Women’s Cup Final Abandoned After Fans Refuse to Remove Palestinian Flags
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A women’s football final was abandoned in the UK after officials at the host stadium objected to Palestinian flags and anti-genocide banners displayed by fans, prompting widespread condemnation and an outpouring of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
A trophy final between Clapton Community FC Women and Dulwich Hamlet Reserves was called off on Sunday at Gallagher Stadium, home of Maidstone United, after a representative from the venue reportedly demanded fans remove Palestinian flags and banners.
Clapton, an East London side, were leading 2-0 when the game was halted.
The disruption began roughly 20 minutes into the match when a Maidstone United representative confronted Clapton supporters about waving a Palestinian flag. He also objected to a Dulwich fan banner reading “Show genocide the red card.”
Following the refusal of supporters to comply with the demand, a league official entered the pitch and stopped the match. According to Clapton, teams were then given two options: to play behind closed doors or abandon the match.
Clapton chose not to continue.
In a statement, Clapton Community FC said, “Today, 32 women were denied the opportunity to play the L&SERWFL Trophy final.”
“About 20 minutes into the match, both Clapton and Dulwich supporters were approached by a representative of Maidstone United, Gallagher Stadium owners. He demanded that our supporters must stop waving the Palestinian flag, and the Dulwich supporters must take down their banner which read ‘Show genocide the red card’,” it added.
“After both groups of supporters refused, he called the officials together and communicated that we could not use the ground while both the Palestinian flag and the banner were displayed,” the statement said.
“Our given options were to 1) play the game behind closed doors or 2) to abandon the game. Clapton’s players chose to abandon the game. Both sets of fans then came together in solidarity with the Palestinian people, singing more songs and holding up our banners in support of trans women and the Palestine people, respectively,” it added.
