CHELSEA FINED FOR ‘VERY SERIOUSLY WATER BOTTLE THROWING INCIDENT AFTER ASTON VILLA LOSS
Chelsea have been fined £150,000 ($203,000) after a water bottle was thrown towards the Aston Villa technical area following December’s Premier League fixture.
Chelsea admitted to the charge but the individual responsible for throwing the bottle could not be identified.
The independent regulatory commission that imposed the fine described it as a “very serious incident” and noted it was fortunate the bottle did not strike anyone.
The Football Association had charged Chelsea with a breach of its regulations on January 9, alleging the club “failed to ensure its players and/or other relevant personnel positioned around the technical area after the final whistle did not behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or abusive way” and the independent commission subsequently imposed a fine.
In the written reasons published alongside the confirmation of the sanction on Friday, Stuart Atwell, the referee for December’s fixture, explained he was informed of an allegation that immediately after the full-time whistle, “an unidentified member of the Chelsea technical area had thrown a plastic drinks bottle in the direction of the Aston Villa technical area”.
Chelsea were provided with footage of the bottle being thrown but neither the club or the FA could identify the person responsible.
The commission described how the bottle travelled “at speed (indicating its weight)”, and that it passed “very close” to the head of an Aston Villa substitute. It added the incident could also easily have “provoked a reaction” from the Villa bench.
“It is a very poor example when a person involved at the highest level of professional football in England acts in such a disrespectful, irresponsible and dangerous way against his professional counterparts,” the written reasons read.
The commission said Chelsea’s previous disciplinary record and their admission of the charge were factored into the size of the sanction.
Aston Villa were 2-1 winners over Chelsea during the December 27 fixture, with Ollie Watkins scoring an 84th-minute winner. The match was Enzo Maresca’s penultimate in charge.
