"We've Been Fined For Standing Up To Racist Abuse"

10 April 2019, 06:11 | Updated: 10 April 2019, 08:58

A football club in Lancashire say they have been fined for standing up to alleged racist abuse.

Padiham FC were playing Congleton back in October 2018 - when one of their players says he was racially abused by the crowd in Cheshire. 

Liam Smith was Padiham FC's manager at the time. He took the decision to remove his men from the pitch part way through the game because stopper Tony Aghayere claimed to have been targeted:

"You certainly don't expect it {racist abuse} in any walks of life - never mind on a Saturday afternoon in Congleton."

The Lancashire FA and police investigated the matter and both teams were fined. 

Congleton Town reported the matter to Cheshire police at the time and say they condemn any racist abuse. They were fined £160. Padiham FC were ordered to pay £5 more (£165 in total) for bringing the game to a halt. 

Tony Aghayere has since spoken to Capital about what happened and says he's still shocked by it all: 

"You're there to play for your team. I know there's other forms of different abuse but I think racial abuse is one of the worst and should be kicked out. 

"The opposition goalkeeper was black himself - they had black players - so I was just really shocked {with what I heard}."

Since news of the fine started circulating - a fellow team in the North West has offered to help towards the fine given to Padiham FC. Runcorn Linnets tweeted their support saying "we would like to offer £50 towards the fine #sayNoToRacism". 

Lancashire FA were contacted by Capital and released this statement: 

"Following the Congleton Town FC V Padiham FC game on 6th October 2018 , both Cheshire FA and Lancashire FA have carried out a joint investigation resulting in a charge for both clubs of alleged misconduct under FA Rule E20.

"The matter was subsequently heard by an Independent Regulatory Commission convened by The Football Association [The FA]. Written reasons will be published by The FA in due course and both clubs would have had the opportunity to appeal the outcome/s.

"All County FAs continue to work hard – both independently and collectively – on tackling any forms of discrimination within the game. We encourage all participants and clubs to continue to report incidents and actions that fall into the categories of discrimination or racist abuse, so we can work together on eradicating it completely from the game."