FA accused of creating Wembley chaos
Hungarians blame ticketing system for Polish fans’ presence Fears about further violence when Albania visit next month
The Hungarian Football Federation has attempted to blame the Football Association for Wembley tickets falling into the hands of violent and racist hooligans.
Hungarian and Polish fans joined forces to fight with the police inside Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, sparking fresh concerns about security and the threat of more trouble when Albania visit to play England next month.
While the Hungarians accept it was their responsibility to sell tickets in the away end for the World Cup qualifier, officials pointed to the fact the FA sent over an online link to share with supporters who wished to buy tickets, with no restrictions on who could access it or whether or not it could be shared.
A spokesperson for the federation confirmed it was likely that the link was shared by Hungarian fans with Polish supporters and potentially other fans, which meant neither the federation nor the FA was fully aware who the tickets were being sold to.
Hungarian fans are serving home stadium bans by Uefa and Fifa over homophobic and racist abuse, with Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling being targeted in Budapest only last month.
Asked why it was so easy for Polish fans, or anybody else, to buy tickets in the Hungarian end, a federation spokesperson said: “That is really a question for the English FA. We were just provided with a link.”
It is understood that of the 700 fans in the away end, only around 150 could travel and the vast majority were UK based. The FA’S policy is not to screen fans for matches at Wembley and it is normal practice for visiting federations to be offered a web-link sales facility for away tickets, and most take it up unless they have their own membership programmes, as England do.
It is not anticipated that the FA will change that policy because of Tuesday night’s trouble and the Albanian Football Association is likely to be offered a similar online link from which to sell away tickets for the match on Nov 12.
The latest trouble comes as the English governing body is nervously waiting to find out if it will be punished for the shameful scenes at
the final of the European Championship in July.
Metropolitan Police arrested six people on Tuesday night, including a supporter accused of racially abusing a Wembley steward, an act that sparked the violence, and two more affray and attacking an emergency worker. Further arrests were made for affray, drunk and disorderly behaviour and one on suspicion of voyeurism.
Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto confirmed yesterday that at least one of the fans arrested was
Polish, saying: “Hungarian and Polish fans encouraged the Hungarian national team together during the match, with success.” Szijjarto went on to say that Hungarian and Polish citizens were “currently enjoying the hospitality of the British police”.
Fifa confirmed it would investigate the trouble and is also examining the violence at the World Cup qualifier between Albania and Poland, which was delayed for more than 20 minutes after home fans threw bottles at the visiting players. There were reports of clashes
between fans outside the stadium in Tirana, which raises the prospect of reprisals from the Poland fans who stood with the Hungarians on Tuesday night, when Albania visit Wembley on Nov 12.
The FA and police will gather intelligence over whether extra precautions are needed.
Videos shared online of the trouble at Wembley showed some supporters in the away end who fought against the police wearing Polish colours, with one clearly wearing a black top with the LKS Lodz logo.
Questions may be raised over why more police were not deployed at Wembley, as Hungarian safety sources have confirmed it is “very normal” for Polish and Hungarian supporters to join forces at games.
Fare, the anti-discrimination group, had observers at Wembley and executive director Piara Powar claimed that groups of Hungary and Poland fans shared a number of farright ideologies, saying: “There’s quite a lot of points of convergence on ANTI-LGBTIQ and anti-black Lives Matter.”
As well as the fighting, a large banner showing a line through a picture of a player taking the knee was displayed ahead of kick-off.
A spokesman for the Hungary Federation insisted it rejects all forms of racism, but claimed it was waiting to see if it received a report on the incidents from the English FA before deciding whether to open its own investigation.
Even though the trouble happened inside the stadium and may have been carried out by Uk-based Hungarian and Polish fans, Fifa could still decide to invoke the second game of the stadium ban Hungary were given for racist chanting at England players in Budapest last month. Hungary were hit by a fine and a two-game stadium ban, the second of which was suspended.
In a statement, Fifa said: “Fifa strongly condemns the incidents at England v Hungary and Albania v Poland and would like to state that its position remains firm and resolute in rejecting any form of violence as well as any form of discrimination or abuse.”