Police charge Burnley fan for tragedy chanting in Premier League game vs Manchester United at Old Trafford

A man has been charged with causing harassment, alarm or distress over alleged tragedy chanting during Burnley’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Manchester United.

Burnley said on Saturday they were informed about “offensive footage” on social media from the away end at Old Trafford. On Sunday, Greater Manchester Police said they had charged Nathan Rawlinson, 44, of Bacup, Lancashire, with Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and that he has been bailed.

“This charge is after our specialist operational football investigation team made an arrest of a man in the away section of the Old Trafford crowd who was tragedy chanting yesterday towards the end of the Manchester United v Burnley fixture,” read a police statement. “As we have enforced recently, continued incidents of tragedy chanting by anyone will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.”

The police also warned members of the public not to share videos of the incident on social media as Rawlinson will attend court at a later date.

On Saturday, Burnley released a club statement on X, saying: “We are aware of offensive footage currently circulating on social media from the away end of today’s fixture at Old Trafford. Tragedy related gesturing and chanting is completely unacceptable, and Burnley Football Club take a zero-tolerance approach.

“We will continue to work with Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire Police and Manchester United to help identify and prosecute the individuals responsible.”

The Premier League vowed anyone found guilty would be punished, saying on X: “There is no place for football tragedy abuse in our game. We strongly condemn this behaviour and sanctions are in place to ensure anybody found guilty faces consequences.

“We continue to treat this as an unacceptable issue and fully support Burnley FC, Manchester United and the police in identifying and prosecuting those responsible.”