A number of families were allegedly attacked by men in balaclavas as they tried to leave a women’s football match at the weekend. The incidents occurred after Motherwell’s ‘Women of Steel’ took on Hamilton Academical at Fir Park on Saturday afternoon. Hamilton won the game 1-0 but a group of masked men are believed to have attacked the crowd as they started to leave the stadium. Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows stated that the club is working alongside Police Scotland to identify those responsible for the crowd trouble. 

Motherwell respond to incidents

Taking to social media, Burrows posted: "It was an almost 700 strong crowd made up with lots of women, children and families.

"It's hard to believe what happened, but we'll now work with the police to try and identify culprits. I can't say too much as this is now a police matter.

"Suffice to say, we had more than adequate stewarding for the crowd and the game itself passed off in a fantastic spirit both on and off the park.

"What happened afterwards, which we have caught on CCTV, was absolutely disgraceful, but clearly extremely difficult for us to predict.

"We are working with all the appropriate authorities, with the evidence we have, to try and identify the culprits and bring them to justice."

Fans speak out on attack 

Burrows’ words were in response to a fan who stressed it was one of the most “disgusting” scenes they’d ever seen at a football match. 

"I was caught up in the middle of it,” they said. “This couldn't be predicted and the stewards reacted quickly when they saw what was going on.

​​"It's the most disgusting scene I've seen in decades at a match. Around 20 men with balaclavas hiding their faces came at us.

"It was my first women's match in over 50 years following the club and this happens."

Hamilton remain bottom 

Despite winning the game, Hamilton are still rooted to the bottom of the SWPL 1 and remain eight points adrift of Hearts in ninth place. 

Meanwhile, Motherwell are seventh but are without a win in eight matches.