Corby hit out at treatment of their fans at Harborough - but vow to work with police after fighting flared up

Corby Town has hit out at the way their supporters were treated after fighting broke out following their 1-0 defeat at Harborough Town at the weekend.

The Steelmen said it will ban any people found to have been involved in trouble which flared up the Northern Premier League Midlands derby clash at the Harborough Town Community Stadium.

But they claimed it was only their fans, including children, who were searched on their way into the ground.

Ahead of the game, which attracted a bumper crowd of 934, it was confirmed that the supporters would be segregated while Leicestershire Police brought extra officers to the match.

While there were few incidents inside the ground, trouble erupted in the car park area after the game with Leicestershire Police confirming one man in his 20s was injured and that an investigation into what happened was now under way.

In their own statement, Harborough condemned the scenes and said any supporters identified to be involved would be banned, adding: "This type of behaviour will not be tolerated and goes against all of the values of Harborough Town FC, and the club will work closely with the police to identify any supporters involved in these incidents."

And in their statement released yesterday (Sunday), Corby said: “Corby Town are aware of both the Leicestershire Police and Harborough Town statements.

“As this is an ongoing investigation, we will not be commenting on the events at the end of the match and will provide assistance to both the police and yesterday’s (Saturday) hosts.

“Corby Town do have a zero tolerance policy on anti social behaviour both in and around the ground, be it a home or away game.

“We await the full report but any persons involved will be banned from Steel Park.

“The club, though, are disappointed with the outside company that was hired by Harborough Town to conduct searches pre game.

“We have been made aware by numerous supporters that they were thoroughly searched, including children as young of nine, while home supporters were brought to the front of the queue without being searched and given priority entrance.

“This caused many of our supporters to miss kick-off, with some fans still entering the ground 40 minutes into the game.

“We fully supported the searches taking place, but did not think it would just be our own supporters who would be subject to this.

“We sympathise with those fans and will work with Harborough to make sure this does not happen again.”

In their appeal for information about the scenes after the game, Leicestershire Police said: “An investigation is now underway and officers will be carrying out enquiries to establish the full circumstances.

“Officers would like to speak to anyone with information or video footage that could help with the investigation.

“Please contact PC 1524 Steve Winn from the local neighbourhood team by calling 101, quoting incident number 215 of 28 January.”