West Midlands Police have confirmed that two arrests had been made for misogynistic chanting at match referee Rebecca Welch throughout Birmingham Metropolis’s sport with Sheffield Wednesday.
The match noticed Wayne Rooney collected his first win as Birmingham supervisor after a 2-1 comeback victory in opposition to the Sky Guess Championship’s backside membership at St Andrew’s.
It was overshadowed by information of two 17-year-olds being arrested for alleged chants in the direction of Welch, who made historical past in January when she grew to become the primary girl to officiate a Championship match after she took cost of Birmingham’s conflict with Preston.
West Midlands Police mentioned in a statment: “We have arrested two boys for misogynistic chanting at the female referee during Birmingham City’s home game at St Andrew’s today (Nov 25).
“Our officers heard the chants being directed on the official and acted rapidly to arrest the 2, who’re each 17. They’re presently in custody on suspicion of a public order offence as we supply out enquiries.
“We don’t tolerate any form of hate and it is important hate crime is reported to us.
Juninho Bacuna scoring for Birmingham within the win in opposition to Sheffield Wednesday
“Today is White Ribbon Day which is the start of a 16 day long campaign.
“It focuses on everybody, particularly males and boys on what they will do to alter the behaviour and tradition that results in abuse and violence in opposition to ladies and ladies.”
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This weekend marks White Ribbon day – a marketing campaign to finish violence in opposition to ladies and ladies supported by Sky Sports activities.
Birmingham Metropolis had issued steering to supporters forward of the sport in an effort to strive and make sure the match went forward with none unsavoury off-field incident.
A press release forward of the Sheffield Wednesday fixture highlighted how Welch confronted “sexist and misogynistic” chants throughout her earlier match at St Andrew’s in opposition to Preston.
“The Sky Bet Championship match on Saturday 25 November, kick-off 3pm, will be officiated by Rebecca Welch,” the membership wrote forward of Saturday’s sport.
“Unfortunately, when she last refereed at St. Andrew’s, the Club received several reports of sexist and misogynistic abuse aimed at the official.
“This won’t be tolerated and any particular person reported for such behaviour can be requested to depart their seat by stewards. Moreover, in accordance with the membership’s behaviour matrix, foul and abusive language carries a possible ban of as much as 4 matches, with discriminatory and hate speech being punishable with a most ban of 5 years.
“The membership recognises that the overwhelming majority of Bluenoses behave in an exemplary method, nevertheless, there’s a small minority who let the remainder down.
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Highlights of the Sky Guess Championship match between Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday.
“Birmingham City has a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination and is committed to identifying, confronting and eliminating discrimination towards any group or individual based on a protected characteristic, with a number of reporting procedures available to supporters.”
