POLICE are investigating after Southampton fans allegedly mocked Cardiff City supporters over the death of Emiliano Sala.
The footballer’s body was recovered from the wreckage of a plane in the English Channel this week, almost three weeks after it went missing.
Footage captured by Cardiff supporters showed two men in the home stand making plane gestures during Saints’ 2-1 defeat at St Mary’s on Saturday.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
Keep an eye on the bloke in the middle, making plane expressions just two days after the Emiliano Sala confirmation, glad to say they both got ejected but had to shame them #CCFC #SOUCAR pic.twitter.com/nF57gpFMDh
— 💎 (@ccfcben) February 9, 2019
Southampton said it will ban the fans in question after confirming two supporters were detained by police.
In a statement, the club said: “Southampton Football Club can confirm that two fans were detained and had their details taken by police during our match against Cardiff City on Saturday.
“The Club will continue to work with Hampshire Police to identify any individuals deemed to have made indecent gestures towards Cardiff supporters.
A minute's silence was held before the game at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium (Image: Getty)“Such behaviour has no place in our game and will not be tolerated at St Mary’s.
“The club will be taking an extremely firm stance against anyone involved and intends to ban those supporters identified.”
Hampshire Constabulary Football Unit’s dedicated Twitter account for Southampton games initially said fans had been arrested over the gestures.
It has since clarified that no arrests were made, however they are continuing to investigate the incident.
We mistakenly said yesterday that someone was arrested at the Saints v Cardiff game for making appalling gestures to the Cardiff fans. To clarify NO ONE was arrested for this. 3 people were ejected by the club and we're working with them to investigate the incident #saintsfc
— SaintsfcCop (@SaintsfcCop) February 10, 2019
In a tweet this morning, they said: “We mistakenly said yesterday that someone was arrested at the Saints v Cardiff game for making appalling gestures to the Cardiff fans. To clarify NO ONE was arrested for this. 3 people were ejected by the club and we’re working with them to investigate the incident.”
David Ibbotson, who was flying the plane when it crashed near Guernsey on January 21, is still missing.
