West Ham and Millwall face intense investigation from the most important governing bodies in football following constant crowd disturbance before, during and after the Carling Cup clash on Tuesday night.
The match ended 3-1 to West Ham after extra time, Neil Harris volleyed Millwall in front in the first half and the visitors held on until late in the game when Junior Stanislas equalised for the Hammers. Stanlislas scored a penalty shortly after to send West Ham to victory, before Zavon Hines sealed the win with a late goal.
However, the game was hugely overshadowed by a series of large scale clashes between the two sets of rival fans. Violence started as early as 18:00 around the ground, with police having to close Upton Park tube station in an effort to separate West Ham and Millwall supporters.
With the match in progress, a small section of fans continued the disturbing scenes with constant attempts of pitch invasions and both sets of fans tried to gain access past the segregation of riot police to the other supporters.
A large scale pitch invasion took place following West Ham’s equaliser close the final whistle followed by another after Stanislas’ penalty and after the final whistle. The shortage of stewards was obvious as West Ham fans simply strolled onto the pitch.
In all fairness, Millwall fans were well isolated in the ground, with no fans in the upper section of the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand where the visiting supporters were housed, and no fans were kept in the wings of the lower tier.
A number of riot police separated fans on either side and there was a large police presence outside though having witnessed CCTV footage of incidents before the game, there were not enough police outside and the stewards failed to restrain the home fans completely.
Walking out onto Green Street after the match saw a carpet of broken glass following earlier chaos. Reports suggest that although Millwall fans were kept behind in the stadium for a considerable amount of time, West Ham fans waited for the away fans to be released and police could not contain the situation fully until late on.
Recently emerging reports document that Carlton Cole was racially abused from the Millwall supporters during the match. Something I had not noticed having attended the match but extremely disappointing to hear to cap an appalling evening.
One can only imagine the punishment to be sanctioned upon either club and the events last night beg the question as to whether or not any similar fixtures in the future should be played behind closed doors.
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