Hello. I don’t know if this is a good idea to post, but I’m the dad of the child - my son, Jay (not his real name) - that ran onto the pitch in the early stages of the match. First and foremost, I want to offer a profound apology to you all, to every fan, the players and clubs for Jay’s actions. I’d like to try and provide some context, if you’ll let me, to help explain what happened and why.
Jay has just turned 11. He has autism and is suffering from PTSD after 3 years of physical abuse at school, being restrained by teaching staff (which was concealed from us). Both of these conditions create complex issues for Jay, one of which is he is heightened to what he may (incorrectly) perceive of as a threat, causing he to flee. This is what we think happened on Saturday.
We were enjoying the game and then all of a sudden, he said he needed to go to the toilet. I asked him to wait and then before I knew it, he said ‘I’m going to the toilet’, for up and walked down the steps. I was about to go after him and then - out of nowhere, he turned and jumped the barrier. We were stocked and horrified. We couldn’t believe it. I tried to shout to him but he couldn’t hear me. At that point, I was really worried for him. He didn’t know what he was doing. As I ran to jump the barrier, I saw him fall. I (worryingly) thought he’d be tackled and - rightly or wrongly - I got protective of my little boy. When I got to him, he was petrified. I said ‘it’s ok I’ve got you’ turned to get him off the pitch but the Rotherham fans were shouting hateful comments, threats and abuse at him. Again, I should have reacted much better, but I responded to protect my child. I know it doesn’t look like he was scared - we do not condone he sticking his finger up - but this is a know protective response from children with disabilities like Jay. I felt exposed and vulnerable myself and so went into ‘fight’ mode. To be honest, it’s all blur. I was saying to him ‘it’s ok, I’ll get you out of here’.
The stewards tried to direct me off the other side of the pitch but I was worried about my eldest son, who was all alone in the stand. I just ran off and left him. He was so scared too. The stewards then grabbed me and I tried to say I’m just protecting Jay.
Again, I am sorry deeply sorry to you all. This shouldn’t have happened and I take full responsibility. I’m sorry. My family are devastated, for lots of reasons, about what happened. I’m worried about my job, Jay being identified and targeted. The ongoing social media hate is really hard to deal with. I get why people are so angry. Football is precious and match days are special and to be treated as such. What Jay did was not acceptable but I hope, by posting this, you might be able to understand it more. This was about disabilities and the difficulty of managing them daily. I messed up and let Jay down. It will take me a long time to get over this. As his father I must do better.
Please accept my apologies.
