07 November 2023 , 10:24
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Liverpool fans have hit out at Luton Town following the club's response to tragedy chanting which occurred during Sunday's match between the two clubs.
The Reds and Luton played out an entertaining match at Kenilworth Road with substitute Luis Diaz scoring a late equaliser for the visitors to cancel out Tahith Chong's opener. However, the game was overshadowed by the behaviour of some home fans.
Prior to the release of an official club statement from the Hatters on Monday evening, the chants were condemned by both the FA and the Premier League, while former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also called out the behaviour while commentating on the match for Sky Sports.
In their statement, Luton said they were "extremely disappointed that a small number of supporters soured the occasion." The club then went on to outline the belief that some people participating in the chants were not privy to the fact they are linked to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
They added: "What has quickly become evident is that a number of people may have taken part without knowledge that the words used were in relation to the Hillsborough and Heysel tragedies, and we see the route to persuading supporters not to repeat these chants in future is through communication and education.
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"We see the route to persuading supporters not to repeat these chants in future is through communication and education. On this basis we are reviewing CCTV and media footage from the match, and will speak to witnesses to identify individuals who may have taken part. Any perpetrators could face stadium bans and potential criminal prosecutions."
But the response has not gone down well with Liverpool fans, who have accused the Premier League newcomers of issuing an insufficient response to chants which were "strongly condemned" by the FA. The Premier League also condemned them, with a statement reading: "The Premier League condemns the tragedy-related chanting heard at yesterday's match between Luton Town and Liverpool. We continue to treat this as an unacceptable issue and are committed to addressing it as a priority. Those found guilty of tragedy-related abuse face an automatic club ban and will be referred to the police."
Tragedy chanting overshadowed an entertaining game between the Reds and LutonThe statement, which has been branded as "weak" and "appalling" on social media, comes after reports that Liverpool initially wrote to Luton for answers in the wake of Sunday's match to find out how the club would be responding to the chants.
The FSA said: "Totally unacceptable but also worth highlighting the progress on this issue in recent years with @spiritofshankly leading the way in condemning ALL such chants & great support from likes of Forest fans at Anfield last week.
"No 'whataboutery'. Just because something horrible was chanted in the past, it doesn't give anyone a free pass to sing something horrible years later. Let's all draw a line in the sand. Tragedy chanting is also a prosecutable offence."
Labour MP Ian Byrne added on social media: "Education is key to eradicating the awful chanting we heard on Sunday. I have written to Luton Town to invite them to work with us to educate supporters about the real truth of Hillsborough utilising our #RealTruthLegacyProject".
The Premier League promised to crackdown on tragedy chanting at the start of the season. Their statement read: "Premier League clubs unanimously agreed at the Annual General Meeting today to a series of new measures to address the unacceptable rise in anti-social behaviour involving football tragedy-related chanting, gesturing, graffiti, online abuse and other behaviours last season.
"The measures are the output of a cross-football working group which was set up in December to explore available options to challenge the normalisation of such distasteful behaviours and incidents. The issues have continued to cause significant distress to the victims’ families, survivors and affected club supporters, in addition to damaging the reputation of the clubs involved and football in England and Wales.
"The action will focus on criminal prosecution, the regulatory environment, enforcement, online abuse, education and communications."