cherryexile
Vital 1st Team Regular
The link on the match thread to a twitter post of the incident (post #236 ) doesn't catch the full incident, in particular the very start, so there is room for interpretation, but it doesn't look to me like they were 'celebrating' in the stand. You have to play it frame by frame to decipher what happens, but It looks to me like Edun, Sorenson and Bramall were on the edge of the pitch when an individual(s) in the corner of the stand behind the goal goaded Edun in some way and he stepped between the boards to face off to them. Sorenson then also leaves the pitch, steps in front of Edun and holds him to move him away from the confrontation and Bramall then steps in behind. At the same time a supporter from the side stand comes up from the blind side and shoves Bramall in the back. As Sorenson tries to move Edun back on to the pitch, the same supporter pushes Edun into Bramall, and Bramall directly, and at this point Melbourne runs in and pushes the supporter back away from the players. As the players then begin to return to the pitch Bramall squares up to the supporter and when he finally re-joins the pitch it is to signal to the Ref to report the supporter for whatever he reported him for.
So, (likely) verbal abuse from the Gillingham crowd behind the goal prompted the confrontation. Edun created the incident by stepping off the pitch. The Gillingham supporter escalated the incident by pushing players twice. Sorenson was trying to defuse it. Melbourne protected his team mates by pushing the supporter who accosted them. Bramall was both shoved and (allegedly) racially abused - probably by the fan that pushed Edun and him. At no point in that scenario is there any 'celebrating in the stand' by the Lincoln players.
The lack of hoardings didn't create the incident but if they had been there they would have prevented it.
One possibility (that you can't tell from the video) is that Edun actually stopped at the edge of the pitch and that his team mates' momentum coming up behind him could have pushed him through the gap. I have no idea whether that is correct but I suppose it is a hypothesis that needs to be discounted before Edun is condemned for intentionally stepping off the pitch.
So, (likely) verbal abuse from the Gillingham crowd behind the goal prompted the confrontation. Edun created the incident by stepping off the pitch. The Gillingham supporter escalated the incident by pushing players twice. Sorenson was trying to defuse it. Melbourne protected his team mates by pushing the supporter who accosted them. Bramall was both shoved and (allegedly) racially abused - probably by the fan that pushed Edun and him. At no point in that scenario is there any 'celebrating in the stand' by the Lincoln players.
The lack of hoardings didn't create the incident but if they had been there they would have prevented it.
One possibility (that you can't tell from the video) is that Edun actually stopped at the edge of the pitch and that his team mates' momentum coming up behind him could have pushed him through the gap. I have no idea whether that is correct but I suppose it is a hypothesis that needs to be discounted before Edun is condemned for intentionally stepping off the pitch.
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