• Captain Karl Colley charged into stand to reach heckler
• Incident exactly 19 years after Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick
Non-league Goole have sacked captain Karl Colley after he was involved in an altercation with an opposition fan – 19 years to the day since Eric Cantona’s infamous assault on a supporter.
Colley, 30, was sent off in their Evo-Stik South game with Coalville at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. As he left the field, video footage showed him make three attempts to confront a dissenting fan in the stand, appearing to throw a punch at him on the second occasion.
The FA said it would look into the incident, while Goole’s response has already been made with Colley told he will not play for them again.
“Straight after the game he was sacked,” said the Goole secretary, Andrew Morris, after a game that Coalville won 3-0. “This is a shame because we’re just a group of volunteers. It’s disgusting and embarrassing.”
A statement on Goole’s website backed up what Morris said, adding: “After the deplorable incident at today’s game we can confirm that the player responsible has been released.
“We are a family club and incidents of this nature have no place in football and will not be tolerated at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. The club acted quickly and decisively and released the player with immediate effect and as such the player in question will never play for our football club again.
“We apologise to each and every supporter at the game today and whilst as a club, we can’t legislate for incidents of this nature, we will not tolerate them from anyone.”
The two sides are scheduled to face each other again at Coalville next weekend.
Coalville, who are chasing promotion to the Evo-Stik Premier, which would put them two rungs below the Conference, said on Saturday night that they were not holding Goole responsible. “It’s nothing to do with Goole, I heard the two chairmen talking afterwards,” secretary Robert Brooks said. “There is no issue with the club.”
Goole’s assistant manager, the professional boxer and former Birmingham midfielder Curtis Woodhouse, tweeted: “Thought id seen it all, I now have.”
- Eric Cantona
theguardian.com