Millwall receive official Westminster apology after club badge used in KKK image

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Westminster City Council have apologised to Millwall after their club badge was used in an anti-racism document sent to children to "illustrate the historic problem of racism within football."

Images of the booklet went viral on social media, which included a member of the Ku Klux Klan wearing a white hood and white robes that featured the Millwall badge.

The figure is shown next to a photograph of Paul Canoville, the first black player to play for Chelsea, with a speech bubble coming from the player: "Racism never went away. I was badly abused in a reserve match at Millwall, but then I could show the racists my 1984 2nd Division Champions medal!"

"Our involvement in the associated programme was limited solely to Paul's personal appearance; meeting students and sharing his lived experience," the Paul Canoville Foundation chief executive officer Raphael Frascogna said in a statement.

"At no stage were we shown, consulted on, or asked to approve the content of the booklet, including any illustrations within it."

After a complaint from the Championship club, Westminster issued an apology which read:

"We accept the use of this image was an insensitive way to illustrate the historic problem of racism within football.

"We have apologised to Millwall Football Club for the improper use of their logo and for any offence caused. The booklet has been removed from circulation, and we are reviewing processes to ensure this doesn't happen again."

However, Millwall are still considering legal action against the council for the "insensitive" use of their official club logo.

"The club has received a full apology from Westminster Council following their serious misuse of a registered club badge, which was placed on an illustration of a white supremacist hate group member in a children's education booklet distributed in schools, creating a false and damaging image of the club," a club statement said.

"The council have confirmed no more copies of the image with the club's logo will be made or distributed by them and all remaining material in their possession will be destroyed.

"The club is still considering its legal position on the matter and are unable to comment further."

The scandal comes in a key moment in the season for Millwall as they are chasing automatic promotion to the Premier League.

With two games remaining, they are level on points with Ipswich on 79, but their promotion rivals hold a game in hand.

The Paul Canoville foundation did state that the graphic did depict an actual incident that took place in the 1980s, "in which he was subjected to serious racial abuse by a number of individuals wearing Ku Klux Klan-style white hoods".

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