Forest Green Rovers have denied claims that a fan was kicked out of their stadium for bringing a bacon sandwich to Saturday’s 5-0 win over Morecambe.
The National League side, who became the first football club to adopt a vegan matchday menu back in 2015, released a statement on Sunday after a viral video claimed a supporter was ejected from The New Lawn for ‘sneaking in a bacon butty’ over the weekend.
Footage showed a middle-aged man being wrestled out of the stadium by two stewards with the caption: ‘Solicitor/Morecambe fan removed for sneaking bacon butty into Forest Green Rovers’.
The Gloucestershire club responded to the claims with a ‘club statement on baconbuttygate’ on Sunday.
‘We are aware of a video circulating online following our game against Morecambe yesterday,’ the club posted on X.
‘Contrary to social media opinion and wisdom, the ejection was nothing to do with bacon sarnies more a little “over-exuberance” on the last day of the season.
A viral video claimed a fan was ejected from Forest Green Rovers for having a bacon sarnie
The National League club rubbished the claims in a statement to social media on Sunday
‘After repeated warnings, the stewards were left with no choice and the gentleman was ejected from the stadium.’
Rovers manager Robbie Savage, who steered his side to seventh place on the final weekend and will now gear up for a play-off quarter-final against Boreham Wood, also rubbished the claims during his 606 show on BBC Radio 5 Live on Sunday.
‘I’ve seen that, it’s gone viral today. It’s fake news,’ Savage said.
‘It’s fake news, there was no bacon involved. I can 100 per cent categorically confirm there was no bacon sandwich.’
Although Forest Green’s so-called ‘baconbuttygate’ made waves on social media, it was by far the biggest story from the National League this weekend.
In an astonishing finale to the title race, York scored a 103d minute equaliser to seal promotion away at Rochdale, snatching it away from the home side in the process.
Rochdale, who agonisingly finished second and two points shy of York after the 1-1 draw, thought they had secured promotion themselves when Emmanuel Dieseruvwe scored in the 95th minute, prompting a pitch invasion from jubilant Dale fans.
After a lengthy delay, York managed to find an equaliser at the death through Josh Stones to spark a second pitch invasion in a matter of minutes, this time from the visiting supporters, with Rochdale missing out on the sole automatic promotion spot available in the National League.
Rochdale and Carlisle, who finished third, will head straight into the play-off semi-finals while Boreham Wood, Scunthorpe, Southend and Forest Green head into the quarter-final eliminator.
