A week of shame: Football’s pitch invasion battle

Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen became the latest victim of pitch-invasion violence when he was attacked during Manchester City’s title celebrations at the Etihad Stadium.

Sunday’s events came after ugly scenes earlier in the week, with incidents at Goodison Park and Vale Park after fans spilled onto the pitch, while a supporter was jailed for assaulting Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp at Nottingham Forest.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the incidents to have occurred in recent days.

“It’s assault. We’ve seen one of our players attacked. He’s shuck up, bleeding, angry. It’ll be dealt with.”Hecky on Billy Sharp. pic.twitter.com/bgbLoFjr3s

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) May 17, 2022

Nottingham Forest season-ticket holder Robert Biggs was jailed for 24 weeks on Thursday after he deliberately charged at Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp and headbutted him following a pitch invasion at the end of the Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final second leg. It knocked the Blades forward to the ground while team-mate Oli McBurnie was also involved in a situation where he tangled with a fan. The Football Association has opened an investigation.

A day later and Mansfield forward Jordan Bowery had a Northampton fan barge into him during the second leg of their League Two play-off tie. It occurred towards the end of the fixture, which the visiting Stags won 1-0. The EFL has already insisted it will consider “further measures” to tackle crowd misbehaviour over the summer.

Port Vale triumphed on penalties over Swindon to qualify for the League Two play-off final at Wembley later this month but their successful night was overshadowed by another horrible situation involving supporters and players. After Ellis Iandolo missed