corbytownfc): Poor statement. Playing the victim. Zero tolerance? That’s a good one 🤣

@tylastrickland: Them bringing pyro in just proves the fact that they weren’t subject to any checks

@CtMf1978: Agree very poor from @HarbTownFC today. The behaviour after is not their fault but 100% had a two tier treatment of home and sway fans. Utterly ridiculous.

@Conmcnally: Here an idea don’t let all fans out 2 gates into 1 car park but it was all corby fault 🤡🤡🤡

@mikey_baird7: It’s Monday still can’t believe what happened after Harborough away on Saturday and how poorly policed it was . Everyone hates corby so we will be made out to be the bad ones …

@hollieteach (Replying to @corbytownfc): The ‘zero-tolerance’ policy for anti-social behaviour you mention in your statement may need revisiting. Wherever your fans go, they cause problems so something isn’t working is it…

@JamesOb76: Shambles from harborough town from start to finish…searched every Corby fan for pyros yet three went off in the home end…shoddy attempt at segregation in a ground not suitable for a crowd that size and allowed Corby fans to be ambushed outside by a group who weren’t at the game

Odd you only searched away fans, and made us all miss the start of the game, yet “stewards” just allowed home fans to jump the que and walk straight in. pic.twitter.com/zJ2vEr73Tj

— UkF101 (@F101Uk) January 29, 2023

“Corby Town do have a zero tolerance policy on Anti Social behaviour both in and around the ground, be it a home or away game.” pic.twitter.com/Lvsvx9LKZr

— Unreliable Yeltz (@Unreliableyeltz) January 29, 2023