BURY have been hit with a two-game stadium ban by the FA.
The Shakers have been ordered to play their next two home matches behind closed doors due to offensive comments made by fans at a recent game.
It is the first time an English club has been sanctioned in such a manner for decades, with stadium bans often handed out to European teams by Uefa.
Bury have announced they will appeal the punishment, meaning fans will likely be in attendance when their next opponents Wythenshawe visit Gigg Lane.
The club stressed they did everything in their power to help police and the FA carry out their investigation.
And they claim the lost revenue would better be put to use “to fund a campaign intended to positively promote diversity and inclusion”.
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A statement from the club read: “Bury Football Club has been informed by Manchester FA that an independent committee has decided that due to the offensive comments made by two supporters during our game against West Didsbury and Chorlton in September, we should be forced to play our next two home games behind closed doors.
“We reported the incident at the time, and provided video and other evidence to the police to assist their enquiries at some considerable cost to the club. We have not disputed the claims made. The individuals have not yet had their case heard by the law enforcement authorities and have been prevented from entering the stadium indefinitely whilst we await the outcome.
“Our grounds for appeal are limited. We have accepted the facts of the incident, and do not believe that we acted in a way which was anything other than responsible and measured.
“We accept that the two individuals involved could have been removed from the stadium immediately but the stewards took a view at the time to stop any further problems and review the situation afterwards. We paid additional money to a CCTV specialist to review footage and provided this to the police. Our stewarding costs are £3-4,000 per game, it is not something we take lightly.
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“The basis of our appeal is that the punishment is excessive. We have seen multiple incidents over recent years of groups of supporters collectively issuing racist, misogynistic and homophobic abuse, as well as tragedy chanting.
“These have gone unpunished or have been dealt with by fines. We acted on the day. We are unable to completely control the words of two people in a crowd of 3,838 on that particular occasion.”
The England national team were hit with a two-game stadium ban after the Euro 2020 final descended into chaos with fans breaching Wembley.
One match was suspended so only the clash against Italy in June 2022 was played behind closed doors, although under-18s were allowed in.
The last English club ordered to play a match behind closed doors was Aston Villa.
They began their defence of the European Cup in front of an empty Villa Park in 1982 as punishment for fan riots against Anderlecht in the semi-final earlier that year.
The FA also forced Burton to play Leicester behind closed doors in an FA Cup replay after the first match was marred by fan violence – Burton goalkeeper Paul Evans was struck by an object thrown from the crowd so the game was abandoned with Leicester leading 6-1.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
