King’s Lynn Town have been sanctioned with a partial stadium closure and a heavy fine following incidents in a fixture against Scarborough Athletic last season.
The Linnets have been charged with two counts of misconduct for breaches of FA Rule E21 in respect of the National League North match, which took place on December 7 last season – a game they won 1-0.
It is alleged that the club failed to ensure that spectators and/or its supporters (and anyone purporting to be its supporters or followers) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion whilst attending the match.
The Football Association’s disciplinary committee has now ruled that the Linnets must close the North Terrace section of the Docherty Walks Stadium, where the incidents occurred, for two games in the near future, while the club has been handed a fine of £3,000.
Charge one alleges that in/or around 65th minute, King’s Lynn Town FC failed to ensure that its spectators and/or its supporters (and anyone purporting to be its supporters or followers) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion whilst attending the match and do not use words or otherwise behave in a way which is improper and/or offensive and/or abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting with an express or implied reference to sexual orientation, contrary to FA Rule E21.1 and E21.4.
The second charge alleges that in/or around 75th minute, King’s Lynn Town FC failed to ensure that its spectators and/or its supporters (and anyone purporting to be its supporters or followers) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion whilst attending the match and do not use words or otherwise behave in a way which is improper and/or offensive and/or abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting with an express or implied reference to sexual orientation, contrary to FA Rule E21.1 and E21.4
The closure order will take effect 14 days from the date of the publication of the written reasons and the affected games will be published in the near future.
A statement from the Linnets read: “To have these charges against the club is disappointing, as an incredible amount of work has gone on behind the scenes since the club has been under an FA action plan for a previous charge of crowd disorder.
“As a club, we will continue to work with the relevant authorities, including the FA and the local police, with a view to making The Walks a great day out for people of all backgrounds and ages.
“To enable this to happen, we need our supporters to call out this behaviour and hold those responsible accountable; these incidents are avoidable, but we must stand together.
“Therefore on behalf of the football club as a whole, we must urge every spectator visiting us here at The Docherty Walks Stadium, and also travelling to away games to represent the Football Cub, to please refrain from entering the field of play, the use of pyrotechnics, be mindful of the words used and avoid any other misconduct which could see the Club penalised.
“All of these incidents are reported to The Football Association every time they occur and really do have an impact on the Club.
“As always, we are talking about a very small minority of spectators who are engaging in this unacceptable manner, but these people in the minority continue to cause us, the club, a major problem which results in serious consequences.”
