The Football Association has launched an investigation into the crowd trouble that marred Wednesday night’s EFL tie between West Ham and Chelsea. Both clubs have also promised to ban for life any supporters found guilty of wrongdoing after trouble flared towards the end of the 2-1 victory for West Ham.
“The FA is investigating crowd disturbances at last night’s EFL Cup match between West Ham United and Chelsea,” read a statement. “We are in dialogue with all relevant authorities.”
It had been a hugely exciting game but everything on the field was overshadowed by the flashpoints that occurred in stoppage time when the Chelsea supporters in the lower tier of the Sir Trevor Brooking stand made for the exit behind them.
They had to cross over a concourse and as some West Ham fans surged towards them the stewards fought to keep the rival factions apart. Objects including coins and ripped-up seats were thrown and, with a bottle-neck seeming to have formed, it all became extremely ugly for a couple of minutes.
Steve Cutting claims he was hit by a coin thrown after Cheikhou Kouyaté’s 11th-minute goal. Cutting, a Chelsea supporter for more than 40 years, said: “As soon as they scored there was abuse being hurled over and we were watching the game and all of a sudden I felt a massive thump on the side of my head, thinking it was a bottle or a stone.
“I put my hand up to my head and realised I’d been cut. I looked down and there were some coins, 50p and pound coins.”
Cutting does not believe the separation outside the ground was adequate.
“Coming out of the stadium was a free for all,” he added. “To get back to Stratford station was ridiculous. It was running battles again, groups of people fighting and trying to get to each other. There’s no real clear proper way to get people back to the station safely.”
Cutting was in attendance with friends, including Stuart, who took a photo of Cutting’s bloodstained head and posted it on Twitter. “From Stratford station to that stadium is unpoliceable,” Stuart, who did not wish to share his surname, said. “It was almost like anarchy last night.”
The BBC interviewed a father and his daughter outside the ground who claimed that they had been pelted with coins while sitting in the section for disabled supporters. “We were watching the game in the front row near to the home fans,” he said. “Suddenly there’s a whole load of coins coming over, my daughter Victoria got hit by seven coins all over her body. It’s absolutely disgusting. For a little girl, eight years old, to be hit by this number of coins and other children were hit as well. It’s not just my daughter.”
It has been far from smooth sailing for West Ham at their new ground with various complaints having marred some of their fixtures. There have been problems with segregation and several instances of fighting. This was a new low and there will now be further questions about the venue’s capacity to handle this kind of occasion.
“Whatever happened, we are totally against it, as a club. For those kind of things to happen, especially in England, is unacceptable,” said West Ham’s manager Slaven Bilic. “It was extremely disappointing to see the disturbances at the end of this game and we condemn such behaviour.”
West Ham later released a statement that condemned “unreservedly the behaviour of the individuals involved.” It added: “Whilst quickly brought under control, the club, in line with its clear zero tolerance policy, will work closely with London Stadium 185, the Metropolitan Police Service and Chelsea to identify all involved.
“London Stadium is fitted with a state of the art CCTV system which provides HD footage of every area of the ground and has led to the successful identification and subsequent banning of 23 individuals already this season. Once identified, those found to have acted improperly will be banned from attending any West Ham United fixtures for life and we will request the courts serve banning orders to prevent these individuals attending any other football.”
The Metropolitan Police has announced that seven arrests had been made. Antisocial behaviour legislation was utilised prior to the match to order 30 people to disperse, the Met added.
Commander BJ Harrington, who was leading the police operation, said: “Although the vast majority of people left the stadium peacefully and were well behaved, there were a minority of people who attended the match that were clearly intent on being involved in confrontation and violence.
“Despite extensive work with both clubs and the London Stadium partners as well as a large and robust policing operation, there were unacceptable incidents inside and outside the stadium, before, during and after the game.
“We welcome the condemnation from partners and have already started a post match investigation.
“We have already made seven arrests and will work tirelessly to identify people involved and bring them to justice.”
Anyone with information or witnesses to the disorder is asked to call the police non-emergency line on 101.
