Sunday 16 April 2017 18:47, UK
Billericay Town have fined Jamie O'Hara two weeks' wages following a confrontation with an opposition fan after their 3-2 defeat to Leatherhead on Saturday.
Mobile phone footage appeared to show the former Tottenham and Wolves midfielder, who joined the non-league side last month, confronting a spectator as he left the pitch before being pulled away by a team-mate.
The 30-year-old was without a team when he joined the seventh-tier Isthmian League Premier Division side after leaving Gillingham last September.
Billericay Football Club investigated the incident at Fetcham Grove before issuing a statement on behalf of the club's owner and manager Glenn Tamplin.
"Following the unsavoury aftermath of Saturday's game against Leatherhead FC I deem it necessary to release a statement to establish the Club's position on the matter. As Jamie O'Hara, Paul Konchesky and I left the pitch after the game we began to receive a totally unprecedented level of abuse from gathering opposition fans.
"I was very disappointed to see that there was no protection provided by stewards or officials to grant us safe passage from the field and we were therefore directly confronted by the abusive 'fans'.
"The three of us were unsurprisingly concerned for our safety and this led to a regrettable incident where Jamie reacted by pushing away a fan because of the abuse of which included him being spat at and things thrown at him.
"As a club and personally the reaction was wholly unacceptable and a most regrettable incident. As I intervened to pull Jamie away I was punched in the back of the head, which underlines the level of abuse and anger being directed towards us."
The statement also warned O'Hara will be released should a similar incident occur again.
It continued: "As I stated previously Billericay Football Club doesn't condone any reaction to provocation, be it on or off the field, therefore we have deducted Jamie two weeks' wages and made it very clear to him that any future incidents of a similar nature will lead to him being released from the club.
"Having spoken to Jamie this morning and witnessed the sorrow and regret he has in relation to the incident we believe that it was an over exuberant action of self-defence and deem the decision we have made to be suitable punishment.
"Jamie is an extremely dedicated and humble member of our squad and we sincerely hope that the whole unsavoury matter has been concluded as amicably as possible."
