Hull City and Birmingham City have both been sanctioned by the FA after admitting to charges connected to a confrontation during their encounter at St Andrews. Hull were punished for their involvement in a touchline brawl that broke out during their 3-2 victory over Birmingham in October.
Hull won thanks to Jack Robinson’s own goal, a finish from Regan Slater, and a late effort from Joe Gelhardt in the 90th minute. But shortly before the interval, tempers exploded when Kyle Joseph fouled Patrick Roberts, who was then hauled down by Jay Stansfield. The challenge sparked a huge brawl between players from both teams, and tensions rose as members of both benches joined in.
As a result, both teams were charged, and the FA issued its decision today: Birmingham received a £115,000 punishment, while Hull received the minimal penalty of £25,000. According to the FA, both clubs failed to ensure that their players and technical staff responded appropriately around the 42nd minute.
the statement read:
“Both clubs admitted the charge, and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed fines of £115,000 and £25,000 on Birmingham City FC and Hull City FC respectively.”
Birmingham received a substantially harsher punishment because of their poor disciplinary record, which included five previous violations of FA Rule E20.
The FA report includes a portion from referee Ruebyn Ricardo, who wrote:
“In the 45th minute, a challenge by BC28 sparked a MASS CONFRONTATION between both technical areas, Birmingham City officials, and both sets of players. There have been reports of stewards being pushed by Hull City officials and vice versa. Following the incident, BC28 and HC21 were admonished, along with two staff members from each side.
The decision also mentioned Hull’s disciplinary record: while the first team had no recent offenses, the club had two youth-level E20 breaches in the previous year, each resulting in a £1,250 punishment — one against Coventry City in February (U23s) and the other against Swansea City in April (U18s).
Both teams may appeal, but this appears to be the end of a heated altercation that spilled over into the post-match interviews.
After the game, Hull manager Sergej Jakirović stated that he remained in his technical area and that Birmingham staff approached him. He claimed that he received a yellow card for signaling an erroneous booking following what he thought was a reckless foul on Kyle Joseph. Jakirović also said Birmingham workers urged him to “go to Croatia,” which he deemed rude. He went on to say that he elected not to shake hands afterward, but that he was capable of handling the situation.
Birmingham manager Chris Davies compared the incident to a standard football scuffle and expressed astonishment that Jakirović rejected a post-match handshake. Davies stated that this had never happened to him as a manager before, but he accepted the situation as is.
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