West Ham have issued lifetime bans to the five fans who came lumbering out onto the pitch during a recent Premier League match against Burnley.
The game at the London Stadium on 10th March was peppered by hostility and crowd unrest, with pitch invasions and angry protests against owners David Gold and David Sullivan overshadowing a dreadful 0-3 home defeat for the Hammers.
As well as the five bans for the encroachers, the club confirmed that a number of individuals have also been given life bans for “violently throwing coins or objects with intent to injure or harm” the executives sitting in the directors’ box, Gold in particular.
This from the statement emitted via West Ham’s official website:
Furthermore, a number of additional incidents […] are currently being investigated in collaboration with stadium operators LS185 and the police.
The club expect to issue further bans based on witness statements and the high quality CCTV footage available, prior to our next home match against Southampton on 31st March.
As ugly as the scenes were, the game in question did provide us with a couple of the great sporting images of our time: namely ‘flag man’ and ‘Mark Noble going full Mark Noble’.
Timeless.