The chairman of Gillingham is hopeful that the Football Association will respond positively to their prompt and decisive measures following the arrest of a fan for racial abuse.
Omar Bogle, a forward for Newport County, was celebrating his first of two goals at Priestfield when a home fan appeared to mimic a monkey.
Brad Galinson, the chairman of the Gills, believes they are making every effort to stop the abuse.
The US owner remarked, “We could get fined, but the FA is pretty reasonable,” after a humiliating weekend.
“What they judge you for is not so much what happened; it is: ‘Did you follow the guidelines to prevent it from happening? Did you follow the guidelines to react when it happened? Did you follow the guidelines to prevent it going forward?’ More than just the fact that it happened in the first place.
“We were fined last season; there were three episodes where we probably weren’t as great as we should have been. We learned a lot from that and have improved considerably, and as you could see on Saturday, we think we followed everything, before the match, when it happened, and after the match.
“The hope is that the FA says, ‘We get it; you guys did everything you could’ and they will be more lenient, and then we will just get better and better at it.”
The Gills are being monitored by the FA – the game’s governing body – following those three previous incidents last season which they were fined for. The weekend abuse follows an object thrown from the stand hitting the opposition goalkeeper the week before, something that is still being investigated.
Three other fans were ejected on Saturday for discriminatory language, with claims that the visiting female physiotherapist was also the target of abuse from some spectators in the Rainham End.
Fans are constantly reminded at Priestfield of the club’s zero tolerance for abuse, and Mr. Galinson hopes Saturday’s events underline that.
He said, “What happened became this perfect storm nationally, so unfortunately, Gills were stuck with it, but I think it showed the country, right there in color, how serious and how small this problem is.
“We are never doing enough; I don’t think society is ever doing enough, but you have to constantly battle it. It took us 30 seconds to handle it, so I would say, ‘Yes, we did very well. 30 seconds, arrested, banned, done, publicly announced, the world should see it; it’s not acceptable.
“On the one hand, that is good; on the other hand, there were two other incidents in that game of chanting that we privately ejected (spectators), and I think every match in the country has those.
“I think it is a constant fight, and we are going to continue the fight with all other clubs.
“Saturday was an event that was big enough that people are starting to get more courageous to say: ‘I don’t care if I am calling one of my friends out; I will call my friends out because that is the right thing to do.’ That is a hard thing to do in society.
“For me, until everyone doesn’t accept peer pressure, it’s not going to stop but I am hoping that Saturday, as horrible as it was, pushed people towards saying: ‘I am done with this, I don’t care if I am embarrassed to yell at my friends, this can’t happen anymore.’
“There is zero tolerance for those kinds of shouts at Priestfield and truly throughout sport. We are going to keep banning people and arresting them.”We recognize that this is an intense game and that some things should be allowed for chanting, but, in my opinion, there are three or four no’s that you should never cross. When you cross them, you disappear. I believe that is supported by the FA, the EFL, and all of my fellow owners.
“There is just zero tolerance once you cross the very specific rules about what you can and cannot do.”
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