West Ham players dove into the crowd to defend their families who were being attacked by Dutch side AZ Alkmaar’s Ultras, As substitute Pablo Fornals’ stoppage-time winner secured the Hammers’ spot in the Europa Conference League final, scores of Alkmaar fans surged down the ‘dead’ zone at the front of the stadium to assault the players’ celebrations.
The terrible sights, reminiscent of the hooligan era, knocked the lustre off West Ham’s first trip to a major final since 2006, and their first in Europe in 47 years. More than 100 Hammers fans, largely players’ family and friends seated in the first ten rows behind the away dugout, were exposed to unacceptably violent behaviour, and Alkmaar will very certainly face disciplinary action from UEFA.
Ugly scenes as West Ham players fight-off hooliganism to protect families
AZ Alkmaar hooligans attacked a group of travelling friends and family of the West Ham players and coaching staff seated behind the dugout after Pablo Fornals’ 94th-minute goal won the victory. Several West Ham players went to their aid, including sporting director Mark Noble, to protect them from the assailants, who were clothed in black and wore balaclavas.
The violence also affected Alkmaar fans. Security and stewards pulled back Lucas Paqueta, Aaron Cresswell, and Flynn Downes, who were all caught up in the pandemonium. Noble, West Ham’s director of football, tried in vain to stop Michail Antonio from leaping over advertising hoardings to save the fans and families.
West Ham players clashing with AZ stewards because their families were being harassed by AZ fans in the stands! ???????? pic.twitter.com/7nUFp0lLWX
— Football Fights (@footbalIfights) May 18, 2023
Coaches from the Irons, including Kevin Nolan, were spotted berating stewards for failing to interfere. While captain Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen were also seen attacking members of the audience, with the former seeming to hurl an object at them.
The tragedy ruined a historic occasion for West Ham, who reached a European final for the first time since 1976. David Moyes’ team qualified with a tense 1-0 win over AZ, with Pablo Fornals scoring the game’s only goal in additional time. Prior to it, the hosts had heaped on the pressure in an attempt to overcome a one-goal disadvantage from the first leg.
Nerves were frayed in the second half as the Premier League strugglers tried everything to keep what they had. With time running out, Fornals launched a brilliant counter-attack, firing into the bottom corner and igniting loud celebrations. The 900-strong away end only had to wait a few more seconds before the final whistle, but instead of ecstasy, there were worried looks at the opposite end of the stadium.
Absolutely incredible scenes at full time, as AZ Alkmaar “fans” stormed the hospitality section where players’ friends and family were, with even players become involved in the brawls pic.twitter.com/uSpCPC66Ll
— Andy Robinson (@AndyPlaytonic) May 18, 2023
As Michael Antonio and Flynn Downes leapt the hoardings, TV cameras cut away. Speaking of the incident in his post match press conference, West Ham manager David Moyes said:
“I can only tell you that players were involved because that was the family area. What I don’t want to do in any way is blight our night, it wasn’t West Ham supporters looking for trouble. Hopefully, they look into it.”
When asked if his family was near the area where the home supporters attacked, he replied:
“Yes, but you hope they will to get themselves away from it. I was on the pitch at the end and security wanted to take me inside but I wanted to make sure the players didn’t get too involved. We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle but a lot of the players were getting angry because they couldn’t see if their families were OK. We will have to wait and ask the officials what really happened.”