Yeovil Town have been officially charged by the Football Association after the York City match in September was marred by an alleged incident of racism.
In the monthly list of FA charges for November, the Glovers have been hit with the following charge which dates back to the September 3rd fixture.
“INCIDENT OF MISCONDUCT – CROWD CONTROL
Yeovil Town FC, National LeagueYeovil Town FC v York City FC
National League
3 September 2022Breach of FA Rule E21.4 – It is alleged that during the fixture Yeovil Town FC failed to ensure that its spectators, and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers, conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and failed to ensure those persons did not use words or otherwise behave in an improper and/or abusive and/or insulting manner with either express or implied reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race.
Yeovil Town FC have denied the charge and request a personal hearing.”
You probably don’t need reminding that an allegation of racism was aimed towards the York City penalty taker Lenell John-Lewis in the build up to his spot kick.
The penalty was scored and was the only goal of the game, with Yeovil losing 1-0.
A police and internal investigation was launched, a number of people were spoken to in the local vicinity of the incident, but no culprit was found and the matter was considered finished.
Both Avon and Somerset Police and Yeovil Town have told the Gloverscast that anyone with any information can contact them, saying at the time that anyone who knows anything about the individual responsible for this disgusting act to contact them calling 101 and giving crime reference number 5222215076. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 55511
Whilst there is a dedicated Match Day Hotline for Yeovil fans to use if they hear anything untoward in the future, saying in a statement: “If you hear any form of discrimination inside or around Huish Park, we urge all supporters to report it on the day to our stewards or report anonymously on our designated matchday hotline – 07724 152 534.”
According to the Football Association’s own guidelines on sanctions, if found guilty, Yeovil Town could be asked to form an ‘Action Plan’ and/or suffer a fine, with other sanctions such as partial/whole stadium closure coming into play for multiple incidents of this nature.
The FA states:
“A Regulatory Commission will have due regard to the circumstances and seriousness of the incident when determining the appropriate sanction (to include the level of any financial penalty that may be imposed).
In so doing, the Regulatory Commission will consider a range of factors, to include the following:
1. The number of supporters involved;
2. The nature of the behaviour of those involved;
3. The duration of the incident(s);
4. Whether the Club (and/or its officers):
a. took all reasonable steps in its preparation and planning for the fixture in which the Relevant Breach occurred;
b. took all reasonable steps in dealing effectively with the incident, when it arose;
c. took all reasonable steps in identifying the supporter(s) involved;
d. took sufficient action against those supporters responsible where those individuals were identified;
5. Whether the Club cooperated in full with The FA;
6. The previous disciplinary record of the Club or its Participants in relation to Aggravated Breaches or Relevant Breaches;
7. In cases where an Action Plan has previously been imposed on a Club, whether the Club has complied in full with that Action Plan.”
No date has been disclosed for the hearing.