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West Brom fans accused of 'offending' Hertha Berlin supporters
A pre-season friendly between West Brom and Hertha Berlin was marred by what the Germans considered offensive chants from the Baggies faithful.
As Albion came from behind to beat their Bundesliga opponents on the pitch, a small group of West Brom fans were directing a chant referencing World War Two towards the travelling fans from the continent.
Prominent Hertha fan Willi Kirsei posted on Twitter, “a small group is offending our Hertha Fans. Singing the bombersong and looking for some beef. This was reported to your stewards as hate crime and they are not interested at all.”
As some West Brom supporters responded to Kirsei after the game had finished, Chris Lepkowski could not hold back on condemning the chanting as he snapped back at one fan in particular.
“There can be no excuse,” he said via his own personal Twitter account. “These are West Brom fans 100 per cent and we need to stop absolving them of blame. They harm all of us. Collective responsibility.” Lepkowski later deleted this response.
Not good enough
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This goes to the supporters who sang those chants, those who heard it and said nothing and especially the stewards who stood by and took no action… do better.
Friendlies against big sides such as Hertha Berlin are a big opportunity to generate income for the football club as well as develop relationships that could go on to benefit West Brom further down the line and particularly in the transfer market.
But the actions of a very small minority of the Hawthorns crowd on Saturday (23 July) have let down the entire football club and Hertha will not forget that this happened for a very long time.
And nor should they because it has nothing to do with the football going on in front of the supporters’ eyes so it should not be a topic inside the stadium whatsoever.
Let’s hope that West Brom can identify and punish these immature people and The Hawthorns can return to being a harmonious place to watch high-quality football once more.
In other West Brom news, this Manchester United teenager has piqued the interest of Steve Bruce but there is a lot of competition over a loan signing.
Be sure to follow West Brom News on Facebook for 24/7 updates from The Hawthorns during the 2022 summer transfer window