Following last July’s friendly match with Mansfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday, which resulted in the game ending in a mass brawl, former Sheffield United and Chelsea youngster Jacob Mellis has received a three match ban plus a £1,500 fine for his involvement.
On 25th July 2018 the Sun newspaper reported that an ugly 22 man brawl broke out. Mansfield Town had won the match 2-1 but an incident at 90 minutes involving Owls Fernando Forestieri and Krystian Pearce, with the latter alleged that he was racially absused by the Italian. The Sheffield club “vehemently refuted” such accusations.
The Football Association has seen fit tom also punish the Wednesday star with a three match ban and a bigger financial punishment of £25,000. In addition, the Championship club were fined £20,000 and the Stags £3,000 for their part in the brawl.
A recording from a supporter was uploaded to YouTube after the match;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6-tQRzQek
Vital View;
It is too easy for a Sheffield United supporter to point the finger at our City rivals. But on this occasion all I would like to add that in competitive fixtures heated words can be exchanged and the game spirals out of control. On some occasions the referee can do more to cool down and possibility of a brawl but on this occasion I don’t believe the official was given the opportunity.
Young fans were watching this game and it is those who we should think about when looking at the events which took place. Naturally I wasn’t present at the match but young eyes shouldn’t witness something like this on a football field – especially for a friendly match.