We were notified by a member of the public about the views of co-editors of the Brentford fanzine football magazine, called a ‘Thorne in the Side’. The fanzine magazine was run by Nick and Richard Hester.
Having been notified about their tweets on their personal accounts, we got in touch with Brentford Football Club and we were notified of the following response by e-mail in the last week.
The club notified us that they had taken action and called in the Hesters. Correspondingly, in addition to the Tell MAMA complaint, Kick it Out had also made a complaint. A meeting was held between the Club and the Hesters, and as a result, the Club “withdrew both official recognition of the fanzine from the Brentford FC website and ceased so-operation in facilitating player and staff interviews.”
Subsequent meetings led to the Hesters notifying the club that they no longer intended to run the fanzine site, a ‘Thorne in the Side’. The Club also stated the following to Tell MAMA:
“That decision notwithstanding, the Club will be implementing a new code of practice governing fan engagement which includes a mandatory diversity education session with Kick It Out before any co-operation in providing players or staff for interview by the relevant fanzines or web-sites.”
This shows that join action does work and a huge thanks to the members of the public for notifying us of the comments by the Hesters.