Results tagged “villa; blues; derby; fans; rivals; murder; arrest” from Birmingham Mail - Editors Chair Blog

Yesterday's excitement in Birmingham over the Villa v Blues derby quickly turned to sadness when news of the fatal traffic collision near the ground came through.

Things got even grimmer when police arrested a man on suspicion of murder. Disturbingly, many websites quickly speculated that the victim was a Villa fan, the driver a Blues fan. Nothing attributed, mostly anonymous 'tips' and therefore, of course, ignored by the Birmingham Mail. Just as well, because it was wrong.

Our report last night on the web and in today's paper was straight: "A man is being questioned on suspicion of murder after a pedestrian was killed in a collision with a car close to Villa Park shortly after the Villa-Blues derby."

Yes, it happened after the Villa v Blues match, and yes, we said that a fan was believed to be the victim.

But we were careful, most properly and responsibly, not to suggest rival fans were involved. Even if it had turned out to be true, no-one knew this to be the case and it would be virtually inciting violence to say so.

Not such care was taken be The Sun today. Their splash today is headlined: 'MURDER AT THE MATCH - Villa fan run down by rival' and directly reports speculation that the car involved was "said to be driven by a Birmingham fan". They wildly used words like 'grudge', and referred to 'bitter rivals' in copy so close to the details of the arrest that the average reader might be forgiven for assuming this was a Blues-Villa incident.

This was irresponsibility in its most repugnant form. The Sun has a record of stating 'facts' before they are confirmed. And on this occasion, they have really let themselves - the the profession of journalism - down.

This morning, at 10am, West Midlands Police confirmed that the victim and the driver arrested on suspicion of murder were BOTH Villa fans. No Blues fans were involved.

The Sun should be ashamed of itself.