Swansea’s 1-0 win over Millwall at The Den was held up for almost seven minutes after an allegation of racist abuse from the crowd towards Swans substitute Eom Ji-Sung; “Stopping the game doesn’t deal with anything. All it does is kill the momentum,” said Lions boss Alex Neil Millwall manager Alex Neil criticised the decision to pause Tuesday night’s game against Swansea due to alleged racist chanting. The match – which Championship leaders Swansea won 1-0 – was held up for almost seven minutes after an allegation of racist abuse from the crowd towards Swans substitute Eom Ji-Sung was reported by the Welsh club to officials. Referee Edward Duckworth halted the game in the 65th minute and walked to the dugouts to speak with Lions boss Neil, Swans counterpart Vitor Matos and fourth official Ruebyn Ricardo.
A security guard was also on the scene with referee Duckworth seeming to point to an area in the stands behind the Swansea dugout. When play eventually resumed it was announced in the stadium that there had been a report of racist chanting, adding that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV. Matos confirmed the player in question was South Korea winger Eom, who was warming up. Speaking to the BBC after the game, Neil said: “I don’t see the point.
“It needs to get dealt with, absolutely, but stopping the game doesn’t deal with anything. All it does is kill the momentum. “Listen, if we score I probably don’t feel this way, but that’s how I feel just now.” Millwall later released a statement, which said: “Millwall Football Club is aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second-half of Tuesday evening’s Sky Bet Championship match. “The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory abuse.
Any individual found to have engaged in such behaviour will face the strongest possible action. “The club is working alongside the relevant authorities to establish the facts and is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which the club fully supports.” Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Swansea added: “The club wants to place on record its thanks for the swift and decisive manner in which the match officials, Millwall Football Club and the police dealt with the incident. “We will now follow all protocols and processes and provide whatever assistance we can to all parties as the incident is investigated. “We stand with Ji-Sung, and he has our unstinting love and support.”
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