Crawley Town Defender Paul Connolly In Trouble After Slapping Brentford Supporter Across The Face (Video)

Chris Wright

9th, April 2014

1 Comment

By Chris Wright

Brentford have agreed to assist an investigation into an altercation between Crawley Town defender Paul Connolly and a Bees fan that cropped up during the two sides’ League One fixture last night.

Footage appears to show Connolly slapping the Brentford fan across the face after throwing the ball back rather sharply at the 30-year-old full-back as he sought to take a throw-in during the latter stages of the game, with Crawley 1-0 down and chasing an equaliser.

Brentford chief executive, Mark Devlin, acknowledged the incident after the game, saying:

“It does look as though the ball went into the crowd, and from what I could see it was thrown towards the player. The player didn’t like it and there appeared to be an exchange, whether it was a slap or a punch or whatever.

“The referee has moved in and a plastic bottle has come on to the pitch, so no doubt we’ll hear from the Football League about that one as well.

“The club will wait to see what the police say and then take it up with Crawley. If the Football League asks us for our input we will investigate it and let them know from our point of view what’s gone on.”

Connolly took to Twitter after the game in an attempt to play down the fracas, writing: “”A total blown up incident at the game last night! Handbags! We move on.”

Hmmm, we’re not entirely sure the Football League’s disciplinary commission are going to be quite as flippant about the whole thing.