Beckenham Town: Racism at football match not proven, says London FA

An investigation into allegations of racism at a football match in south London has concluded the charges were not proven, London FA has announced.

The Wall FC said a racist comment was captured on video following their match against FC Elmstead at Beckenham Town's Eden Park Avenue ground in April.

London FA said the man accused of using abusive language had instead made a self-depreciating joke.

The Met Police also completed an investigation but nobody was charged.

In a video shared online by The Wall FC, subtitles suggested a racist comment had been made by somebody in attendance while the team were celebrating their victory.

Following its investigation, London FA said its commission unanimously agreed the subtitles were incorrect and that the man charged had instead made a joke about his height and the length of the grass.

The Wall FC said they knew the man being investigated was innocent and were surprised by the charge being attributed to him, claiming they had "challenged the evidence compiled against him as presented by the London FA".

A club representative believed the comments had been made by another man, according to London FA's report.

The other man who The Wall FC believe made racist comments has said he will be taking legal action.

Beckenham Town also accused The Wall FC of editing the video to "manipulate" the comments' meaning.

In a statement, the club said: "The video used incorrect and fabricated subtitles, and large sections had been edited out to wrongly portray the events that happened that evening.

"A conversation about the length of grass was manipulated to become an alleged racial slur, and we welcome The FA concluding that 'the subtitles contained within the original social media post from The Wall FC were therefore incorrect'."

The club added it was "extremely disappointed with the lack of support" it said it had received from London FA.

The Wall FC said they interpreted the alleged racist comments as a reflection of "our experiences and interactions with Beckenham Town F.C.".

A spokesperson added: "Our video was not purposely edited to fabricate a situation we did not want to experience or be in. It was presented in full to the London FA to ascertain if what we experienced, had in fact actually happened.

"It was never our intention to defame. As a club we can only apologise if our interpretations of the footage have caused unnecessary issues.

"As a result, we have all made ourselves accountable at The Wall FC and will learn from this in order to be better ambassadors within the game of football but also the wider community."