Below is part of a letter from the Essex FA regarding abusive supporter behaviour in our Essex Senior Cup Match against Dagenham and Redbridge. We have had to redact the actual language used due to its vile and abusive nature. As you can see from the letter the repercussions for the club are quite serious and we cannot have any more such incidences.

Unfortunately, although we knew the area of the ground where the individuals were standing and a small pool of possible suspects, given a general description of those involved we were unable to positively identify them at the time.

We now have further evidence from match officials and a home supporter that positively identifies one of the individuals involved.

Additionally, an Official from Bowers & Pitsea has pointed out that this same individual was removed from the ground at our away game at Bowers & Pitsea this season for inappropriate behaviour. After being removed the individual also threatened the Bowers & Pitsea official.

This individual has been spoken to by a Canvey Club official and told of complaints against our club and the possible repercussions.

Whilst we can identify one individual we know there are others involved. This small group of individuals are dragging down the good name of Canvey Island FC and putting the future of the club at risk.

We will be keeping a very close eye on this at our future home games and anybody seen committing similar offenses will be expelled from the ground and banned from future home games.

An additional sanction we are actively planning to protect line officials and our clubs reputation is to close the stand between the terrace and the away dugout when Canvey are attacking the terrace end. Obviously this would have a detrimental effect on a number of true Canvey Supporters and would be a last resort. However we must not be put in a position where we would have to play games behind closed doors and incur future large fines. This could make the club financially unviable.

We would appreciate the help of the true supporters of the club to help stamp out this unacceptable behaviour.

The Board