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Disturbing scenes played out at Wembley Stadium during the World Cup qualifier between England and Hungary.
A section of the Hungarian football fans, who have made their voices heard in the past about racism, were seen holding up an anti-kneeling banner while the Three Lions players took a knee before kick-off.
Hungary fans fly an anti-kneeling, anti-BLM banner at the game against England at Wembley. pic.twitter.com/4vqmTNrrB4
- Hullensian (@WestHullensian) October 12, 2021
The hostile portion of the away crowd also booed relentlessly while Harry Kane and Co knelt ahead of the match.
Photographs of the banner spread like wildfire on social media, sparking outrage among the wider football community with some people calling for strict action to be taken.
But Hungarian fans were far from done with making their presence felt inside Wembley.
WC Qualification. 12.10.2021
England - Hungary.
Hungarian and Polish fans vs. police. pic.twitter.com/6kyOoc4x5A
- HooligansTV (@HooligansTV_eu) October 12, 2021
The supporters also clashed with police on multiple occasions, resulting in one person getting arrested for allegedly racially abusing a steward.
At one point during the disappointing 1-1 draw, around a dozen fans charged at stewards before police eventually arrived to try and subdue the violent crowd.
Local authorities used batons to try and restore order before a riot squad intervened.
"Shortly after the start of tonight's match at Wembley, officers entered the stand to arrest a spectator for a racially aggravated public order offence following comments made towards a steward," the Metropolitan Police tweeted.
"As the officers made the arrest, minor disorder broke out involving other spectators. Order was quickly restored and there have been no further incidents at this stage."
The FA have also confirmed that they have now launched an official investigation in the matter and will be reporting it to FIFA and UEFA too.
Police are in the section containing the Hungary fans. pic.twitter.com/hQFdGezg3O
- James Olley (@JamesOlley) October 12, 2021
England fans to Hungary after the scenes at the game in Budapest: 'You know what you are, you know what you are, you racist b*stards, you know what you are.' #ENGHUN #ThreeLions
- Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) October 12, 2021
Fifa's failure to punish Hungary properly has simply made (some of) their fans feel even more emboldened to behave as aggressively as this. (And, yes, England/FA deserve to be punished severely for Euro 2020 final shambles/shame outside ground).
- Henry Winter (@henrywinter) October 12, 2021
Hungary fans scuffling with stewards and police at Wembley pic.twitter.com/7dDei9IGWX
- Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) October 12, 2021
Footage from i's @samcunningham inside Wembley shows some of the clashes between Hungary fans and the police ' #ENGHUN pic.twitter.com/bec5V3dTe3
- i sport (@iPaperSport) October 12, 2021
So far Hungary supporters have held up a banner against taking a knee, booed the England players doing so and there is now fighting going on in their section #ENGHUN pic.twitter.com/BbhY9KkvEX
- Peter Smith (@psmithXI) October 12, 2021
Sadly, this isn't the first time that Hungarian fans have had run-ins with the English national team.
Just a few months ago, Raheem Sterling and his teammates were subject to racist monkey chants which rang out around the Puskas Arena throughout the entire duration of Three Lions' 4-0 win in Budapest.
Players also had missiles and cups thrown in their direction whenever they came remotely close to the sideline.
In one incident, when Sterling wheeled away in celebration after scoring, there were so many cups on the field that England midfielder Declan Rice decided to pick one up and drink from it.
UEFA punished Hungary by ordering the national team to play a bunch of future games behind closed doors in an empty stadium.
But, as you can see by the behaviour at Wembley, unfortunately no lessons have been learned and racism and discrimination is still rife.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter
Topics: Football News, Racism, Football, England, Australia