West Ham says brawl won't mar soccer trip
30 fans of English club fight with 100-plus Columbus Crew supporters
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COLUMBUS, Ohio - A halftime brawl at a Columbus Crew match won’t mar the rest of British soccer club West Ham’s trip through North America.
Team chief executive Scott Duxbury said Monday that a fight between the two teams’ fans was isolated and shouldn’t overshadow the club’s trip to the United States. He said the team condemns fans’ actions.
“While we take such matters seriously and utterly condemn the actions of those involved, we must not let this mar what has been a positive trip so far and the excellent way we and our supporters have been treated in Columbus,” Duxbury said.
About 30 fans of the English Premier League club and more than 100 Columbus Crew supporters scuffled and some threw punches on Sunday. The state highway patrol arrested a single fan outside of the stadium for disorderly conduct. No injuries were reported.
West Ham United beat the Columbus Crew 3-1.
“The match was a fitting warm-up for the MLS All-Star Game, which we are proud to be involved in,” Duxbury said.
It was the second incident at Crew Stadium this year. In May, a video captured a racial slur shouted at a black New England Revolution player, prompting a league investigation.
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