David Beckham is to escape punishment for a one fingered gesture to the crowd after last night's defeat by Portugal. The Manchester United player was barracked by his own supporters as he made his way off the field. Although most people in the stadium didn’t see the gesture, a photographer caught the incident on camera as Beckham was applauding other fans for their positive support.
But a UEFA spokesman confirmed this morning that no action would be taken against Beckham because the incident had not been mentioned in the reports of Swedish referee Anders Frisk or the referees' assessor.
English FA spokesman Steve Double said: "As the team left the pitch some of the players were subjected to disgusting, foul-mouthed abuse from a small group we would hesitate to describe as England fans. We would have liked to have seen them arrested for their behaviour. Although they were clearly English, they were not from a sector reserved for the England members' club and we would like to disassociate ourselves from the sort of behaviour they displayed.”
"It is fair to say that everybody who heard what was being said was deeply shocked that their own people could have behaved in such a way. We believe they were drunk. We will be making observations about the security arrangements when the players leave the pitch at further games in the tournament."
