Millwall’s Neil criticised over racial abuse stoppage comments

Anti-racism campaign group Kick It Out has called on football managers to “set the tone” after Millwall boss Alex Neil criticised the decision to halt their game against Swansea City following an accusation of racist abuse.

Tuesday’s Championship match was brought to a standstill for seven minutes, midway through the second half, after reports of discriminatory chants directed at Swansea substitute Ji-sung Eom, which the Metropolitan Police is investigating.

After the game, Neil told BBC Radio London: “It needs to get dealt with. [But] stopping the game doesn’t deal with anything. All it does is kill the momentum.”

A statement from Kick It Out said: “Player welfare should always take precedence over the momentum or flow of a match, and it’s essential that managers and all leaders recognise this and set the tone with their language so that everyone can stand up to discrimination.”

When he was alerted to the accusations, referee Edward Duckworth had lengthy discussions with both sets of coaches and paused the match while he waited to pass a message on to Millwall’s safety officer.

Following the stoppage, an announcement was made over the speakers at The Den confirming there had been alleged chants of racism and that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV.

“I understand, obviously, there’s been an incident,” Neil said. “That’s not something I’m going to get involved in – that’ll be for the authorities to deal with.

“But the fact that it stops the game, I just don’t see the point.

“The referee was wanting to speak to whoever the safety officer is, and then when he spoke to him, it [the game] restarted.

“That’s partly my frustration. I want to get the game restarted, I want to get the game played.

“I understand there’s other things that are going on, but you’re not dealing with it down there, are you? It’s going to get dealt with after the event anyway.”

After the match restarted, Millwall went on to concede a 90th-minute goal to lose 1-0.

“If we score, I probably don’t feel this way, let’s be honest,” Neil added.

Kick It Out, which has campaigned for more than 30 years to eradicate racism from football, said it was disappointed to hear reports of racist abuse towards Eom.

“Both clubs have condemned the incident, and it’s positive that Millwall and match officials followed the right protocols so that action can be taken to identify any individual responsible,” the organisation said.

“In that moment, protocols are in place to help match and security officials respond appropriately.

“That ensures that players are protected and key details are captured so that accountability can follow, regardless of how long it takes.”

Millwall stated they were “aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second half” of the game.

“The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory abuse,” a club statement said after the game.

“Any individual found to have engaged in such behaviour will face the strongest possible action.”

Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos praised the referee and Millwall’s club staff for their responses to the incident.

“The referee followed the protocol for these sort of situations, they did the right thing,” he said.

“Millwall did the right thing by announcing there is no place for this sort of thing. I’m happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened.”