Police are taking a look into a fight which broke out after Nottingham Forest fans unveil a flag in the Peterborough end on Saturday.
Posh officials said a small number of the away fans held up a Ukrainian flag with the Nottingham Forest crest in the South Stand of the London Road Stadium.
It happened during Forest’s 1-0 victory on Saturday the 23rd of April 23 with tickets all sold out for the Reds fans. Peterborough claim they tried their best to prevent any away fans from buying tickets in the home end.
They added that the incident had upset home supporters including a 7 year old. The club add that stewards had to calm the situation and re-direct resources with staff having to deal with a separate medical incident in the stand at the time.
We’ll sit where we want.. #nffc pic.twitter.com/lj9Mk67Syx
— Pank (@Panks80) April 23, 2022
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police said: “Police were made aware of an incident between opposition fans towards the end of Saturday’s match in the Peterborough section of the crowd. Additional information has subsequently come to light which suggests criminal offences took place.
“No arrests have been made at this time but officers are investigating and will work with both clubs to review materials and determine the next steps. Cambridgeshire Constabulary is committed to taking positive action where criminal behaviour ruins the safe enjoyment of football. This includes the use of Football Banning Orders, where proportionate, to help prevent future harm.”
A video posted onto social media shows a flare up in the stand after a flag was unveiled before punches were thrown.
A spokesman for Peterborough said: “When the game between Peterborough United and Nottingham Forest was heading for a sell-out in the away end, we placed an embargo on our ticketing system preventing supporters from purchasing tickets for this game who were not registered before a certain date.
“In the build-up to the fixture, we worked closely with Nottingham Forest and the authorities, and we identified a number of supporters who had managed to buy in home areas mainly who had pre-empted tickets selling out and purchasing tickets prior to the embargo. There were also examples of local individuals with an account registered previously purchasing tickets on behalf of Forest fans.
“We were also able to identify more through social media posts and all of these individuals had their tickets cancelled and refunded. One of the challenges for us as a football club was that, due to the close proximity of both teams, and the fact that a sizeable amount of both clubs’ supporter bases extend into geographical areas, [it] meant that we couldn’t reject people based on postcode alone.
“The club was pro-active to try and prevent any potential problems that could occur on the day. We continued throughout the build-up to put out information regarding ejections and a number of fans were moved / ejected on the day from home areas.
“Unfortunately, in one specific area of the South Stand, a small number of Nottingham Forest supporters unfurled a Ukraine flag with the Forest logo and the place name, Spalding, across it, which caused upset and anger within that area. At the time this incident was ongoing, there was a medical emergency taking place in the lower tier of the stand, but stewards were re-directed to diffuse the situation.
“The club does not condone the behaviour of the supporters involved and an investigation is ongoing to identify those involved. The club would like to appeal to anyone who has any footage or evidence of any incidents that occurred – please send to info@theposh.com. We also encourage supporters to use our text service on matchdays (text PUFC plus your message to 60066) which is closely monitored in real time by our safety team.
“The club would like to thank the vast majority of supporters inside the stadium for their behaviour on what was our biggest league attendance of the season. The club will be making no further comment.” Nottinghamshire Live contacted Nottingham Forest for comment.
SEE MORE: Six arrests made as shocking new footage emerges of Birmingham – Millwall trouble
Twitter users reacted as police look into fight after Nottingham Forest fans unveil a flag in the Peterborough end…
@Panks80: Who’s to blame? If you sit in a Home end as an away fan you can’t be doing this. Respect the people around you- this was asking for trouble. Thoughtless to pull a flag out. Security? Useless, it’s their job, should have been straight out and would have avoid the self policing
@ziggerzagger67: Recall how self righteous and threatening some of our support was at the prospect of Liverpool doing this at ours? Not good. I’ve sat/stood in many home ends and you keep you head down out of respect. Or pure fear when done at Upton Park or White Hart Lane! I was given tickets to both Blackburn & Preston away games by friends who work for the clubs. J was respectful towards those around me. I covered up any Forest colours I had on and chatted neutrally to the home fans. Taking a club flag out is taunting home fans. Poor behaviour
@vickymarriott95: Great parenting from the father who seemed to forget his little girl was with him while getting involved in a fight
@peterbouncyball: Agreed. No winners here. Poor decisions by stupid adults, but to get children involved is utterly shameful. I took my kids to home & away games & their enjoyment & safety was my #1 priority. They are now adults & lifelong Forest fans. Love your kids first, club second.
@adamegan2009: Fair play to that guy who pulled that little girl out the way while her dad was scrapping.
@Barnabus73: Hope the little girl is okay? It’s a football match after all – perspective and all that. 😔
@dharvey4: You can’t be waving a Forest flag in the home end and expect the stewards & Posh fans to just sit there. 🤦
@MrLilWes: It ain’t right don’t care who you are. I’m sure away fans in the home end at forest wouldn’t be met with tea and biscuits either. Idiots.
@C24ANT: Agree, to sit in the home end and do that on a day where the opposition could get relegated. Not exactly sure what they expected to happen.
@BrummieRedDave: Didn’t see the little girl at the start… got to say this is poor from us! If that’s the family stand makes it even worse!!!
@Jamie22407854: This is bang out of order. You don’t do that these days, especially in areas with kids about. They can’t complain wether they get hit by home fans or banning orders. We’ve got a good reputation in football, and actions like this ruin it.
@LauraJayne0212: To be fair we’ll done to the boro fan who got the little girl out of the way 👏
@Andy__12397: Getting done in by posh fans 😂😂
@Worcester76: Disrespectful & not what our club is about!! If this was the other way round….😤
@loleith: Embarrassing for everyone involved.
Looking at this, I think the little girl is a forest fan…presumably celebrating with her Dad…the other forest fans initially holding the flag push the peterborough fan on to her, then hit him for falling on her. pic.twitter.com/f6cqQTTst1
— Days Since Forest Played In The Premier League (@SincePlayed) April 25, 2022
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