Football

‘Kuch toh sharam karo Roma walo’ – Fans shocked as referee Anthony Taylor and family gets harassed by Roma fans at Budapest Airport

Anthony Taylor officiated in the final of the UEFA Europa League that Roma lost to Sevilla on penalties

Jun 2, 2023 5:37 pm

Following Roma’s defeat by Sevilla in the Europa League final, several Roma supporters attacked English referee Anthony Taylor and his family at Budapest Airport on Thursday. Social media videos depict Taylor and his family being led into a secure area by airport security after fans harassed the referee following a heated final on Wednesday night.

The videos posted to Twitter show objects being thrown at Taylor and his group, including a chair and a bottle. According to a statement from Budapest Airport, a guy who had been charged with affray following the event had legal action taken against him.

Anthony Taylor was escorted to a lounge and had to board his flight accompanied by police officers

It read: “Fans of the losing Roma team recognised the referee in the food court of the airport, where he was waiting for his flight to depart. Thanks to the airport operator’s close cooperation with the police and the increased police presence at the airport during the arrival and departure of the fans, the authorities intervened immediately, and the referee was escorted to a lounge and boarded his flight safely, accompanied by police officers.

“The Italian citizen involved in the incident was apprehended by the police and criminal proceedings have been initiated on charges of affray. There were no further disturbances at the airport following the police response to this isolated incident. Budapest Airport and the police wish to make it clear that there is zero tolerance towards violence of any kind towards passengers or staff working at the airport.”

Roma doubled down on their criticism of Taylor, as club general manager Tiago Pinto stated to the Italian media on Thursday: “We at AS Roma don’t want to raise doubts about Sevilla’s merits. We believe that with our opponents we put on a great final and honoured the stage offered to us by UEFA in the best way. We don’t usually comment about these types of situations but we’ve analysed both the most glaring incidents and those seemingly less evident and it is clear that in disciplinary terms the refereeing of the match was not balanced.”

Here’s how fans reacted on Twitter:

This is embarrassing 🙈 .

— Robinson 🦁 king (@RobinsonGarciaB) June 2, 2023

That’s not fair.

— Joe Carter (@jooecarter) June 2, 2023

Same vibe 😂 pic.twitter.com/Y2Zegao7uN

— Suliman Al_sharrad ⚖ (@SAS_Kingdom) June 1, 2023

I am Italian, to be precise the creator of Stelfie is Italian, and I am embarassed and disgusted to see such a behaviour by this "football supporters".

— Stelfie the Time Traveller (@StelfieTT) June 2, 2023

I dislike Anthony Taylor as much as the next guy, but his family doesn't deserve that.

— seijin, PhD (@david_saint_) June 1, 2023

they've won 2 trophies yes? agree it's aggressive. but it's also a big deal to a lifelong fan. roma was robbed blind in that final. utter disgrace really.

— daniel (@dcsmoketown) June 1, 2023