Millwall are considering legal action after their club badge was printed onto an illustration of a member of the Ku Klux Klan in a children’s anti-racism booklet
Millwall are considering legal action over an image of a KKK member wearing the club’s badge that has gone viral on social media after appearing in an ‘educational’ council booklet.
The picture, which appeared in a children’s anti-racism booklet distributed to primary schools in Westminster City Council about the life of Chelsea legend Paul Canoville, showed a member of the American white supremacist organisation the Ku Klux Klan, with the Championship club’s badge on their robe.
The KKK sketch is positioned next to the former winger, Chelsea’s first black player, with text that reads: “Racism never went away. I was badly abused in a reserve match at Millwall, but then I could show the racists my 1984 2nd Division Champions medal!”
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However, Westminster City Council has now apologised for “improper use of their logo and for any offence caused”. A council spokesperson added: “We accept the use of this image was an insensitive way to illustrate the historic problem of racism within football.
“The booklet has been removed from circulation, and we are reviewing processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Millwall have also released a statement saying the “serious misuse of a registered club badge” created a “false and damaging image of the club”.
And they added: “The club is still considering its legal position on the matter and are unable to comment further.”
While The Paul Canoville Foundation said: “Our involvement in the associated programme was limited solely to Paul’s personal appearance; meeting students and sharing his lived experience.
“At no stage were we shown, consulted on, or asked to approve the content of the booklet, including any illustrations within it.”
However, Raphael Frascogna, its CEO, added the illustration does depict an incident Canoville experienced while playing for Chelsea reserves against Millwall reserves in the 1980s, when “he was subjected to serious racial abuse by a number of individuals wearing Ku Klux Klan-style white hoods”.
Canoville spent five years at Chelsea betweeb 1981 and 1986, retiring aged 25 after sustaining a knee injury at Reading.