Footballer sacked over fan 'punch'

Manchester United's Eric Cantona was banned for kicking an opposition fan
25 January 2014

A non-league footballer has been sacked by his club after appearing to throw a punch at an opposition fan - 19 years to the day since Eric Cantona's infamous assault on a supporter.

Goole FC player Karl Colley stormed into the supporters' section after he was sent off in their home match with Coalville at Victoria Pleasure Grounds in East Yorkshire.

Video footage of the incident showed the 30-year-old defender make three attempts to confront the dissenting fan, appearing to throw a punch at him on the second occasion.

The Football Association has said it will look into the incident on Monday, while Goole have told Colley he will not play for them again.

Goole secretary Andrew Morris told the Press Association: "Straight after the game he was sacked.

"This is one individual. I spoke to Coalville after the game and they said also it was one individual.

"This is a shame because we're just a group of volunteers. It's disgusting and embarrassing."

A statement on Goole's website said: "After the deplorable incident at today's home game against Coalville Town, we can confirm that the player responsible has been released by the club.

"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."

A Twitter account attributed to Colley, under the handle Kcolley33, later said: "Thanks for people's comments saying do I fancy a round with them lol clearly these people don't know me or anything about me but that's fine."

Coalville won the Evo-Stik South league match 3-0.

The two sides are scheduled to face each other again at Coalville next weekend.

Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona infamously launched a kung-fu style kick at Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons after being dismissed in a Premiership match at Selhurst Park in January 1995.

The French striker was later banned for nine months from football worldwide and ordered to do 120 hours community service .

Colley is listed on Goole's website as having an extensive list of former clubs, with Newcastle United named as his first.

Records show he made a number of friendly appearances for the Magpies.

After the confrontation, Colley was led away by the club's kitman Graeme Smith and their assistant manager Curtis Woodhouse, a professional boxer and former Birmingham midfielder.

Woodhouse later tweeted: "Thought id seen it all, I now have #football."

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