SLEAFORD TOWN and Huntingdon Town have released individual statements regarding the abandonment of thier FA Cup tie on Saturday.
The First Round Qualifying tie between the two United Counties League side was called off in the 87th minute with Sleaford leading 2-1.
Both clubs have offered very different accounts of what happened, with Huntingdon stating:
“Huntingdon Town Football Club would like to make a statement as to the events that led to yesterday’s FA Cup match at Sleaford Town FC being abandoned.
“Huntingdon were awarded a throw in front of the Sleaford technical area, due to the technical area being no more than 500mm from the touch line, it is virtually impossible to take a throw in without running through the technical area.
“On two occasions the Sleaford manager Kris Jones stepped across the path of the Huntingdon number two making actual body contact, obstructing him from taking the throw. We can only assume that this was because our number two has a Rory Delapp type throw he didn’t want him to deliver into the penalty area. This type of throw could be considered better than a corner. On the second blocking attempt he grabbed Ollie Medwynter.
“After the second blocked attempt at the throw in, our number two pushed the ball into the chest of the Sleaford manager – who then fell to the floor in a bizarre fashion, that we can only assume was an attempt to have our player sent off.
“The referee then came over to the dug out and from 10 metres away waved the red card at our number two – this did not help the situation as someone in the technical area then grabbed our number two and pulled him almost into the dugout.
“The first punch emanated from the Sleaford dug out and someone needs to be held accountable for that. We refute that no Sleaford players were involved or threw any punches. Although it was not a mass brawl, with only seven to eight people being involved, this was still not acceptable.
“We still had eight minutes to get an equaliser so we certainly had no reason to cause the abandonment of the match, if we had gone on to lose 2-1 we would have been sporting & gracious enough to except defeat and wish Sleaford all the best in the next round. The match was a very sporting affair with I believe only one caution but following this incident the situation turned dramatically with racial comments aimed at our players and a scuffle breaking out between the management of Sleaford FC and the Huntingdon Town and Sleaford Players.
The club’s chairman, Paul Hunt, added: “As the chairman of Huntingdon Town FC I was standing two yards from the incident and I was appalled that when with three minutes to go, plus five to be added, that the Sleaford manager (Mr Kris Jones) stood in the way of Ollie Medwynter and then grabbed him stopping him from making the throw in, which could have gone into the opposing penalty box. Mr Jones in effect assaulted Ollie Medwynter who retaliated by pushing him away but I would like to make it clear that Ollie Medwynter was provoked into a response
“I know Ollie Medwynter personally and he is not a man of a violent nature in any manner but as anybody else would – he took exception to being grabbed quite aggressively by the Sleaford manager and to the racist comments aimed at him from other Sleaford fans.
“I was totally taken aback by the RACIST comments aimed at our players and in particular Ollie Medwynter and Jamie Graham who both suffered very personal comments relating to their race and colour.
“As a chairman trying to stamp out all types of racism in football I find these actions totally unacceptable and these comments were in fact the very reason why this whole episode escalated into a brawl that again was avoidable and not acceptable in any manner by all involved.
“Huntingdon Town FC are appalled at how Sleaford FC appear to be making light of the matter of assault (on Ollie Medwynter) from a member of their management team.
“Any players found guilty by the directors and management team of our club will be dealt with most severely.
“A conversation took place after the game had been abandoned with Sleaford fans and myself who quite clearly confirmed that the whole episode was created by the actions of the Sleaford manager.
“This conversation was witnessed very clearly by Ian Hughes, a United Counties League official, who appeared quite surprised by the Sleaford fans comments – I am certain Ian Hughes will make a statement to confirm this point “
“Finally after the game I spoke with the Sleaford officials including the Chairman and asked that we all just put this incident behind us and allow the FA to take matters from here.”
Responding to that statement, Sleaford said:
“Sleaford Town believe that the information that has been released by Huntingdon does not truly reflect the incident as it occurred.
“It is our belief that our manager did not try to impede the throw in by walking across the player’s path. The first collision happened as the player ran through our technical area for his run up.
“It is our belief that the player then, on the second occasion curved his run so as to collide with our manager. It has been stated that the Huntingdon number two then pushed the ball at our manager when in fact he grabbed him around the throat and threw him to the ground.
“At this point, a number of people from the Huntingdon bench came charging across to the Sleaford technical area and we believe in this incident one of our management team was headbutted by a substituted Huntingdon player causing a facial injury.
“We would like to stress that at no point did anybody from Sleaford leave the technical area nor do we believe any players, officials or any of the management team threw any punches and were purely trying to drag people away.
“We pride ourselves on being a Community Club and it is a great shame to us that yesterday’s events led to children having to be led from the ground in great distress. We have since had it reported to the club that some women watching the game were sworn at in an aggressive manner by members of the Huntingdon bench.
“We were leading the game with a few minutes to go, and were within touching distance of creating history for the football club in this prestigious competition, so had no desire for the game to descend into a brawl.
“We also appreciate that the actions were carried out by a small minority of people involved with Huntingdon Town and does not reflect the beliefs and hard work carried out by the majority of people involved in what is an excellent football club.
“We will now await the FA’s decision but do strongly defend our club’s right to remain involved in the competition.”
