Luton have been fined £15,000 for the scenes of disorder at the end of their 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland last month, while the Black Cats have been fined £7,000.
The sanction was reduced from £20,000 due to the Hatters admitting instigating the incident after the final whistle, which the FA have called a “mass confrontation”.
Hatters keeper Thomas Kaminski and visiting defender Chris Mepham squared up to each other. Other players joined in the melee, with Town skipper Carlton Morris trying to pull his team-mate away from rival players. Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien then ran half the length of the Kenilworth Road pitch to jump on top of the mass of bodies and Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark was seen raising his hand in the defender’s direction.
However, the Football Association’s report concluded that there were “no overt acts of violence”.
In a statement, the FA said: “Luton Town and Sunderland have been fined £15,000 and £7,000 respectively for the mass confrontation at their EFL Championship match on Wednesday 23 October.
“Both clubs admitted that they failed to ensure their players and/or technical area staff didn’t behave in an improper and provocative way after the final whistle. An independent Regulatory Commission imposed their fines following a hearing.”
Explaining their written reasons further, the full FA report, added: “Moments before the final whistle LTFC players were appealing for a handball in the penalty area, which was rejected.
“At the final whistle the Match Referee was occupied in dealing with protests from LTFC players. Meanwhile, a confrontation occurred between the LTFC goalkeeper and SAFC number 26, instigated by the LTFC goalkeeper.
“Thereafter, a number of players from both clubs confront each other, with various degrees of pushing and pulling. Fortunately, there were no overt acts of violence that are sometimes seen in these confrontations. It is fair to say that some of the dozen or so players involved were trying to curtail the incident.
“The incident did involve technical area occupants, albeit in limited number and whose involvement was, in our view, an attempt to quell the situation.
“Fortunately, the incident took place in the centre of the field of play, away from the immediate presence of spectators and did not involve the use of stewards to regain order. The incident was short-lived.”
Luton apologised for the incident, which reduced their fine by £5,000, but that response was not matched by Sunderland, with the report stating: “We note also LTFC’s apology. It is disappointing that no such apology was forthcoming in the submissions of SAFC, whose submissions were largely focused on placing blame at the door of LTFC.”
However, the Hatters were reprimanded for their disciplinary record, with the FA adding: “The particular aggravating feature of this mass confrontation is that both clubs have previous offences of failing to control their players. That is particularly so in the case of LTFC. LTFC are amassing an appalling record of E20 offences.
“It is clear to us that LTFC are doing precious little to curtail the lack of self-control that their players suffer from. Unless and until the club takes serious and positive action to modify the behaviour of its playing staff then the sanctions imposed upon them are only going to increase.”
