London Lions

[Jon Barnes]

Can anyone explain what happened today?
I was at the game but various outlets give the result as 2-2.

[Andy Denniss]

X said match abandoned. But if you look at league table it says 2-2. So no idea. Someone must know

[Greenfinch]

Abandoned after alleged antisemitic slur by a Hitchin Town player in the final minutes of the game.

[Nettlebed Citizen]

Angry and embarrassed by this. 2nd moron of the season. One in the crowd - who escaped without sanction - and one on the pitch today. We learned the offensive phrase used from their keeper. To be frank, much worse has been said on a football pitch but given the social and political environment, even in the heat of the moment it was both anti-Semitic and iredeemably stupid. The Hitchin player concerned was rightly taken off by MJ during the melee that followed and did not appear in the bar post game and was sent home alone. I genuinely hope he learns to be a better person but never in our shirt again.
All of that said, their walk off exacerbated a grim situation. I wholly understand their anger and distress and acknowledge their protest but to betray the crowd and the game for the actions of one idiot does not sit well with me. It's a moot point whether they would have walked at 2-0 up.
The League and FA need to find a better way to resolve issues like this. I've sympathy for the ref as he didn't seems to hear what was said and tried to respond to the situation but when emotions are this raw, he had little choice. NB.

[Stevenage Canary]

NC in light of what you have said what do you think the likely outcome will be in terms of the result or a replayed game?

[Nettlebed Citizen]

Looking at the FA guidance and given LLFC appeared to refuse to play on, it looks like the result will stand but that's a very brief look at the rules:
'Participants are expected to work with match officials to resolve situations rather than abandon the match, even in cases of protest.'

[Nettlebed Citizen]

From Google AI summary:
Match Forfeiture: The team that is found to have caused the abandonment will typically forfeit the match. The opposing team is usually awarded a 3-0 victory, or the score at the time of abandonment if it was more favourable to the non-offoffending team. The match will not be replayed.

[KEITH]

I wasn't at the game today &, like most who weren't there either, I was somewhat confused. 1st it showed us winning 2-0 on the league table on our website while the Southern League site showed 0-0. Later our website showed 2-2. I'm not on social media but I was able to see most of the messages posted on Facebook after the game on our site. Still bemused I went back on to the SL site results & it showed a 2-0 win for London Lions which I knew wasn't the actual score as we were 1 nil up at halftime. I decided to check further & went into match info & today's results. Scrolling to our game it showed 2-0 to LL but Taylor Rhiney's 2 goals under us. It also listed subs & the time they were made which appear to shed more light on the matter. Both sides made a sub in the 90th minute, presumably after the 10mins of confrontation. Toby Syme came on but I won't mention who came off in case he was the alleged culprit. It seems that, initially, the SL have awarded the game to LL with a 2-0 scoreline. We'll have to wait & see what the official outcome is. BTW don't bother going onto the SL site, match info & today's matches now as all the info has now disappeared as it's passed midnight.

[russell]

Regardless of what the rules state i think we should offer to replay the game. It sounds like the player admits to what they said but didn't see it as racially motivated so if thats the case there needs to be more awareness of historical tropes around anti semitism in the league as London Lions seem to me a great club doing a lot for their community. I'm personally not really a fan of punishments and 'cancel culture' but would like to think a lot of these things can be resolved in a positive way. We are all human and make mistakes after all.

[russell]

Weirdly thats the third non-weather related abandonment I've been. Arsenal v Sheffield United in the FA Cup years ago when Kanu scored the winner having not understood the unspoken rule about giving the ball back to the opposition when its kicked out for a player to get treatment. Wenger offered to replay it and it was all smoothed over. Then in the FA Cup preliminary round more recently Haringey Borough walked off against Yeovil after their goalkeeper was racially abused. That got replayed as well.