Hunt for ‘racist’ football fans who forced FA Cup match to end early

Police have released photos of three men in connection with a FA Cup qualifying match which ended when fans hurled racist abuse at a goalkeeper.

Cameroon-born goalkeeper Valery Pajetat, who plays for Haringey Borough, was allegedly spat at and struck by an object during a match with Yeovil Town.

While Haringey defender Coby Rowe also stated that he was the victim of racist comments, leading the club’s manager to take the team off the field on Saturday October 19.

Players from Yeovil Town then followed them off the pitch in an act of solidarity.

Speaking after the incident, Haringey manager Tom Loizou blasted the behaviour of the racist fans as a ‘disgrace’ and said it was ‘against what we believe in’.

He said: ‘I had my players racially abused, missiles thrown at my player and I took my players off the pitch to protect them because no-one else would protect them.

‘I’m worried about my football club getting punished for it. I’m not worried about my actions, they can do what they want to me.

‘What can they do? They can fine me, they can throw me out of football, they can ban me for life. I’ll just get on the building site and start working again.

‘What can they do? They can’t kill me, can they? We’ve got 300 or 400 fans. We welcome everybody. We don’t abuse anybody.

‘Why should we allow someone in our place to be abused? My players, it’s a multi-racial side, I’ve got black, white, Tukish, Greek, African, Nigerian, Jamaican, English, British, Romanian.

‘I’ve got them all in my side, and we all get on like a happy family. What happened yesterday was a disgrace and against what we believe in.’

Two men, aged 23 and 26, were arrested in Chard and Yeovil on October 21 on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault on October.

Both suspects have been released on bail to a date in mid-November.

Met Police have now released images of three other men they wish to speak to in connection with their investigation.

Anyone who was at the football match or can identify the men pictured is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 5272/19 Oct.

Last night Haringey Borough and Yeovil Town played a rearranged match, with the latter winning 3-0.