Paxton Dazo
Up The Spurs.
- Mar 11, 2007
- 9,719
The Football Association has been urged to investigate complaints of abuse aimed towards Portsmouth's Sol Campbell.
Police contacted the governing body for English football following Pompey's clash with Tottenham at Fratton Park on Sunday.
Hampshire Constabulary has taken the unusual step of asking the FA to become involved due to the 'sheer number of people involved'.
Reports from witnesses and the match officials are now required before the matter can be taken any further, but the issue is being taken very seriously.
A statement from the FA said: "The FA recognises that football has a duty to challenge all discrimination within the game and our aim is to confront aggressive issues and obscene chanting and abuse.
"The FA takes these matters seriously and will investigate any alleged case we are made aware of, taking action where necessary."
Conduct
Campbell remains a target for abuse to Spurs fans after leaving the club in controversial circumstances for arch-rivals Arsenal in 2001.
However, the verbal attacks he was forced to endure at the weekend have been branded 'filthy' by Pompey boss Harry Redknapp and slammed by those in charge of keeping the peace.
A Hampshire police spokesman said: "Our officers at the game were aware of the problem but it was not feasible to make arrests in that kind of huge crowd situation. So no arrests were made.
"But what we have done is make a complaint to the FA about the conduct of fans which will, hopefully, be dealt with in an appropriate manner.
"We deal with these issues case by case, match by match, and on this occasion the sheer number of people involved was just too many for us to take action against individuals.
Obscene
"Clubs employ us to keep situations like this to a minimum and with the help of stewards on their staff we can normally warn people they are committing a public order offence.
"That often solves the problem but on this occasion it was just too much.
"It is rare for us to forward a complaint about supporters' conduct to the FA but this is what we believe was the best option on this occasion."
The spokesman added: "I cannot say whether the chanting was obscene, homophobic or racist, not having been there, but the FA officer we contacted said he understood from his background experience what it was."
The FA could charge Tottenham with failure to control their supporters, even though this action has obvious anomalies and is usually directed towards the side playing at home when behaviour of fans is called into question.
CAMPBELL LOVES BARRYMORE
Police contacted the governing body for English football following Pompey's clash with Tottenham at Fratton Park on Sunday.
Hampshire Constabulary has taken the unusual step of asking the FA to become involved due to the 'sheer number of people involved'.
Reports from witnesses and the match officials are now required before the matter can be taken any further, but the issue is being taken very seriously.
A statement from the FA said: "The FA recognises that football has a duty to challenge all discrimination within the game and our aim is to confront aggressive issues and obscene chanting and abuse.
"The FA takes these matters seriously and will investigate any alleged case we are made aware of, taking action where necessary."
Conduct
Campbell remains a target for abuse to Spurs fans after leaving the club in controversial circumstances for arch-rivals Arsenal in 2001.
However, the verbal attacks he was forced to endure at the weekend have been branded 'filthy' by Pompey boss Harry Redknapp and slammed by those in charge of keeping the peace.
A Hampshire police spokesman said: "Our officers at the game were aware of the problem but it was not feasible to make arrests in that kind of huge crowd situation. So no arrests were made.
"But what we have done is make a complaint to the FA about the conduct of fans which will, hopefully, be dealt with in an appropriate manner.
"We deal with these issues case by case, match by match, and on this occasion the sheer number of people involved was just too many for us to take action against individuals.
Obscene
"Clubs employ us to keep situations like this to a minimum and with the help of stewards on their staff we can normally warn people they are committing a public order offence.
"That often solves the problem but on this occasion it was just too much.
"It is rare for us to forward a complaint about supporters' conduct to the FA but this is what we believe was the best option on this occasion."
The spokesman added: "I cannot say whether the chanting was obscene, homophobic or racist, not having been there, but the FA officer we contacted said he understood from his background experience what it was."
The FA could charge Tottenham with failure to control their supporters, even though this action has obvious anomalies and is usually directed towards the side playing at home when behaviour of fans is called into question.
CAMPBELL LOVES BARRYMORE
