FA Fines Hull Over Homophobic Chant
Hull City have earned a £30,000 fine and placed on an action plan by the Football Association after supporters directed a homophobic chant at Chelsea fans during an FA Cup tie in February, a sanction the newly promoted Premier League club accepted on the eve of the return meeting at Stamford Bridge.
An independent Regulatory Commission found the club in breach of FA Rules E21.1 and E21.4 for failing to prevent spectators from using “improper, offensive, abusive, indecent or insulting” language that referred to sexual orientation. The chanting was heard in the 31st minute of the fourth-round match at the MKM Stadium on 13 February 2026. Chelsea won 4-0 with a Pedro Neto hat-trick and a goal from Estêvão. Attendance was 24,320.
Hull had issued a pre-match warning the day before the tie, telling supporters that homophobic, racist or other discriminatory chanting could bring ejection, stadium bans and prosecution. When the chant started in the first half, officials used public-address announcements, on-screen messages and a reminder that CCTV was running. A second-half announcement said action, including arrests, had been taken.
Humberside Police arrested four men that night. Three, aged 21, 24 and 45, remained under investigation; a fourth, also 21, was released without charge. The club later banned three identified supporters for at least three years. The chant has long been treated as a homophobic slur. In 2022 the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that “rent boy,” often aimed at Chelsea supporters, can be prosecuted as a hate crime. Chelsea Pride, the club’s official LGBTQ+ group, called the episode “a stain on our game.”
On Friday Hull said it condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the language used. “The chant in question is recognised as a homophobic slur and its use may constitute a hate crime.” Anyone repeating it, the club added, risks arrest and criminal charges. Travelling fans were told discrimination “will not be tolerated.”
The timing is immediate. Hull, promoted from the Championship last season, visit Chelsea at 3pm on Saturday in their first Premier League meeting since 2017. The Tigers sit third in the early table; Chelsea are fourth.
The FA has charged clubs for this slur since 2023. Wolves, Leeds and Luton are among those already fined; the combined total for those cases exceeds £400,000. Stadium warnings, CCTV, police action, club bans, FA fines and education work by groups such as Kick It Out now sit in a single chain. Saturday’s fixture will test whether that chain holds on the road.
