A 44-year-old man has been charged with tragedy chanting after a person was videoed during Manchester United's match with Burnley on Saturday.
A supporter in the away section at Old Trafford was filmed appearing to mock the Munich air disaster during the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Eight Manchester United players tragically died in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, and tragedy chants have been aimed at the club on numerous occasions since.
A video of the incident was widely circulated on social media on Saturday night. A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: "We can confirm that we have charged Nathan Rawlinson (25/08/1979) of Bacup, Lancashire with Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and has since been bailed.
“This charge is after our specialist operational football investigation team made an arrest of a man in the away section of the Old Trafford crowd yesterday (Saturday 27 April 2024) towards the end of the Manchester United v Burnley fixture.
“As we have enforced recently, continued incidents of tragedy chanting by anyone will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.
“We understand the interest this case will have generated but it is imperative that the suspect has a fair trial so members of the public must refrain from engaging in conversations online, at least until proceedings have concluded. Previously circulated videos should be removed.”
Burnley released a statement of their own on Saturday evening condemning the alleged act. The statement after the game read: "We are aware of offensive footage currently circulating on social media from the away end of today’s fixture at Old Trafford.
"Tragedy related gesturing and chanting is completely unacceptable and Burnley Football Club take a zero-tolerance approach. We will continue to work with Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire Police and Manchester United to help identify and prosecute the individuals responsible."
Burnley's statement condemning tragedy chanting was backed up in an additional statement by the Premier League which read: "There is no place for football tragedy abuse in our game. We strongly condemn this behaviour and sanctions are in place to ensure anybody found guilty faces consequences.
"We continue to treat this as an unacceptable issue and fully support Burnley FC, Manchester United and the police in identifying and prosecuting those responsible."
United marked the 66th anniversary of the tragedy in February to remember the 23 lives that were lost when a plane taking the team home from a European Cup clash in Belgrade crashed on take-off after stopping to refuel in Bavaria.
While eight United players died in the accident, manager Matt Busby recovered from his injuries as a decade later, he led the club to become European champions for the first time.
