Crystal Palace has condemned ticketless fans who attempted to storm the Amex last night armed with bangers and flares “in the strongest possible terms”.
1/2: When behaving like this, can you really expect to be let into a stadium? Yes it was a minority, and the manner in which it was done was shocking, but the police made the right call marching fans away. pic.twitter.com/n6nQIZd6pD
— Will Coussens (@WilliHCoussens) November 29, 2017
Video shot by fan Will Coussens and posted on Twitter
The incident was one of several clashes which broke out before and during Brighton and Hove Albion’s match against arch-rivals Crystal Palace last night.
Two stewards were taken to hospital and several more left with minor injuries as a result. Flares which had been brought in during the surge were let off inside the stadium.
Palace has also apologised to innocent fans who were denied entry as a result of the troublemakers’ behaviour, and have asked those denied entry to get in touch for a refund.
The Croydon club’s statement, issued this morning, said: “We have been made aware of a small group of supporters attempting to gain access to the Amex stadium last night without tickets while using bangers and flares.
“This kind of antisocial and criminal behaviour is completely unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. There are very clear images of the incident and we will work with the police to identify the supporters involved, who will face stadium bans as well as potential criminal proceedings.
“We would like to apologise to all the innocent supporters who arrived at the stadium with tickets but were denied entry and to the two stewards who were injured at the ground. We wish them a full and speedy recovery.”
The video above was shot by Crystal Palace fan Will Coussens. He said: “This was a minority of Palace fans. The majority were in good nature.”
“But When behaving like this, can you really expect to be let into a stadium? Yes it was a minority, and the manner in which it was done was shocking, but the police made the right call marching fans away.”
