Reading vs Port Vale match abandoned after pitch invasion by fans protesting against Dai Yongge’s ownership
Reading’s League One match against Port Vale was abandoned after around 1,000 home fans protesting against the club’s owner invaded the pitch.
The start of the game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium had already been held up for three minutes when tennis balls were thrown onto the playing surface.
Referee Ross Joyce then took the players into the dressing rooms after 16 minutes as home fans took to the field of play, with some letting off blue flares.
Many Reading supporters want owner Dai Yongge to sell the club, which is currently fourth from the bottom in the third tier, following sanctions imposed by the EFL.
Dai is blamed by many supporters for the club’s problems, including wages not being paid and a winding-up order being served in October over unpaid taxes.
Dai took charge in 2017 but has come under criticism after the club was hit with a number of penalties for financial mismanagement, including a four-point deduction this season for a late payment of the monthly wage bill.
This season, they have received four points in deductions – a punishment that has seen them struggle in the League One relegation zone.
Sell Before we Dai, a fan-led protest group, described the situation today as a “dark day for Reading Football Club”.
“This first fan-led match abandonment in our long history should not be celebrated, but the spontaneous, unfiltered passion, as well as the will and determination of our fans, should be.
“Today has proven beyond any doubt that Reading fans will not be ignored and will fight to the bitter end for our club.”
Reading fans want Dai Yongge to sell the club
Fans invade the pitch
There were a string of announcements, including warnings that the match would be abandoned, boos from some home fans who remained in the stands and chants from the travelling Port Vale supporters of: “We want our money back.”
But a hardcore group of around 40 Reading fans stood in the centre circle, refusing to return to the stands, and the match was eventually called off at 4.25pm.
A statement posted on Reading’s X account read: “We are fully aware of and understand our supporters’ frustrations, but we must reiterate to our supporters that entering or throwing items on to the pitch can put the fixture at risk of abandonment and can result in personal consequences including banning orders.
“Thank you for your support today.”
Reading manager Ruben Selles said he fears the club may be forced to play home games behind closed doors.
“We know that there could be repercussions,” he said. “A points deduction is unlikely, but it can happen.
“It could be that we play with an empty stadium for one or two games or even the rest of the season.
“There could be a financial punishment, of course.”
Meanwhile, the League One match between Bolton Wanderers and Cheltenham Town was postponed following a medical emergency in the crowd.
The game at the Toughsheet Community Stadium was halted after 29 minutes in the first half after a fan suffered a suspected cardiac arrest in the East Stand.
Players leave the pitch after a medical emergency in the crowd
Referee Sunny Singh Gill took the players off the pitch shortly after 3.30pm as medical staff went to help the supporter and the match was officially abandoned 30 minutes later.
Bolton said in a statement: “The man was treated by medical staff and paramedics at the scene, while the two teams were taken off the pitch.
“Following sustained attempts to revive the patient, he was taken to the first aid room at the stadium and the match was abandoned shortly after 4pm.
“The supporter was subsequently taken to hospital and the thoughts of everyone at Bolton Wanderers are with him and his family.
“An update on the supporter’s condition will follow.”
The King has spoken about losing his sense of taste as he discussed the side effects of cancer treatment.
During a visit in Hampshire, he made the remark as he spoke to a veteran who had previously undergone chemotherapy for testicular cancer.
The monarch is receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer and was given permission by his doctors to return to public duties last month.
Ahead of his first major investiture on Tuesday since his cancer diagnosis, the King officially handed over the role of colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William today.
The monarch and the heir-to-the-throne were pictured smiling while chatting together during a visit to the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop on Monday.
It came as Kensington Palace posted two photos of the Prince of Wales when he was an Apache pilot.
“Time flies! Looking back at the last two visits to @ArmyAirCorps in 1999 and 2008 ahead of today’s handover at Middle Wallop,” the post on X said.
The Army Air Corps is the Duke of Sussex’s old unit, in which he served as an Apache helicopter commander and co-pilot gunner during his second tour to Afghanistan in 2012.
The decision to hand the role to William was seen as a blow to Harry when it was announced last year.
The King admitted the handover was “tinged with great sadness” – but hoped the Army Air Corps would continue to go from “strength to strength”.
He said: “Let me just say what a great joy it is to be with you even briefly on this occasion but also it is tinged with great sadness after 32 years of knowing you all, admiring your many activities and achievements through the time that I’ve been lucky enough to be colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps.
“I do hope you’ll go from strength to strength in the future with the Prince of Wales as your new colonel-in-chief.
“The great thing is he’s a very good pilot indeed – so that’s encouraging.”
Pic: Ben Birchall/PA
Pic: PA
The King also unveiled a plaque commemorating an Apache AH Mk1 going on display, the first of its kind to be installed at a UK museum.
William will embark on his first engagement with the Army Air Corps on Monday afternoon, receiving a briefing on its work and inspecting training and operational aircraft.
After speaking to soldiers, he will then leave the base in an Apache as part of a capability flight.
William spent time with service personnel. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
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On Tuesday, the King will knight the Archbishop of Canterbury for his key role in the coronation, and bestow a damehood on bestselling author Jilly Cooper.
The monarch will greet 52 recipients in total, one by one, at Windsor Castle.
The King has invested a handful of people with honours over the past few months.
However, these ceremonies took place in private during individual audiences at royal residences.
UK
Law allowing asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda disapplied by court in Northern Ireland – but UK govt to appeal
Rishi Sunak has said the government will appeal against a court ruling that provisions of the UK’s Illegal Migration Act – which created powers to send asylum seekers to Rwanda – should be disapplied in Northern Ireland.
The High Court in Belfast on Monday morning ordered the “disapplication” of sections of the act as they undermine human rights protections guaranteed in the region under post-Brexit arrangements.
The Illegal Migration Act provides new powers for the government to detain and remove asylum seekers it deems to have arrived illegally in the UK. Central to the new laws is the scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Mr Justice Humphreys said aspects of the Illegal Migration Act were also incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the UK remains signed up to.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government would appeal against the ruling and the judgment “changes nothing about our operational plans to send illegal migrants to Rwanda this July or the lawfulness of our Safety of Rwanda Act”.
Following Brexit, the UK and the EU agreed the Windsor Framework, which stipulates there can be no diminution of the rights provisions contained within the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998, even if they differ from the rest of the UK.
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Migrant pays to return to France
The judge found several elements of the Illegal Immigration Act cause a “significant” reduction of the rights enjoyed by asylum seekers in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
“I have found that there is a relevant diminution of right in each of the areas relied upon by the applicants,” he said.
He added: “The applicants’ primary submission therefore succeeds. Each of the statutory provisions under consideration infringes the protection afforded to RSE (Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity) in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”
The judge ruled that the sections of the Act that were the subject of the legal challenges should be “disapplied” in Northern Ireland.
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The ruling will fuel a row between Ireland and the UK in recent weeks following the Dublin government introducing plans to return asylum seekers to the UK who cross the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.
The plans were introduced after the Safety of Rwanda Bill became law at the end of April. The law declares the African nation a safe place to deport asylum seekers to.
Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee more than 80% of recent arrivals in Ireland came via the land border with Northern Ireland.
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Ireland plans to return migrants to UK
Moday’s cases were brought to Belfast’s High Court by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and a 16-year-old asylum seeker from Iran who arrived in the UK as an unaccompanied child on a small boat from France last summer.
He is currently living in Northern Ireland where his application has not yet been determined but said he would be killed or sent to prison if returned to Iran.
Mr Justice Humphreys agreed to place a temporary stay on the disapplication ruling until another hearing at the end of May, when the applicants will be able to respond to the judgment.
Lawyer Sinead Marmion, who represented the teenager, said the judgment was “hugely significant”.
She said it would prevent the Rwanda scheme applying in Northern Ireland.
“This is a huge thorn in the government’s side and it has completely put a spanner in the works,” she said.
The UK government passed a law declaring Rwanda safe. Pic: AP
The prime minister said: “This judgment changes nothing about our operational plans to send illegal migrants to Rwanda this July or the lawfulness of our Safety of Rwanda Act.
“I have been consistently clear that the commitments in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement should be interpreted as they were always intended, and not expanded to cover issues like illegal migration.
“We will take all steps to defend that position, including through appeal.”
Gavin Robinson, leader of Northern Ireland’s DUP, called on the government to prevent a fracture in immigration policy between the UK’s nations.
He said if nations have different policies it would make Northern Ireland a “magnet for asylum seekers seeking to escape enforcement”.
Rishi Sunak will argue that Britain is safer under the Conservatives against the backdrop of two escalating conflicts likely to dominate the week.
In the last few days, the prime minister has broken with US President Joe Biden by insisting the UK should continue to supply arms to Israel.
It comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu appears poised to mount another massive military operation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah against warnings from the US and UK.
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Meanwhile, there are fears in Whitehall that Russia could mount an operation on Kharkiv by the end of the week to retake Ukraine‘s second-largest city.
Both operations could trigger wider repercussions.
Amid this worsening global outlook, the Conservatives want to highlight what they say is the gap between Tory and Labour pledges on military spending.
Politics latest: Cameron warns Israel against Rafah invasion
Rishi Sunak at the Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire on 3 May. Pic: AP
Sunak announced last month that a future Tory government would ensure 2.5% of GDP will be spent on the military by 2030, while Labour says it will do it when the economic conditions allow.
After the initial announcement, Sunak wants to ensure he gets full public credit for the big spending commitment while pushing Labour on its failure to match the promise.
Labour says that the Tory spending plan does not add up.
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Israel arms embargo ‘not a wise path’
On Monday, Sunak will use a set-piece speech to mount the argument that there is a need for security at home and abroad in an ever-increasingly dangerous world and describe the country as being at a crossroads at the next general election.
In a further major political dividing line, Labour has broken with the government and called this weekend for a suspension of arms to Israel, placing it alongside the United States.
However the Tory government is holding firm, arguing that now is not the time and that Britain only supplies a small amount of the munitions used by Israel.
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Some people inside government suggest that the US government position is driven by President Biden’s need to take a tougher position to shore up votes in the upcoming election race.
Sunak’s Monday speech is one part of a set of security-themed announcements by the government, following Lord Cameron’s media blitz at the weekend.
On Monday, deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell will address a Tory-leaning think tank, while on Tuesday Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will make a speech, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt speaking on Friday.
Also, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will lead a trade delegation this week to Saudi Arabia.
Although boosting trade will be the focus, Saudi Arabia, like Qatar, is one of the backchannels used by the UK to deliver messages to Hamas.
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