Aldershot Town football fans have condemned an incident of alleged racist chanting from the crowd during last Saturday’s match.

The crowd of 3,621 at The EBB Stadium at The Recreation Ground was treated to a thrilling 3-3 draw in the League Two match against Bury on Saturday afternoon.

However, the game was marred for some by the actions of one fan who allegedly hurled racist monkey chants at one of the visiting team’s black players.

The incident was first reported on the online forum for fans, ShotsWeb, and had received more than 4,000 views from Aldershot supporters yesterday.

One Aldershot fan, who asked not to be named, said the chants had come from one person in the corner of the North and East stands.

“I was standing when I heard the noises coming from behind me,” he said. “They were making gorilla and baboon-type noises, made quite fleetingly but when [the player] came very close. It was very obvious what he was doing.”

He added that he had heard racist comments come from the same part of the stands during previous matches.

The fan said he heard the comment ‘thank God we’re aren’t getting a nigger as a manager’ when Gary Waddock was appointed in May 2007 from a man standing in the same part of the ground.

“I don’t go around making that sort of stuff up,” he said. “It is a great shame. Aldershot is a great club that is going places. It has a very good manager and a lot of good players, and I would not want anyone to suffer from this.

“It has great supporters, so it is such a shame that there are one or two idiots. I just hope they can be found if something is proven.”

John McGinty, Aldershot Town club chairman, said racist fans were not welcome at the Recreation Ground.

“We don’t want anyone like that,” Mr McGinty said. “We don’t need you or your racist attitude. We’ve got no time for people like that. Go somewhere else because you are not welcome here.

“Everyone has got a right to have a view, but they should keep it to themselves and certainly not go shouting it at the players. Whether they like it or not, these people are our friends.

"I would hate to be in a situation like that and there is no excuse for it.”

Mr McGinty pointed out that shouting racist abuse was highly insulting to Aldershot’s team, which has several black players in the first team squad.

“There are some good lads playing for our club and we don’t want to upset our own people,” he said. Stewards were professionally trained to deal with such situations and any incidents would be reported to the club’s head of security.

“We hire professional stewards and they should pick this up,” Mr McGinty said.

“They have got every right to call their colleagues and as soon as they have identified that person, to take action.”
Kick It Out, the organisation set up to challenge racism in football, has not yet received any formal complaints about the incident.

The group, which uses the slogan “Let’s kick racism out of football”, has an advertising hoarding displayed at most league grounds.

At Aldershot, the advert is in the north-east corner of the ground, where the chants were allegedly coming from.

Danny Lynch, a spokesman for the group, said that any incident of discrimination was of concern, whether it was from one individual or from 1,000.

“Whether it is Aldershot or Arsenal, we exist to make football a place where players and supporters can go without being targeted with small-minded abuse,” he said.

Mr Lynch compared the incident with last month’s widely reported racial abuse of Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell by Tottenham Hotspur fans at Fratton Park, when Hampshire Police said they could not arrest 2,000 people at a time.

Arresting one person should be fairly straightforward, he said.

“It would act as a deterrent and if it’s one person and we take them out of the situation, you will have an abuse-free situation,” he said.

He praised the Aldershot fan who blew the whistle on the incident by speaking up online and to the News. Open and frank discussions of such incidents, with widespread condemnation from Aldershot fans, was an “awesome” thing and the best way to stop incidents recurring, he said.

“Fans have an obligation and a duty to act,” Mr Lynch said. “I know that in the lower leagues, police and stewards are often thinner on the ground than at higher levels of the game.

“Rather than take the matter into their own hands, they should approach a club official or a policeman.”

He added that all incidents could also be reported to Kick It Out, who would report it to the Football Association and log the incident to try to tackle it in the appropriate manner.

“Unfortunately, people turn a blind ear to it,” Mr Lynch said. “But we do get situations where people don’t know who to call.”

Kick It Out can deal with situations anonymously over the phone, by email or by post. To report racist abuse, email info@kickitout.org or telephone 0800 16 99 414.