Charlton fans campaigning for a change of ownership at The Valley have reacted angrily to a statement issued jointly by the club and the Metropolitan Police which linked peaceful protests at recent matches with an isolated outbreak of football hooliganism at an away game six months ago.
The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD), which was formed in January to campaign for the club’s Belgian owner to sell up, described the statement as “insulting" to thousands of decent, law-abiding Charlton fans who have joined activities such as a mock funeral, mass protests outside the ground, spending boycotts, banner displays, sticker-wearing, Pinocchio masks and distributing spoof matchday programmes.
A CARD spokesperson said: “Two weeks ago the regime issued a mad statement in which it sought to pretend protesting fans were being manipulated by a small, disaffected minority, despite the massive evidence of its own failure on and off the pitch. Now they are linking peaceful protests with criminality, including explicitly hooligan behaviour at an away match months before CARD was even set up. It is a shabby and insulting attempt to cover up their complete inability to run a professional football club, which is the real reason thousands of Charlton fans have been moved to protest.”
The latest statement, issued on Tuesday, referred to “a number of criminal acts” at recent games, but CARD responded: “We challenge the club to publish the number of people charged for protest-related activity and the full extent of these criminal acts, which we understand they believe to include the throwing of beach balls towards the pitch at the last home game. On a literal interpretation of the Football Offences Act throwing the match ball back after it has been kicked into the crowd by the players could also be a criminal offence, but the CPS and the courts are likely to require the police to use common sense and proportionality in bringing charges.”
The club said its statement followed a meeting with the police at New Scotland Yard last week, and CARD revealed that it also attended a similar meeting at the same venue 24 hours later. The spokesperson commented: “Both meetings were set up at the same time. The police invited us and we had a constructive and amicable exchange of information with officers up to chief inspector level. We did so because the safety aspect of the protests is a priority for us. We also have no interest in unnecessarily diverting police resources from more serious matters.
"However, so that there is no misunderstanding we wish to make clear that the tone of that meeting is not reflected in the tenor of the statement, which the police neither disclosed to us nor consulted us upon. Had they done so we would have suggested they remove the gratuitous and offensive link to hooliganism at Crystal Palace last September, in particular.
“We understand that the police have a duty to enforce the law as they see it, but the club should treat supporters with respect and not characterise protestors as criminals in order to try to discredit them. The incidents at Palace were unacceptable to the vast majority of Charlton fans, including those behind CARD, but they had nothing to do with protests against the club’s ownership and there can no sensible suggestion that they did.
“CARD has not been responsible for every protest and we acknowledge that a very small number of unacceptable acts have been committed by others, but the overall depiction of events in the statement is seriously misleading because thousands of people have protested peacefully match after match without incident.
"In addition, we have repeatedly made clear, including in published material, that we do not support protests based on gender or nationality. We completely reject any attempt by the regime to paint the protests as racist or xenophobic in origin. We are protesting about its incompetent and increasingly deceitful conduct of the club’s affairs.”
Also on Tuesday, the club was forced to withdraw and apologise for an earlier public statement claiming that owner Duchatelet had met supporters who are members of the club’s Target 20k committee for discussions during his visit to the ground in February. It eventually claimed that he had actually met unspecified “partners” of the club who are “first and foremost fans”.
The CARD spokesperson added: “All provocation by the football club will be met with the same considered but determined response by CARD. Protests will continue on Saturday, at the three subsequent home games and into the summer. We showed last week by picketing the sponsors’ event at the training ground and The Valley that we can take effective action away from matchdays and this useless regime should take no comfort from the fact that the close season is approaching. There will be no respite until this administration has gone."
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Comments
What a well thought out and excellent response!
Cracking response. Well done CARD.
*club kindly take note, thank you !!
Love this.
Brilliantly worded and let's hope the BBC and others put CARD's statement alongside the club's pathetic utterance so all can see the crass idiots we're having to put up with.
CARD issues statements, and combines them with actions.
CAFC issues statements and combines them with threats.
"In addition, we have repeatedly made clear, including in published material, that we do not support protests based on gender or nationality. We completely reject any attempt by the regime to paint the protests as racist or xenophobic in origin. We are protesting about its incompetent and increasingly deceitful conduct of the club’s affairs.”
Also on Tuesday, the club was forced to withdraw and apologise for an earlier public statement claiming that owner Duchatelet had met supporters who are members of the club’s Target 20k committee for discussions during his visit to the ground in February. It eventually claimed that he had actually met unspecified “partners” of the club who are “first and foremost fans”.
What a sad state of affairs this has become, but one that as fans we have to fight for the future of our club, and the spirit and culture that makes CAFC what it is.
This one's for you Katrien