Luton Town boss urges fans to stop chanting Tommy Robinson's name at matches

Former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson recently left prison
PA
Lucia Binding16 August 2018

Luton Town FC’s chief executive has urged fans to stop chanting the name of far-right activist Tommy Robinson at matches.

A few supporters of the League One side chanted about the former British National Party (BNP) member at their last two away fixtures.

Gary Sweet branded the behaviour “hugely disappointing” after an away game at West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.

“Apart from the result, our experience was blemished, for the second away game running, by hearing the chanting the name of a political figurehead by a small number of Hatters supporters,” he said in a statement.

“This is hugely disappointing for us, as a board, because the individual in question wasn’t playing or involved in the squad or staff.”

Any sort of prejudice “can and should be left for another day,” he said.

He added that Luton and Luton Town Football Club “intertwined in a rich tapestry of continuous change and diversity” and that embracing diversity has always been “ideologically characteristic of ‘being Lutonian’.”

Robinson co-founded and served as spokesman and leader of the English Defence League (EDL). He was a member of the BNP from 2004 to 2005.

He was also joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party for a short time in 2012.

Robinson is currently awaiting a fresh hearing after being briefly jailed on a finding of contempt of court. He was later released following a successful appeal against the ruling.

During an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight, he said he was severely mistreated and put into solitary confinement when transferred to HMP Onley.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in