The Council Leader has instructed the Chief Executive to convene a meeting on Monday to review the incident involving visiting football fans and cricketers in Roseburn Park near Murrayfield Stadium this weekend.
Cllr Cammy Day said that the Chief Executive, Paul Lawrence, will invite representatives from Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and other organisations involved in Saturday’s football match at Murrayfield to attend. He is adamant that a meeting will discuss what happened, what went wrong and whether the council will “support any of these types of events going forward”.
Cllr Day said: “The way that a minority of fans have behaved is an absolute disgrace. The language which has allegedly been used is both homophobic and racist. This is unacceptable in Edinburgh, and we will not tolerate it. And if that means bringing an end to these games then that is what we will be doing. We will work with the police and the SRU, and after investigation, then we may expect public apologies from the football teams and the SRU.
“But if that is how these fans behave then we don’t want them.”
On Saturday a cricket match being played in Roseburn Park between Murrayfield DAFS and Stewart’s Melville was abandoned as football fans going to the Rangers FC v Manchester United match at Scottish Gas Murrayfield allegedly verbally abused the cricketers.
There are also allegations of physical assault against the cricketers, and we are advised that Police Scotland is now investigating all of these claims as a matter of urgency today.
Murrayfield DAFS Cricket Club have also advised that damage was caused to the pitch after they had to abandon a match there on Saturday.
The damage was caused to the astro turf surface as is seen in the photo below.
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