Town have been fined £24,000 and given a warning by an independent FA Regulatory Commission for the mass confrontation following the Blues’ late penalty at Birmingham City, who have been fined £100,000, on the opening day of the season.

The two clubs were charged with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 for the incident in the aftermath of George Hirst’s penalty which levelled the match at 1-1.

A scuffle took place between players of both sides as the Blues celebrated, while a Birmingham fan attacked Jack Taylor and tried to drag the midfielder into the crowd.

An FA statement reads: “An independent Regulatory Commission has sanctioned Birmingham City and Ipswich Town for the mass confrontation at their EFL Championship fixture on Friday 8th August. 
 
“It was alleged that Birmingham City and Ipswich Town failed to ensure their players didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative way around the 95th minute, and both clubs accepted the charge. 
 
“The Regulatory Commission imposed a £100,000 fine and warning upon Birmingham City and a £24,000 fine and warning on Ipswich Town following a hearing.”
 
Birmingham’s significantly higher fine - the maximum fine possible is £250,000 - relates to the incident being the fifth involving the Midlanders over the last year. The St Andrew’s club previously faced action following games against Wrexham last September, Shrewsbury a month later, Bolton Wanderers in March and Cambridge United in May.

However, the commission found that the incident was triggered by Conor Chaplin kicking the ball into the crowd after Hirst had found the net.

“The incident of misconduct was triggered by a wholly unnecessary aggressive act by an ITFC player who kicked the ball with force into a crowd of BCFC spectators at close quarters,” the commission said in its written reasons, which can be found in full here.

“A BCFC fan was struck by the ball and was plainly upset by the incident. The ball can be seen to have been deflected by the supporter concerned as it rebounds quickly as seen on the footage.

“Indeed the supporter accepts that fortunately he was able to stop the momentum of the ball significantly by use of his hands. This is an aggravating factor insofar as ITFC is concerned.

“The commission rejects the suggestion that this was an “accidental” incident. The incident involved reckless behaviour at the very least by an ITFC player.”

The commission accepted mitigating factors with regard to Town: “The club apologised at an early stage for the misconduct, a BCFC player initiated the on-field incident.

“This is limited mitigation in circumstances where that incident would not in all probability have occurred but for the actions of the ITFC player in kicking the ball into the crowd.

“Some members of ITFC playing staff tried to defuse the situation and lesser numbers were involved in the misconduct itself and ITFC has no relevant similar misconduct since 2022 albeit this is therefore not an unblemished record.”


On Birmingham’s record of similar incidents, it adds: “The issue of repeated mass confrontations involving BCFC playing and/or other staff has been noted as a matter of concern by BCFC at board level and steps are being taken to speak to playing staff about this specific issue.”

In addition to the fines, both clubs have been formally warned regarding their future conduct.

Photo: Action Images

StowTractor added 12:26 - Oct 8 Will Szmodics get fined for kicking the ball towards the Sir Bobby upper, after Clarke's goal on Sunday? Did Plymouth get fined for kicking the ball into the Cobbold upper after Mumba's late equaliser in Jan 2023 during the L1 promotion campaign. Of course not. It is a recognised celebration. Neither our fans on Sunday nor Argyle's in 2023 were bothered that the ball headed towards them with force because they were joining in the celebration. Had we been 1-0 up and Stansfield had scored a late equaliser and celebrated by kicking the ball into their crowd the Brummie fans would not have tried to strangle one of their own team either. The simple fact is that Brum fans and players alike were upset that we got awarded a pen and scored it and both reacted with violence because of that. The excuse that Chappers sparked the incident was only dreamt up several hours later.

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StowTractor added 12:37 - Oct 8 Agree with the comments about flares and coins, bottles, ect. Very lucky that the flare didn't hit Philogene's foot, that is an injury we need to avoid with the important goals he is scoring at the moment. As a 60 year old going into the Sir Alf Upper who was scanned twice by security I struggle to understand how they got the flare into the North stand. Surely security at that end would be as tight if not tighter.

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armchaircritic59 added 17:48 - Oct 8 MathieMagic, yes absolutely, I've commented on that. We have our own home bred idiots too alas, fortunately only very few in number.
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