Millwall ban 13-year-old for verbal abuse

SOCCER:Millwall have banned a 13-year-old fan for "the foreseeable future" after he admitted verbally abusing Bolton's Marvin Sordell during an Championship match last month.

The incident occurred during Millwall’s 2-1 win over Wanderers at the New Den on October 6 and led to an investigation involving both clubs and the Football Association.

Millwall today confirmed the teenager had admitted abusing Sordell and has subsequently issued a written apology to the player. Given the boy’s age, Millwall have not imposed a life ban on the youngster and offered him a place on a ‘Millwall for All’ educational program “in the hope that we can change his outlook on equality, racism and life in general”.

Millwall’s statement, released in conjunction with notices from the FA and Bolton, read: “Firstly we would like to put on record how grateful we are for the support and co-operation we have received from Bolton Wanderers and The FA in resolving what has been a challenging and topical issue over the past four weeks.

“Having completed our investigations into the incident, we have identified and interviewed a 13-year-old boy who admitted a verbal exchange with Marvin Sordell in which abuse was used.

“The individual has been banned from Millwall matches for the foreseeable future, but as a club we also felt, given the boy’s age and background, we had a duty to play our part in attempting to educate and rehabilitate him.

Accordingly, we have offered to put him through one of our education programmes, run by Millwall for All (formerly the Millwall Anti-Racism Trust) in the hope that we can change his outlook on equality, racism and life in general.

“In the meantime, the boy has written a letter to Marvin Sordell offering his apology, which has been accepted.”