FA investigate crowd trouble at Villa Park
Tuesday, 4 March 2003 10:03The Football Association have today launched an investigation into the crowd trouble which marred Monday night's derby clash between Aston Villa and Birmingham City. FA spokesperson Adrian Bevington confirmed the FA are taking very seriously the events at Villa Park.
Fans came onto the pitch, with one spectator confronting Birmingham midfielder Robbie Savage, while other Villa supporters tried to attack Blues fans seated in the Doug Ellis Stand after the second goal from Geoff Horsfield secured victory for the visitors.
"We are already in the process of communicating with Aston Villa following events at last night's match," said Bevington. "Obviously we are taking what happened very seriously. Our crowd safety advisor will be talking to the police and both clubs to ascertain further details. We also deal with reports from any fixtures and we will be looking at the reports at the earliest possible time including the referee, match observer and the police."
"It is disappointing to see individuals running onto the pitch. Thankfully it is relatively uncommon in this country. We would hope anyone found to be involved in this behaviour is immediately barred from grounds up and down the country and also found facing action from police authorities," he explained.
"We're not pre-judging Aston Villa at this stage. Clubs in England go to great lengths to prevent misconduct by spectators in the stadium," concluded Bevington.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
