Chelsea hit with huge fine after Aston Villa bottle throwing incident
Chelsea have been hit with a £150,000 fine after a plastic bottle was thrown toward Villa’s bench following last month’s Premier League match.
The bottle was launched from the home technical area at Stamford Bridge immediately after the final whistle, showering Villa players and staff with water as they began celebrating a 2-1 win.
Referee Stuart Attwell included the incident in his match report and Chelsea, who launched their own investigation, were charged by the FA for “failing to ensure its players and/or other relevant personnel around the technical area did not behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or abusive way”.
Chelsea admitted the charge and were fined £150,000 by an independent regulatory commission.
Despite reviewing video evidence, neither the FA or the club were able to determine the identity of the person responsible for throwing the bottle.
In its written reasons explaining the punishment, the commission described the bottle throwing as a “very serious incident” with the missile almost striking a Villa substitute before landing in the technical area.
It said: “The video footage shows the bottle coming out of the CFC dugout and travelling at speed (indicating its weight) into the AVFC technical area.
“The bottle passes very close to the head of an AVFC substitute and lands in the AVFC technical area.
“The act was dangerous and could have easily provoked a reaction from the AVFC staff – it was only luck that it did not strike someone.
“The Commission noted that had a spectator thrown a bottle at or into a technical area it would be considered as being a serious act of violence, not to be tolerated at a football match.
“It is a very poor example when a person involved at the highest level of professional football in England acts in such a disrespectful, irresponsible and dangerous way against his professional counterparts.”
Villa’s victory followed a second half fightback which saw Ollie Watkins come off the bench and score twice, after Joao Pedro had put Chelsea into a first half lead.
The match was the penultimate in charge for Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca before his exit from the London club on New Year’s Day. Maresca watched the game from the stands, while serving a touchline ban.
