Fans condemn West Brom v Wolves crowd trouble

The Black Country derby was suspended for 38 minutes due to crowd trouble

A mum has described how fans "charged" towards her and her children as crowd trouble broke out at the FA cup tie between local rivals West Brom and Wolves.

The Black Country derby, the first with spectators for 12 years, was suspended for 38 minutes on Sunday at the Hawthorns.

Missiles were thrown, fights broke out, fans spilled on to the pitch and police said six people were arrested in connection with the game.

West Brom fan Clare Sidaway, who was at the game with her daughter and disabled son, told Radio WM: “Everybody charged from all directions – running into me, my kids, my son who was in a wheelchair.

“It was just a panicky situation and I just needed to get out but it was just ridiculously difficult. It was a horrific scene.”

She said the trouble started when a Wolves fan sitting in the home end celebrated after the second goal in the 78th minute.

Det Sgt Jason Dooley, deputy chair of West Midlands Police Federation, confirmed this was believed to have triggered the violence.

"Everybody just ran towards him from the Birmingham Road end to the Halfords Lane end to try and attack this one man. It was just madness," he said.

He added a police medic in the stand "put himself in harm’s way actually to protect this young man".

Mr Dooley said the officer was "pushed down the stairs" and suffered bruising to his legs and back.

Other injured police officers suffered mainly bruising from kicks and punches, he said.

“Thankfully nobody has had any serious injuries," he said.

Mr Dooley, who was on duty said alcohol was a "contributing factor", adding he believed the match was well policed and supervised by club stewards, although they were dealing with "pure aggression".

"You’ve got people who were intent on hurting people. They wanted to come on to the pitch, they wanted to cause problems." he said.

He said he believed there would be further arrests and appealed for footage of the violence to be sent to West Midlands Police.

Det Sgt Jason Dooley said police officers suffered bruising from kicks and punches

Wolves fan Suzanne Waterhouse and her son were also at the fixture.

Ms Waterhouse said she could see tension building through the match and described the ensuing scenes as “absolutely idiotic and stupid”.

Another Wolves fan, Jez Constantinou, said he was at the other end of the ground from where the trouble started.

"We could see pretty much everything that was going on and could see it was escalating and becoming more intense as time went on," he said.

Mr Constantinou added it was apparent there were Wolves fans in the home section of the stadium and described riot police "batoning back" West Brom fans trying to get on the pitch.

One supporter told BBC Radio WM after the game: “The behaviour in there is awful, there’s trouble all over the stadium. It’s not about the football then…and that’s what’s really, really sad.”

Police confirmed they made six arrests in connection with the game

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said those responsible should face criminal charges.

"There's no place for that kind of behaviour in football. The prime minister believes that everyone should be able to watch their team without any threat of violence or antisocial behaviour," he added.

West Midlands Police confirmed four West Brom supporters and two Wolves fans were arrested with all released under investigation.

Those arrested included one man suspected of brandishing a corner flag as a weapon and another on suspicion of throwing punches at police officers, the force added.

One man was taken to hospital with head injuries.

Trouble flared at the game in the 78th minute

Before the game was suspended, flares were lit in the stadium, a beer bottle was thrown towards a Wolves player and more missiles were thrown in the ground.

In the suspension, some West Brom players went into the stand to remove their children.

Later, their manager Carlos Corberan confirmed none of his players' family members were harmed.

A spokesperson for West Bromwich Albion said the club condemned the scenes “in the strongest terms”.

They added they would work with police and the FA to investigate and confirmed anyone involved would be subjected to a club ban.

Police were forced to intervene after fighting broke out in the crowd

The Professional Footballers’ Association said it had reached out to the players involved and added they should “be able to do their job without worrying about the safety of their families”.

Figures released in September showed arrests at football matches in England and Wales had reached a nine-year high.

There were 2,264 football-related arrests during 2022-23, the highest number since 2013-14 and an increase of 66 on the previous season.

View from the game - Steve Hermon, BBC WM Sport

After all of the build-up and excitement, this was not what we wanted to see from the first Black Country derby in front of supporters for 12 years.

The scenes in the Birmingham Road and Halford’s Lane stands were shameful.

That latter part of the stadium is the family section, including for family members of the players and it was distressing to see Albion defender Kyle Bartley having to take his own children away from that situation.

I was assured after the game they were OK but that is not something they should have to witness. There also appeared to be objects thrown at Wolves players when they went to take corners near the East Stand corner - again, that is unacceptable.

It was embarrassing for the whole region this match made headlines for the wrong reasons. It can’t be allowed to happen again and West Bromwich Albion Football Club have rightly condemned the "unsavoury scenes".

But there will no doubt be ramifications to follow which is not good for a club struggling financially and in the process of a potential takeover.