The English Football Association (FA) wants life bans for those responsible after violence erupted between hundreds of fans at Tuesday night’s match between London rivals West Ham United and Millwall, in which one man was stabbed.
The 44-year-old was taken to the hospital in a “stable condition” following “serious disorder” outside West Ham’s Upton Park stadium in east London, Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Alison Clark said in a telephone interview. At least 10 people were arrested, the BBC reported.
Opposing fans threw bottles and bricks and started fires as police tried to quell the disturbances, the BBC cited eyewitnesses as saying.
Two other men were taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries, Clark said.
No police were injured, she added.
Police said two people were arrested over the violence, which appeared to be planned.
“We absolutely condemn all of the disorder that has occurred at Upton Park ... both inside and outside of the ground,” an FA statement read.
Those involved in the violence “have no place in our game,” the association said. “We will very quickly be working with all parties, including the police and clubs, to establish the facts surrounding the events.”
“It looks like there has been some planned trouble from fans,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said. “We will be reviewing all the events, looking at CCTV both inside and outside the ground to identify offences and offenders.”
Inside the stadium, police and stewards battled to remove home fans following three pitch invasions during the League Cup match, the first game between West Ham and Millwall since April 2005. Premier League team West Ham rallied from 1-0 down to win 3-1 after extra time against its third-tier opponents, who are long-term local rivals.
Several hundred riot police, backed by mounted officers, lined the streets outside the stadium and a helicopter flew overhead in case of further possible violence as thousands of supporters left the stadium at full time.
Some West Ham fans reportedly clashed with police as they left late Tuesday.
“There were lots of scuffles and fights before the game. I saw a couple of people with bloody faces. There was lots of shouting and a lot of bottles were thrown,” said John Whittingham, who lives near the ground.
“People were throwing bricks but I haven’t got a clue where they were finding them. Some people were trying to rip bollards off the pavement. There were also some small fires lit,” he said.
A kebab shop owner said the violence had continued after the match started, and had forced him to close his business near the stadium.
“There were West Ham fans on one side and Millwall on the other. They were being kept apart by the police. There were West Ham fans for as far as you could see along the street,” he said.
“People were chipping bricks off buildings and throwing them at police. I saw one officer getting kicked as he was on the ground,” a man, 19, said.
West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola told the BBC those involved were not fans of soccer and the club said it would try to find and punish those responsible for the “deplorable scenes.”
“The club will not tolerate the unacceptable behavior witnessed inside the Boleyn Ground and will take the strongest possible action against anyone found responsible, including life bans,” West Ham said in a statement.
Millwall did not pick up a phone call seeking comment.
FA communications director Adrian Bevington said it was too early to say if action would be taken against the clubs.
“We need to understand exactly what arrangements were put in place because we don’t know the full details of that at this moment,” he told Sky Sports News. “So it would be wrong of me to start saying clubs were going to face action, because if the clubs have taken every measure possible, why would they face action? It’s too early to say.”
UK media condemned the violence, saying it was reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s when “football hooliganism” was more prevalent.
Asked if TV pictures of the violence would damage England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, Bevington cautioned against overreaction.
“We haven’t got widespread disorder of this nature, thankfully,” he said. “However, what it does show is that we can’t rest on our laurels.”
He added: “I don’t believe a one-off incident is going to be particularly damaging. However we have to work very, very hard to make sure that all measures are put in place to prevent this sort of thing becoming commonplace again.”
West Ham won the League Cup second-round match 3-1 after extra time.
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