A Football Association Cup first round match between Newport County and Walsall on Saturday was shockingly halted for five minutes during the second half. Referee Robert Massey-Ellis stopped play at Newport County’s Rodney Parade ground after alleged homophobic chants were reported from the crowd, sparking a potential double investigation by the Football Association and South Wales Police.
Mid-Game Halt: The Referee’s Stance
When play stopped, Massey-Ellis didn’t mess around. He went straight to the heart of it, speaking directly with both teams’ managers and captains. The official even appeared to gesture towards the home crowd, specifically the section close to the dugouts, where the alleged chants originated. Newport manager Hayden Mullins, while saying he didn’t personally hear any discriminatory language, fully backed the referee’s decisive action. Mullins stated the referee “has gone down the right channels, which is good. No-one wants that. He chose to stop play and wanted to deal with it pretty thoroughly. He wanted to make sure he was on top of that and had the right things in place, which is key.” It sounds like the ref was on top of it, making sure it was handled by the book.
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Mullins was clear after the game, even if he didn’t hear it himself. “I think it was homophobic stuff that was heard in the crowd, which is not on. We don’t condone it,” he said, adding that such behavior “had no place” in football. He confirmed the alleged chants were reported to the stewards, and then to either the linesman or fourth official, which then got relayed to the main ref. This isn’t just a slap on the wrist kind of situation either. The club could still face a serious FA charge because homophobic and discriminatory chants are a clear breach of FA rules. Worse, they’re also classified as a hate crime. With both the FA and South Wales Police potentially stepping in to investigate, the stakes for Newport County are incredibly high right now.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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