West Ham 'disgusted' by video showing fans chanting anti-Semitic abuse and vows lifetime ban for them
Video report by ITV News Health and Social Affairs Correspondent Rebecca Barry
West Ham has said it was "disgusted" by a video showing a group of supporters chanting anti-Semitic abuse at rivals Tottenham, and vowed to implement a life-time ban on the fans.
In video footage, which surfaced online, the fans were filmed singing an abusive song on a Manchester tram, ahead of the club's Premier League match at Manchester United.
The song was targeted at rival football club Tottenham Hotspur and follows a recent string of racist incident involving football fans over the past few months.
Shortly after the footage appeared on social media, West Ham issued a strong statement and said they will take "immediate action".
The football club said: "We are disgusted by the contents of the video circulating on social media this evening.
"We are taking immediate action to try to identify the offenders, whose details we will be handing over to the police and will be banned for life from London Stadium and from travelling with the club.
"West Ham United is unequivocal in its stance - there is no place for this kind of behaviour at our club.
"We do not want people like this associated with West Ham United.
"They are not welcome at our club, they are not welcome in civilised society."
The incident comes after three Chelsea fans were turned away from the stadium on Thursday, when they were identified as being involved in a social media video allegedly showing them chanting "Salah is a bomber", aimed at Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah.
On the same night, Arsenal condemned racist abuse directed at Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly during their Europa League win at the Emirates Stadium, and also said they would issue its perpetrator a life ban.
The recent spate of incidents of racial abuse has prompted FIFA president Gianni Infantino to urge everyone in the game to adopt a zero tolerance approach - and give referees the power to abandon matches.
Infantino said in a statement: "In recent days, it has been very sad to see a number of racist incidents in football.
"This is really not acceptable.
"Racism has no place in football, just as it has no place in society either."
He added: "We introduced the so-called 'three-step procedure' at our tournaments: a mechanism that allows referees to go as far as to abandon a match in case of discriminatory incidents."
Last month England players were targeted with monkey chants during a Euro 2020 qualifier away to Montenegro.
Tottenham defender Danny Rose said he was looking forward to retiring from a game which has done too little to tackle the problem.
Meanwhile, England and Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has rejected the proposal of walking off the pitch, insisting doing so would simply "let the racists win".