fbpx
Connect with us

Championship

Rotherham and Swansea work with police over “unacceptable, unsavoury behaviour” by fans

Rotherham United and Swansea City say they will work with police over the “unacceptable, unsavoury behaviour” by fans on Saturday.

The Championship fixture finished in a 1-1 draw with both clubs issuing statements condemning events after the final whistle.

Rotherham said anyone involved in trouble would be banned from future matches, and will no doubt look at CCTV to work out who to punish.

SWANSEA CITY STATEMENT:

Swansea City strongly condemns the behaviour of a small number of supporters following today’s Sky Bet Championship clash with Rotherham United.

At the conclusion of a game played in a great spirit and a terrific atmosphere, there were instances of unacceptable, unsavoury behaviour involving both Swansea and Rotherham fans in the south-east corner of the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

That such behaviour should happen during a period where the club has worked closely with the EFL in promoting the ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’ campaign – which has seen clubs across all three divisions stress the need to eradicate anti-social behaviour from our game – only adds to our sense of dismay.

Ourselves and Rotherham United will now work together – and with South Yorkshire and South Wales Police – to identify those involved in the scenes witnessed after the full-time whistle. Such behaviour is simply not acceptable.

We want to thank the large majority of Swans fans who – as always – behaved impeccably. They represented the club and backed Russell Martin and the players brilliantly.

ROTHERHAM UNITED STATEMENT:

Rotherham United are incredibly disappointed with the behaviour of a small number of supporters following today’s draw with Swansea City in the Sky Bet Championship.

Following a positive afternoon on the pitch – during which Paul Warne’s side got off-the-mark with a point in the second tier – we are disappointed to be issuing this statement concerning the events involving a small section of both Millers and Swansea City fans located in the South East corner of the stadium.

The club works closely with the EFL and has been stressing the message of their ‘Love Football. Protect The Game’ campaign – which has seen clubs across the country working as a collective to stamp out crowd trouble – in the build-up to the 2022/23 campaign.

Both clubs will now work together alongside South Yorkshire Police to identify and subsequently punish the perpetrators and the individuals in question will not be welcome back at AESSEAL New York Stadium, where we pride ourselves on creating an environment in which everyone can enjoy the game.

We would once again like to thank the majority of our fan base who – as always – behaved impeccably and helped the team to perform on the pitch.

The game meanwhile saw Rotherham take the lead in the game through an early goal from Chiedozie Ogbene with Harry Darling levelling for Swansea before half-time.

Michael Obafemi then missed a glorious chance to give Swansea victory as both sides left with something to show for their opening-day efforts.

Swansea will feel they had enough control to secure victory – though goalkeeper Andy Fisher to made a number of saves as Rotherham created enough opportunities to take all three points.

There was plenty of reaction as Rotherham and Swansea say they will work with police over “unacceptable, unsavoury behaviour” by fans…

@melsav1989: Think its absolutely disgusting that my husband was protecting our 10year old daughter in the family stand and came home with a black eye, understand about the flags but to go in family stand where kids and pensioners are VILE!

@lindseyxrufc: Pricks who can’t handle a few drinks đŸ» Felt sorry for those stewards to be honest.

@tbaldwin1992: Pricks! Could tell it was first game of season! đŸ€ŠđŸŒâ€â™‚ïž

@snapperwilson: That Is the problem they have created a space to keep 2 sets of fans apart which is fair enough but then allow opposing fans to put flags in there so it’s no longer segregated area it is absolutely bonkers the whole thing is poorly ran right down to fan segregated after matches

@nmtfish: The club needs to also be looking at stopping away fans putting flags up so close to the home supporters. Stewards are there to assist & help not split fighting fans up. Maybe a police presence in the corners of the away end is the answer?

@PhilRichards82: To put some context to this incident a Rotherham fan spat on a flag in memory of Swans fan Mitchell Powell, so he got sparked out by a fellow Swansea fan. I usually would never condone violence but in this case I’ll make an exception for this piece of filth. Outstanding 👏

@adamfarr01: How’s about a statement apologising to the hundreds of millers fans stuck outside the ticket office because the season cards didn’t work and had to miss a good 15-20 mins of the game???

@__IrufcI__: Club statement FC, the season is well and truly back 😍😍

@Rossi16_: Nice one Swans, Rotherham fans spitting on a flag of one our own and you paint us as the bad guys. Terrific statement


@JamesSCFC_ (to Swansea): Cant really say I agree with this statement. They spat on Mitch’s flag and deserved everything that was coming their way. Only people who should be getting punished are the select Rotherham fans making their fanbase look bad

@JL_rufc: If that’s what happened, that’s disgusting from a small minority of our lot. Don’t deserve to represent Rotherham, or even attend the games. They definitely do not represent us as a whole. Good luck for the season anyway lads đŸ‘đŸ»

@swansealex: Honest Rotherham fan here who saw EVERYTHING. The main suspect goes by ‘Jack Williams’, please act on this immediately Swansea City and ban him from attending all EFL games!

@Official_Emans: You wanna ask wtf the stewards were doing for even letting what happened at the end even happen, absolute joke

@ASCFC_x: Shouldn’t be making this statement, if anything the fan who chinned the Rotherham fan should be rewarded and praised

@kpow67: I can’t thank each and every swans fan enough for acting the way they did after what them scum bastards did 😡

@TRW91: Not sure how you expect someone to react when they spit at a flag that is in memory of someone who sadly lost their life !! And they knew exactly what it was and what they were doing !! Vial !!! The Swans fans need praising not condemning

@Morgan_will1999: Sorry but the club really need to look at the bigger picture here nobody condones violence and neither do I but when opposition fans spit on a flag that’s a tribute to one of our own fans who sadly passed away our fans had every right to do so should’ve hit them harder

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Championship