LONDON — Anti-racism group Kick It Out has called on managers to "set the tone" after Millwall manager Alex Neil criticized the decision to halt play following alleged racist abuse toward Swansea City substitute Ji-sung Eom, as Millwall fell 1-0 to Swansea City on Tuesday at The Den after a seven-minute second-half stoppage and a 90th-minute winner.
Referee Edward Duckworth paused the Championship match midway through the second half after reports of discriminatory chants directed at Eom and held lengthy discussions with both coaching staffs while waiting to speak to Millwall's safety officer. An announcement over the speakers confirmed alleged racist chants and said police were using CCTV to identify offenders. Neil told BBC Radio London: "It needs to get dealt with. [But] stopping the game doesn't deal with anything. All it does is kill the momentum." He added, "I understand, obviously, there's been an incident. That's not something I'm going to get involved in - that'll be for the authorities to deal with. But the fact that it stops the game, I just don't see the point," and said, "If we score, I probably don't feel this way, let's be honest."
Kick It Out, which has campaigned for more than 30 years to eradicate racism from soccer, said it was disappointed by reports of abuse toward Eom and defended the protocol. "Player welfare should always take precedence over the momentum or flow of a match, and it's essential that managers and all leaders recognise this and set the tone with their language so that everyone can stand up to discrimination," the organization said. The group added that both clubs condemned the incident and that Millwall and match officials followed the right protocols to protect players and capture details for accountability. Millwall said it is "aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second half" and operates a zero-tolerance policy, warning any individual found responsible will face the strongest possible action. The Metropolitan Police is investigating the allegation.
Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos praised the handling of the incident. "The referee followed the protocol for these sort of situations, they did the right thing," he said. "Millwall did the right thing by announcing there is no place for this sort of thing. I'm happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened." Millwall conceded the decisive goal after play resumed and remains under scrutiny as authorities review the CCTV evidence from The Den.