[Albion] Chelsea "fans" abuse

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Unless it’s a billion quid fine how on earth is that going to punish Chelsea?

If you are going to think that that then £120,000 fine is nothing to Luton either. But it's a start and failure to implement other recommendations would lead to further punishment which could be more serious. Plus it puts the onus on the clubs to identify and ban those responsible/report to police for further action.

 

[portlock seagull]

If you are going to think that that then £120,000 fine is nothing to Luton either. But it's a start and failure to implement other recommendations would lead to further punishment which could be more serious.

£120k is a lot of money to Luton, what yet talking about? Especially now in the championship and always likely to be.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

£120k is a lot of money to Luton, what yet talking about? Especially now in the championship and always likely to be.

They get over £100m for a season in the PL (last season Southampton got just over £100m finishing bottom and Luton are going to finish 3rd bottom so it's likely to be nearer £110m. The first year of parachute payments is around £55m. This means that 120k is around 0.08% of that total. It's nothing.

 

[portlock seagull]

They get over £100m for a season in the PL (last season Southampton got just over £100m finishing bottom and Luton are going to finish 3rd bottom so it's likely to be nearer £110m. The first year of parachute payments is around £55m. This means that 120k is around 0.08% of that total. It's nothing.

Don’t be so silly. The point is Chelsea fine needs to be way way higher, disproportionately if it’s to have any impact. Luton’s outgoings inc new stadia will suck up all of their PL profit (if made/make any) money and more, so their fine isn’t “nothing” as you put it whilst anything for Chelsea really is because they can loss lead for ever basically. Two entirely different situations.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Don’t be so silly. The point is Chelsea fine needs to be way way higher, disproportionately if it’s to have any impact. Luton’s outgoings inc new stadia will suck up all of their PL profit (if made/make any) money and more, so their fine isn’t “nothing” as you put it whilst anything for Chelsea really is because they can loss lead for ever basically. Two entirely different situations.

I'm not being silly. In the context of a club earning over £150m over 24 months then £120k fine is nothing. Their other outgoings and spend have no baring on that at all. It's simple maths. And if a fine of less then 0.08% of their overall income is a problem then they need to spend their money better, and get their fans to behave too.

 

[BluesRockDJ]

That will never happen either. If fans are found to have been racist and homophobic then the club should be able to ban all of them. It may be against rules but then change the rules, instead of putting boundaries in the way.

If no way fans then more home fans could theoretically attend.

Probably not , bearing in mind the empty seats last night ?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Ban the away fans of clubs that have fans doing this

Yep. f***-em. Lock them out.

Celtic and Rangers lock each others' fans out now because they can't behave. Only the commentators take out a small onion and cry about the effect on the atmos. An old mate of mine, Rangers, stopped going after what he described as 'a load of Catholic peasants abusing a load of proddy peasants, and vice versa".

The coked-up entitled half-witted filth can f*** off.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Homophobic abuse?

Do I even want to know what Nobber wrote to trigger your reply? Probably not.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

That will never happen either. If fans are found to have been racist and homophobic then the club should be able to ban all of them. It may be against rules but then change the rules, instead of putting boundaries in the way.

If no way fans then more home fans could theoretically attend.

This.

 

[Vicar!]

I would suggest next season their fans are held in for at least an hour after the game, European fashion. They were simply toxic last night.

 

[Justice]

Yep. f***-em. Lock them out.

Celtic and Rangers lock each others' fans out now because they can't behave. Only the commentators take out a small onion and cry about the effect on the atmos. An old mate of mine, Rangers, stopped going after what he described as 'a load of Catholic peasants abusing a load of proddy peasants, and vice versa".

The coked-up entitled half-witted filth can f*** off.

They are back in next season.

 

[Justice]

We’ve gone soft this lot would of been ran all over Hove Park back in the day.

 

[lawros left foot]

Ironic really.


The abused player was actually playing for us at the time of this incident, but the Athletic decided to make it all about Chelsea.

 

[El Turi]

The authorities need to start deducting points for discriminatory behaviour by fans. It’s the only way to stop it as most of these fans won’t care if their club gets a fine.

 

[lawros left foot]

More.

After years of campaigning by Chelsea Pride and other LGBTQI+ fan groups, the FA finally included the term on their list of punishable chants in January 2023 — one year on from the CPS ruling. It means any football fan found to be chanting the term could see their club, and themselves, have disciplinary action taken against them.

The move by the FA came after the term “rent boy” had been heard in chants at several Premier League and FA Cup games last season including Chelsea vs Manchester United, Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea, Manchester City vs Chelsea and Manchester United vs Everton.

“Today, The FA has formally written to all clubs across the Premier League, EFL, National League, Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship and Steps 2-4, to remind them that it can pursue formal disciplinary action against any club whose supporters engage in discriminatory behaviour, now including the use of the term ‘Rent Boy’,” the FA statement read.
This important step follows the recent successful prosecution of an individual by the Crown Prosecution Service for homophobic abuse, specifically relating to the term ‘Rent Boy’.

“The FA has now informed all clubs that it considers the ‘Rent Boy’ chant to be a breach of the FA Rules. These rules apply to the conduct of supporters at both home and away fixtures, and clubs at all levels of English football have a responsibility to ensure their spectators behave appropriately when attending matches.”

How have Chelsea as a club tackled this?

Chelsea issue guidance to all clubs who visit Stamford Bridge. Ahead of each game they explicitly refer to the ‘rent boy’ chant and advise clubs of the possible penalties for fans singing this or any other discriminatory chants.

If chanting is heard inside the ground on a matchday, an announcement asking fans to stop using the term will be made over the tannoy alongside similar on-screen messages. This is used as a first step to deter further chanting and happens as security teams at Chelsea seek to identify any individuals who are responsible. They will then be removed from the stadium and can be subject to banning orders or prosecution.

Chelsea’s operation for away matches is similar. The club ask for security briefings between clubs to specifically cover the issue and remind stewards what to do if it is heard or reported to them. The club also holds calls with sets of supporters for matches that are deemed to be high-risk or if the likelihood of chanting is high. For example, last season, Chelsea held these calls with Liverpool to address homophobic chanting and tragedy chanting ahead of both Premier League games.

The club also held a conference during the 2022-23 season which brought Premier League clubs, the Premier League, FA, Met Police and other key stakeholders including LGBTQI+ fan groups together to discuss homophobic chanting and how to tackle it and implement change. Brighton are another club whose fans and players have been subjected to homophobic abuse in the past — this is because Brighton and Hove has a large LGBTQI+ community.

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As a result of last season’s conference, Chelsea now have increased and regular contact with other clubs regarding the issue.

“Our Ground Regulations specifically outlaw the use of threatening behaviour, foul or abusive language and discriminatory abuse, chanting or harassment relating to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion and belief, sex or sexual orientation,” the club said in a statement released to The Athletic. “Chelsea FC takes all forms of discriminatory behaviour very seriously and believes all forms of discriminatory chanting, including antisemitism, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic chanting to be abhorrent behaviour that has no place in football.

“We ask all fans if they hear something that makes them feel uncomfortable, they can report it. During the match, they can scan the QR codes on the back of every seat, text 88777 or 07894 93 77 93, with the stand, row, seat number, description of the offender and incident. After the match, they can call 0207 386 3355 or email reporthate@chelseafc.com.”

What do Chelsea’s LGBTQI+ groups say?

Chelsea, as a club, work closely with Chelsea Pride, the LGBTQI+ supporters group founded in 2016, with a focus on supporting them in their continued campaigning.

The victim impact statement shared by the Chair of Chelsea Pride, Tracy Brown, continues to be used in most prosecutable cases.

“I’ve been going to Stamford Bridge for over 30 years and you sort of get used to hearing it,” says Brown, who adds the chanting was particularly prominent following the men’s World Cup in Qatar. “My hope going into this season was we wouldn’t have the same thing happen. Unfortunately, before every single game, there is that bit of apprehension. I’m almost listening out for it rather than watching the game. I’m expecting it to happen.”

In July, Wolverhampton Wanderers were fined £100,000 ($126,000) by the FA after failing to prevent their fans from using the discriminatory chant during a home game against Chelsea in April. It was viewed as a landmark moment but Brown, like many other campaigners, believes the most important thing that will bring about change is education.

“Fans are fans and you have to educate them. Giving a club a huge fine doesn’t really solve the problem. Take away half of their allocation for away fans and hit them where it hurts — then they might actually start listening,” she says.

Brown goes on to explain the chant is used to taunt LGBTQI+ fans and calls this “unacceptable” and “horrendous”.

“If you walk into a football ground and you hear a chant and it makes you feel uncomfortable to the core, it needs to stop. It is a taunt towards our community, which is unacceptable.

“We have had fans say to us, ‘I’m not going to come back, it’s just too much’. And that’s where it’s really disheartening.”


What are other clubs doing?

Luton Town issued a statement before their recent visit to Chelsea (which came two weeks after the alleged incidents at Brighton) to remind fans of their “zero-tolerance” stance on discrimination, a move that was welcomed by the club’s Supporters’ Trust.

Kevin Harper, media officer for the Trust, told The Athletic that it supports the “sanctions that are in place for those who do discriminate”.

On a wider level, Pride in Football — a network of LGBTQI+ fan groups in the United Kingdom that involves the majority of supporters groups of Premier League clubs — has tackling homophobic abuse in football as a core principle, with a specific focus on the term “rent boys”.

“We’ve all agreed to try and engage with our fellow fans and try to eradicate that chant through education,” Paul Amann, founder of Kop Outs, Liverpool’s LGBTQI+ fan group, said.

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“I don’t believe there’s any way that we could or should prosecute our way out of this. It’s much more about engaging with our fellow fans, talking with them about the impact of the behaviour, explaining the homophobic nature of it and getting them on board.”

Amann appeared in a video interview with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp to talk about the chant back in 2021 after it was directed at Gilmour, then on loan at Norwich, from the Liverpool away end during the first game of the 2020-21 season.

Since the video, Amann, who has worked closely with Liverpool on this, believes it has helped educate and further eradicate the chant but like Brown and others is well aware there is still work to be done in addressing homophobia.

 

[HangletonGull]

The video of adrie has now gone on tik tok poor lad

 

[heathgate]

Wipe mouths and move on

We gave plenty back

Appeasement... you know where that leads.

 

[Swimboy64]

We’ve gone soft this lot would have been ran all over Hove Park back in the day.

Damn right
A few seasons ago after an evening game that ended 1-1 a few of Chelsea mob started chucking their weight about in the train queue homophobia, racism etc but come a bit unstuck when they started on a few Brighton lads who looked like they would be easy pickings….i f***ing laughed and said you weren’t expecting that where you
We have gone soft f***ing stick it on em if they start

 

[theboybilly]

There were many people of colour amongst that away section last night and it really baffles me why you would follow a club whose core support neither welcome or want you amongst them. They truly are a scum fanbase

 

[timbha]

I'm not being silly. In the context of a club earning over £150m over 24 months then £120k fine is nothing. Their other outgoings and spend have no baring on that at all. It's simple maths. And if a fine of less then 0.08% of their overall income is a problem then they need to spend their money better, and get their fans to behave too.

I think the point is that this is the first fine. A warning. Maybe it doubles if there is a repetition and/or the club fails to take appropriate action. Any business should see a fine as an avoidable expense and have cost effective measures to mitigate.