Millwall Football Club is contemplating legal proceedings following the unauthorised use of its club badge on an illustration depicting a member of the Ku Klux Klan in a children's educational booklet. The booklet, which was distributed in schools, aimed to narrate the story of Paul Canoville, Chelsea's first black player, and was authored by Peter Daniel, an education and interpretation officer at Westminster City Council.
Background on Paul Canoville
Canoville played for Chelsea between 1981 and 1986, contributing to the club's Second Division title victory in the 1983-84 season. Throughout his career, he endured significant racist abuse from both Chelsea supporters and opposing fans. Despite this adversity, he later became a club ambassador and established the Paul Canoville Foundation in 2015, a charity dedicated to supporting young people facing challenges.
Booklet Content and Controversy
The booklet was part of an anti-racism programme and featured a comic-style page highlighting key moments in Canoville's career, such as his first goal and hat-trick for Chelsea, alongside ongoing racist abuse. One caption read: '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.' This text was accompanied by an illustration of a Ku Klux Klan member, with the hate group's logo replaced by Millwall's club badge.
Images of the booklet's front cover, displaying the Paul Canoville Foundation and City of Westminster logos, were circulated on social media, prompting Millwall to consider legal action over the misuse of their badge.
Apology and Response
Millwall Supporters' Club issued a statement confirming that the club had received an apology from Westminster City Council for the 'serious misuse' of the badge, which had created a 'false and damaging image of the club.' The statement noted: 'The council have confirmed no more copies of the image with the club's logo will be made or distributed by them and all remaining material in their possession will be destroyed. The club is still considering its legal position on the matter and are unable to comment further.'
Westminster City Council acknowledged the offence caused, with a spokesperson stating: 'We accept the use of this image was an insensitive way to illustrate the problem of racism within football. We have apologised to Millwall Football Club for the improper use of their logo and for any offence caused. The booklet has been removed from circulation, and we are reviewing processes to ensure this doesn't happen again.'
Foundation's Perspective
According to reports, the Paul Canoville Foundation indicated that while the imagery was not factually accurate, it captured the spirit of the events. The foundation noted that Canoville had previously described an incident where three Millwall fans on the sidelines wore KKK hoods and racially abused him, though they did not display the club badge. The council education officer who created the booklet added the Millwall badge to the figure, a detail not approved or seen by Canoville. The educational course reportedly ceased over a year ago.
