Palace fan who abused Spurs ace Son gets three-year football ban

Tottenham say they will continue to seek the strongest possible action against those found guilty of discrimination after a Crystal Palace fan was handed a three-year football banning order for racially abusing Son Heung-min.

Robert Garland, 44, from Croydon, South London, was initially sentenced to 60 hours of unpaid work and fined £1,384 in August after pleading guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence when he shouted and gestured towards the South Korean in a Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May.

But Spurs and the Metropolitan Police felt that punishment was too lenient and appealed to the UK Football Policing Unit, which resulted in the banning order being issued.

Spurs said in a statement: "We thank the police for their cooperation on the matter. We should like to reiterate that the club does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will always seek for the strongest possible action to be taken against those found responsible."

Kevin Christie from the Crown Prosecution Service added: "This case shows that hate crime at football will not be tolerated.

"Garland's actions were rightly condemned on social media and we call on all fans to carry on calling out any form of discriminatory behaviour against players or fans to the police or stewards so we can take cases like this to court."