A football match between the Maccabi London Lions and Hitchin Town was abandoned on Saturday after a player from the away side allegedly made antisemitic remarks.
Lions players departed the pitch together in the 85th minute after a Hitchin player reportedly described the Lions players as “big nosed”.
The players walked off the field at Rowley Lane after the comments allegedly persisted throughout the game, and their complaints were ignored.
It was also claimed that a Hitchin player said that “big nosed” is no different to calling someone “fat” as an on-field taunt.
Surprised spectators said that the clubs’ relationship had typically been positive.
London Lions FC are the the largest Jewish community football club in the world, according to their website.
Hitchin were leading the game 2-0 at the time of the walk-off, with striker Taylor Rhiney scoring a goal in both halves.
Hitchin Town FC said in a statement: “An allegation that a Hitchin player made discriminatory remarks led to the London Lions’ players choosing to leave the pitch, giving the referee no choice but to abandon the game.
“We are now working with the relevant authorities to conduct a full investigation into the allegations. Until this is complete we are unable to make any statement on the incident.
“As a club we will not tolerate any forms of discrimination or abuse and we will await the findings of the investigation upon which we will then provide a further update”.
This is not the first time this season that a Hitchin fixture has allegedly been marred by what has been deemed abusive behaviour.
During their home match against AFC Dunstable in September, a Hitchin supporter was ejected from the grounds for “foul and abusive language”, which was of a racist nature, according to their match report.
Both Lions and Hitchin participate in the Southern League Division One Central, a regional league in the eighth tier of English football, also known as Step 4.
Hitchin are vying for promotion this season, sitting in second place in the league before the game while Lions were in 15th spot out of the league’s 22 teams.
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