Kilbane has made a formal complaint to the FA over the song sung during the Tottenham v West Ham game at the weekend.
Kevin Kilbane has reported West Ham to the FA over a chant sung by their fans mocking those with a learning disability during the weekend game against Tottenham.
Kilbane is making the complaint over a song aimed at Spurs striker Harry Kane. Kilbane was not at the game but a friend of his was and he told the player-turned-pundit that the chant in question was ‘Harry Kane talks like a mong and plays like one too’.
Kilbane, whose 10-year-old daughter Elsie has Down’s Syndrome, believes that songs like that are simply not acceptable.
“I am sure they understand they are causing offence,” Kilbane is quoted as saying in the Guardian. “You cannot sweep it under the carpet and label it as ignorance. It is visible and clear and, like racist or homophobic chanting, it is intended to cause offence. I want to be able to take my kids to football matches and when Elsie gets older she will understand about her condition and I would not want her to hear that kind of chanting. If her sister Isla heard it, she would be devastated too, as my friend’s sons were.
“I spoke to him and he was extremely upset and I felt I had to report it. No family should have to put up with it at football matches.
“It is also extremely offensive towards Harry Kane, who is only a young lad, starting out in the game and who does not deserve that kind of disgusting abuse just because he is a footballer.
“This is a wider society problem, not just a problem with football, and idiots are using football as a tool to show their ignorance and discrimination.
“I have spoken to the FA and they have assured me they will investigate it thoroughly. In all my time playing and watching football I have never heard this before. Hopefully we can do something to make sure it isn’t again and this awful chant does not spread.”
