Serbian pair banned after England brawl

The Serbian Football Association have banned two Under-21 players for a year for their part in a brawl against England in a Euro 2013 qualifier.

Ognjen Mudrinski and Nikola Ninkovic were handed the suspensions on Thursday for their roles in the fight after the match on October 16, which England won 1-0.

The punishments have come as UEFA launched their own enquiry into what happened at the end of the game between Serbia and England as players from both sets of team engaged in a mass brawl after the final whistle.

“Having reviewed the television footage of the incidents, the FSS disciplinary committee decided to ban Ninkovic and Mudrinski from playing for Serbia at any level for a period of one year,” Serbia’s football governing body said.

“Also, staff members Srdjan Maksimovic and Andreja Milutinovic have been banned from their coaching duties at any level for Serbia for two years. All four have violated the FSS ethics and fair-play code.”

Defender Danny Rose claimed he was abused by members of the crowd in Serbia and following the end of the match he showed his annoyance by kicking the ball away and was duly sent off by referee Huseyin Gocek.

This appeared to kick-start the brawl as Serbian players began crowd around the left-back which led to shoving from both sides including players and staff from the sidelines.

Ninkovic especially made the point of confronting Rose on the pitch and pushed him slightly which he admitted was down to his anger as he felt the 22-year-old was the instigator in the action.

He told Serbian newspaper Novosti: “I was angered by his reaction so I rushed over to explain to him that he should not do that.

“I did not mean to hit him or insult him. I walked over to him and pushed him.”

Following the incident the English FA sent a dossier of evident to UEFA including video evidence of the alleged racist abuse from fans inside the stadium while their Serbian counterparts denied any such activities and blamed Rose for his ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’.