Sports

Tottenham Fan Arrested For Throwing Banana Skin At Aubameyang

The arrest was one of the seven made after the stewards identified the culprits using CCTV footage. Other six were arrested for setting off smoke bombs.

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Tottenham Fan Arrested For Throwing Banana Skin At Aubameyang
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A Tottenham Hotspur fan was arrested for throwing a banana skin on the Emirates pitch during the ill-tempered a Premier League North London derby match against hosts Arsenal on Sunday.

In a match which was marred by on-field feuds, the fan threw a banana peel, reportedly at Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang while the Gabonese was celebrating one of his two goals in the match.

Club legend Ian Wright, who spent seven years at Arsenal, scoring 185 goals in 288 appearances said the incident embarrassed Spurs but it has embarrassed the league.

"I've played against Spurs and I've taken a lot of abuse but never ever has it been racial," the former striker told BBC's Match of the Day 2.

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"Now Spurs have to deal with this because some idiot has done that. It's not only embarrassed Spurs but it has embarrassed the Premier League because it has gone around the world.

Tottenham released a statement, terming "Behaviour such as this is completely unacceptable and the supporter in question will be issued with a ban," he said.

Famous Arsenal fan, Piers Morgan called for the fan to be "banned for life".

For the uninitiated, throwing banana to black players is recognised as being symbolically powerful as a racist act, often comparing to crowds making 'monkey noises' targeting player(s) of a certain origin.

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In 2014, former Barcelona player Dani Alves countered the same treatment by eating the fruit as he prepared to take a corner against Villarreal in a La Liga match.

The incident sparked a worldwide social media campaign, forcing the Spanish Football Federation to impose a fine the club. The police then arrested the 26-year-old man.

Arsenal won the match 4-2 to leapfrog their neighbours to the fourth place in the league table after the end of round 14. Both the Londons club have 30 points each, but the Gunners – who are unbeaten in 19 matches in all competitions – have a +14 goal difference as against Spurs' +10.

The arrest was one of the seven made after the stewards identified the culprits using CCTV footage. Other six were arrested for setting off smoke bombs.

The Football Association (FA) are also set to investigate a mass confrontation between both sets of players, substitutes and staff after Eric Dier equalised Aubameyang’s opener from the spot. The incident happened after Dier celebrated his goal in front of Arsenal fans.

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