A FOOTBALL club is investigating a video which appears to show one of their fans verbally abusing and bullying a vulnerable rival.
The victim of the hateful prank, a young Derby County fan, is made to say he’s a “sheepsh****r” and told he’s “inbred”.
The clip was filmed by a man who says he is a supporter of bitter rivals Nottingham Forest and posted to social media.
Forest, who play Derby tonight in the East Midlands derby, have confirmed they are investigating.
Many viewers have reacted with disgust to the vulnerable young man being taken advantage of.
The video shows the Derby fan knelt down packing his bag as the Forest fan approaches him.
The Forest fan says “here he is look, what are you doing with that on mate?” as he refers to his Derby football top.
The Derby fan smiles back and continues to pack his bag. The Forest fan continues to say “what are you doing with that on? Do you know where you are?” the Derby fan replies “yeah.”
The Forest fan aggressively taunts the Derby fan saying “you shouldn’t be wearing that in this city, that top you shouldn’t be wearing that” as he refers to his Derby football top.
The Forest fan then seems to dominate the Derby fan by appearing to be an authoritative person by saying “I’ll let you off this time.”
He then says: “You see, they say all f Derby fans are inbred but you prove it is not true.”
The Derby fan just continues to stare at the Forrest fan and replies “yeah.”
The Forest fan then asks the Derby fan “what are you up to then” the Derby fan replies “meeting up with my mate, at the bus station.”
The Forest fan says to the Derby fan “you take it easy yeah, but remember you’re a sheep shr yeah, remember that yeah, say it, I’m a sheep shr.” The Derby County fan then replies smiling “I’m a sheep sh****r.”
The video has sparked outrage on social media as commenters have urged the clubs to step in and ban the Forest fan.
Stevemthompson tweeted Derby County: “@dcfcofficial This is your time to shine. Get in touch with this lad and let him lead the team out tonight. Also, @NFFC find the scumbag behind the camera and ban him for life. Carry on wearing that shirt buddy!”
Forest fan Nicklabbate90 added: “I’m a Nffc fan and this is disgusting! I understand banter between people but this is just pure bullying! Bang out of order.
“Regardless of who you support whether it be rivals or not you don’t do this! Somebody needs to find the guy behind the camera!”
FitzCorry wrte: “Beyond disgraceful! The lad loves his club like we love ours, this makes me feel physically sick. Being as you thought it clever to film this, it’s only right that you now reveal yourself to social media community. Who did this? #nffc.”
Fid1875 said: “I see horrible s* on social media regularly but this is right up there. The worst thing about these videos is that the lads state of mind who is filming this thinks his behaviour is normal.”
Nottingham Forrest supporter Nicky_Long said: “Big and hard picking on that young lad, p****! We all hate Derby but he can wear what he wants.
“Rather him support his local club than be a glory supporter. For the record, I don’t know any Forest fan who would approve of this behaviour. Wear your shirt with pride lad.”
A spokesman for Nottingham Forest said they were aware of the video and have lanuched an internal investigation.
Forest travel to Derby County tonight in a Championship league match at Pride Park.
Nottingham Forest have referred the incident to the police.
A spokesperson from the club said: “There is a serious risk that the material discloses the commission of a criminal offence and we have therefore referred the matter to the police.”
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: “We are treating the incident as a hate crime. We’re appealing for anyone who knows who made the video to get in contact with us.
“We’d also like to appeal directly to the person responsible for making the video to get in touch with us so they can explain their actions.
“We’re also keen to speak to anyone who knows the victim. Please call us on 101, quoting incident number 408 of 17 December 2018.”
Nottingham Forest said they were “sickened” by the video and were trying to trace both the perpetrator and victim.
A spokesman from the club said: “Nottingham Forest were recently made aware of a video circulating on social media showing abuse of a vulnerable Derby County supporter.
“The individual committing the abuse made references to Nottingham Forest. The club is sickened by this incident and condemns this conduct in absolute terms.
“The club requests that any Forest supporter who knows anything about this incident should contact the police as requested.
“The club has been in contact with colleagues at Derby County and will co-operate to ensure that the young victim in the footage is identified and arrangements will be made for him to attend the Forest vs Derby match in
February as a guest of both clubs.
“Disciplinary steps will be taken against the individual(s) concerned as appropriate.”
