/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/3050433/149308156.0.jpg)
Apparently, abusing Marvin Sordell is the new hip thing to do. In the latest of a rather long saga of different types of abuse, as we tweeted last night, fans at Millwall's 2-1 win over Derby at the New Den unfurled an abusive banner directed at Sordell. The banner was quickly removed by ground staff, and the six fans involved have since been arrested. The banner was in reference to the banning of a 13 year old Millwall fan, who has been banned by the club over the abuse he shouted at Marvin during Bolton's match at the New Den. While Millwall has refused to comment on the arrests, a Metropolitan police statement says that,
Six males were arrested during the game at Millwall in relation to a banner being unfurled. They remain in custody at this time.
The amount of trouble Marvin Sordell has received this season is truly horrifying, in what has already been a difficult time for him without racial abuse. A brief timeline is,
- October 7th: Sordell reports being racially abused, along with several other Bolton players, during Bolton's 2-1 loss to Millwall at the New Den
- October 17th: While on international duty for the England U21s, Sordell is once again the subject of racial abuse, this time from Serbian fans
- November 7th: A month after the incident, and not before complaining about the way the situation was handled in the press, Millwall announce that they have banned a 13 year old boy for the foreseeable future, and put him into the Millwall for All education program
- November 8th: Sordell receives yet more abuse on Twitter
- November 10th: Sordell is the subject of an abusive banner at the New Den, six men are arrested following the incident.
The fact that one player receives this much grief in such a short amount of time in 2012 is so unacceptable. Hopefully the men responsible for the latest iteration will be properly dealt with and this is the end of this unpleasant saga.