The Football Association has fined Leeds United £150,000 over homophobic chanting by the club’s fans at a home match against Brighton and Hove Albion in March.
The FA said: “The misconduct of the Leeds supporters was not limited to an isolated incident but involved sustained incidents of offensive and highly insulting homophobic chanting.”
According to a report by an independent regulatory commission, there was homophobic chanting by Leeds fans on at least two occasions at the match against Brighton on Saturday 11 March.
It said that, during the first half, Leeds supporters chanted: “Does your boyfriend know you’re here?” They also chanted: “You’re going down on your boyfriend.”
The report said: “It appears that officials and/or staff of Leeds were made aware of the homophobic chanting as it occurred during the match.
The response filed to the misconduct charge by Leeds said: “As a club, we were greatly disappointed to hear the chants in question at the Brighton game, especially given the large lengths we have gone to in promoting inclusivity in recent years.”
“We were made aware of incidents of inappropriate language in the South Stand during the match by stewards and police.”
The club said that the offending chanting originated from an area that was monitored to ascertain who was involved.
It led to the arrest of one Leeds fan and the ejection of another, with the club saying that police and stewards were positioned in front of the south stand with body camera equipment to record any further inappropriate behaviour.
The club said that this presence appeared to lead to an improvement in crowd behaviour.
The regulatory commission viewed a 44-second and a 38-second piece of video footage with audio of the homophobic chanting by Leeds supporters in the 20th minute of the match.
In the footage, the offensive chanting is clearly audible and, the report said: “The volume of the chanting leads to the inevitable conclusion that a very considerable number of Leeds supporters engaged in this homophobic chanting and that it was not a brief event.”
It added: “This conclusion is supported by the fact that the post-match complaint was based on the chanting being clearly audible on “national radio” and the video footage (with audio) that depicts the chanting clearly and loudly by many Leeds supporters.
The club said that one Leeds supporter was arrested and another Leeds supporter ejected from the ground.
But the report said: “No evidence was placed before the commission that these two supporters had been identified as involved in the homophobic chanting or whether such actions relating to them were for other misconduct.
“The commission was surprised and disappointed that there was no evidence of the use of focused CCTV towards the area of the homophobic chanting as soon as possible once the offending chanting had been brought to the attention of Leeds safety and security officials.
“In these circumstances, the chances of identifying the perpetrators of the offensive chanting was much reduced and it was unsurprising that Leeds had not been able to identify more of those involved in the offensive chanting.”
Sussex Police are investigating two reports of homophobic abuse at a Brighton and Hove Albion football match at the weekend.
The claims relate to Albion’s first Premier League fixture of the season – a 4-1 win against newly promoted Luton Town.
More than 30,000 fans attended the match at the Amex Stadium, in Falmer, on Saturday (12 August).
PC Darren Balkham, Sussex Police’s dedicated football officer, issued a statement about the claims on Monday afternoon.
PC Balkham said: “We work in close partnership with Brighton and Hove Albion FC to respond to reports of homophobic behaviour at the Amex Stadium.
“Reports of homophobic abuse, racist abuse and public order offences will be tackled and Sussex Police will seek prosecutions where reports are made to us.
“The force is investigating two reports of homophobic abuse made at the stadium on Saturday 12 August.”
