Supporters to know how to report an incident if made to feel uncomfortable at a game
- Reminder on how to report an incident from match days
- How to report an incident that happened on social media
- Sanction guidelines
Ahead of the start of our 2023/24 Sky Bet Championship, we want to remind supporters about how to report incidents on and away from match days.
Huddersfield Town is proud of its reputation of being an inclusive, family friendly, welcoming Club and we work hard under our ‘Terriers Together’ banner to ensure all our stakeholders feel valued and respected.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of discriminatory behaviour, including (but not limited to) racial, homophobic/transphobic, sexist, ageist or other discriminatory language or behaviour, and we are committed to making our Stadium incident-free.
In addition to the negative impact that discrimination and harassment has on victims, we are aware that clubs have been issued with large fines for instances of discrimination in recent times and nobody wants this to be the case for Town.
During the 2022/23 season, we dealt with various incidents which resulted in a range of sanctions from written warnings up to Football Banning Orders.
How to report a match day incident:
Everyone attending a match at the John Smith’s Stadium has the right to feel safe, valued, and included and we encourage supporters to play their part in this by reporting any incidents they are victim of, or are witness to.
An individual who believes they have been the victim of discrimination, harassment, or abuse on a match day should notify the nearest steward, or alternatively contact the Club’s ‘Tackle and Text’ reporting line on 0774 1528 949 giving full details of the incident and which stand, row, and seat it took place. The number is contactable up until half an hour after the final whistle.
The text will go through to the match day safety team who will investigate either by steward intervention to the area, by direct observation, or remote observation through security cameras. If a fan wishes to speak to a member of the safety team in confidence, away from the area in which the incident has taken place, this can also be arranged through the Tackle and Text number. Anyone who reports an incident via this number will receive a message in response.
Alternatively, or if after the match day, individuals can contact supporterservices@htafc.com to report an incident, which the Club will then investigate.
How to report a social media incident:
We encourage our supporters to use social media in matters relating directly to the Club in a responsible, inclusive, and respectful way, creating an environment of healthy debate and discussion. Huddersfield Town will not accept personal abuse directed at its players, staff, or supporters on social media, in exactly the same way that such language or behaviour are unacceptable inside the John Smith’s Stadium on a match day.
Our advice to fans who receive hurtful, abusive, or discriminatory comments is not to engage directly with those accounts/perpetrators but instead to first report the post or comment to the relevant social media platform and then to block the user from any further contact.
We also encourage supporters to report any incidents witnessed on social media platforms that directly affect Huddersfield Town, staff, players, or supporters via email to supporterservices@htafc.com, sharing details of the incident and screenshots of any offensive social media posts where possible.
External reporting lines:
In addition to the Club’s internal reporting procedures, fans can contact external bodies such as Kick It Out, English football’s equality and inclusion organisation, who provide a reporting mechanism via an online form which you can access HERE. Kick It Out also have a Reporting App which can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play.
The Her Game Too campaign can be contacted to report any instances of sexism HERE.
We can only deal with incidents we know about, so please use any of the reporting lines listed above to ensure the incidents don’t happen to anyone else.
To see the full Sanction Guidelines, please CLICK HERE.
