Chris Hughton calls for harsh punishments for abusive fans
Thursday 7 February 2019 13:23, UK
Brighton boss Chris Hughton wants supporters who abuse footballers to be punished "as hard as possible".
Hughton was angered by abusive chanting aimed at Brighton defender Gaetan Bong during the FA Cup tie at West Brom on Wednesday which the Seagulls won 3-1 after extra-time.
Bong came on as a substitute in extra-time and was met with loud boos from West Brom fans, and chants of "there is only one smelly b******".
Last season, Bong accused West Brom striker Jay Rodriguez of making racist comments to him on the pitch. Rodriguez strenuously denied the charge of discriminatory misconduct, which was found not proven by the FA.
Hughton has called for the FA to intervene after Wednesday's incident while West Brom do not feel there is a need for an investigation.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of the match against Burnley at the weekend, Hughton called for tough action on fans who verbally abuse players.
"It's up to the game as a whole and the authorities to stamp what they can out as quick as possible and making sure the punishments are as hard as possible," said Hughton.
"I think there are sections of support that are not prepared to accept it and will recognise it and will report it. It's about making sure that whatever punishments and fines are given out to individuals are dealt with as quickly as possible.
"I think you have got to give the clubs credit and certainly with social media these days, it's being picked up far more and far quicker than it has in the past.
"I don't generally feel that we've gone from the game being in a far better place to things having got worse.
"There have always been incidences but of course what happens now particularly with social media is that there is now a far bigger platform for that to happen and perhaps we didn't have that before."
