Newcastle United are at risk of an FA charge following an incident that took place in the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland at St James’ Park.
Newcastle United remain under investigation by the Football Association after an arrest was made following alleged racist abuse during the derby defeat to Sunderland at St James’ Park.
A 45-year-old man has been arrested following an alleged incident that saw Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland on March 22 briefly paused following a complaint from a visiting player.
The individual was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of a racially-aggravated public order offence and has since been released on bail pending further enquiries.
Detective Inspector Phil Guard said: “Racial abuse has absolutely no place in football or in our communities and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour.
“Following proactive policing enquiries and close partnership working with both clubs and their supporters, a suspect has been arrested.
“They have since been bailed with robust conditions while the investigation continues.”
DI Guard added: “We will continue to work with clubs, supporters and partner agencies to tackle any form of criminality at football matches.”
NUFC FA charge risk
Following the arrest, the incident remains under FA investigation and could see Newcastle face a misconduct charge if found guilty.
As the FA does not have jurisdiction over individual spectators unless they are ‘participants’ in football, any disciplinary action will see Newcastle charged as a club.
The FA investigates clubs for almost all crowd issues at fixtures with the investigation involving seeking observations from the clubs in question and agencies such as the local Police.
The FA works to ensure the individual or individuals responsible are identified and dealt with appropriately by the club and, where appropriate, the criminal courts.
The FA may issue disciplinary charges to clubs if the investigations conclude the club did not do enough to deal with or prevent the misconduct of its supporters.
If found guilty, Newcastle could find themselves in breach of FA Rule E20.1 and face a misconduct charge.
“FA Rule E20.1 provides that a Club shall be responsible for ensuring, amongst other things, that its supporters refrain from improper conduct,” FA rules state. “This includes refraining from any improper conduct which includes a reference, whether express or implied to any one or more of the following: ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, religion or belief, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation or disability.”
Newcastle United issued a statement following the incident but will not comment further while the criminal investigation is ongoing.
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