A team who left the pitch in protest at racist abuse have been fined by an independent panel convened by the Football Association for taking a stand on behalf of their player.

Padiham FC of the North West Counties Football League walked off during a match against Congleton Town last October in response to racist insults from members of the crowd directed at Padiham’s goalkeeper, the former Burnley youth player Tony Aghayere.

The matter was initially dealt with by the Lancashire and Cheshire Football Associations, before being handed on to an independent regulatory commission convened under FA rules.

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Both clubs were charged under FA rule E20, which relates to a club’s responsibility to control players, officials and spectators. Padiham were fined £165 for abandoning the match. Congleton, whose spectators were apparently responsible for the alleged racist abuse, were fined £160.

The incident was brought to wider notice this week by Padiham’s chairman, Shaun Astin, who linked the club’s fine to recent high-profile cases of racist abuse.

Astin tweeted: “I am a chairman of a non-league club. We decided to take our players off in a game, because our goalkeeper was being racially abused. We were fined £165, the offending club were fined £160. Where is the justice there.”

The Burnley Express also reported comments from Padiham’s then co‑manager Liam Smith, who said he was “flabbergasted” by the “spineless” decision to impose a fine for leaving the pitch in those circumstances.

“I was alerted to the fact that Tony had been receiving some abuse and I immediately said to the linesman that I wanted to speak to the referee as soon as possible,” Smith is quoted as saying. “I told him that one of our players had been racially abused and that I would be taking the players off the pitch.

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“We wanted to present a united front, so all the players were together in walking off the pitch. I don’t regret my actions one bit; I’d do it again tomorrow and I’d encourage anyone else who finds themselves in that position, God forbid, to do the same.

“I want to say thanks to Congleton Town and their players. When they realised why we were coming off the pitch they understood and spoke to me about it all afterwards and the club reported it to the police. They showed their class.”

At the time Congleton confirmed they had reported the matter to the police and said: “The club takes this matter very seriously and is committed to working with the league on this matter.”

The abuse of England players in Montenegro during a Euro 2020 qualifier last month led to calls for decisive action by Raheem Sterling and Gareth Southgate, and the FA described those incidents as “unacceptable at any level of football”.

Kick It Out issued a strong statement on Wednesday supporting players at grassroots level who take action against racist abuse. “We are extremely concerned at the continued number of reports coming out of grassroots football, some indicating clubs have been facing fines for standing up to racist abuse received by their players.

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“Football is sending out the wrong signal when bigger fines are given to the victims of abuse rather than the alleged perpetrators. We would support the FA reviewing their rules and sanctions in cases of discrimination.

“Grassroots footballers across the country are losing patience with a system that is failing to support them. The FA and county FAs affirm they understand the devastating effect racist and discriminatory abuse has on its victims, but we call on them to demonstrate that with decisive action.”

The Lancashire and Cheshire FAs also published a statement on the Padiham incident:. “Following the Congleton Town FC v Padiham FC game on 6th October 2018, both Cheshire FA and Lancashire FA have carried out a joint investigation resulting in a charge for both clubs of alleged misconduct under FA Rule E20.

“The matter was subsequently heard by an independent regulatory commission convened by the Football Association (the FA). Written reasons will be published by The FA in due course and both clubs would have had the opportunity to appeal the outcome/s.

“All county FAs continue to work hard on tackling any forms of discrimination within the game. We encourage all participants and clubs to continue to report incidents and actions that fall into the categories of discrimination or racist abuse, so we can work together on eradicating it completely from the game.”