Key Takeaways
- Westminster council printed a kids’ anti-racism booklet showing a KKK cartoon wearing the Millwall badge.
- The club calls the image “false and damaging” and is weighing legal steps.
- Paul Canoville’s charity says it never approved the artwork but confirms the ex-Chelsea star did suffer racist abuse at a Millwall reserves match in the 1980s.
Millwall Football Club are exploring legal action after the city council used their crest on a drawing of a Ku Klux Klan member in a school leaflet.
The booklet, handed to London primary pupils, tells the story of Paul Canoville, the first Black player to appear for Chelsea. One page shows a hooded Klansman figure stamped with Millwall’s lion logo beside a photo of Canoville and the words: “Racism never went away. I was badly abused in a reserve match at Millwall.”
Westminster City Council has now withdrawn the material and apologised for the “insensitive” use of the emblem. Officials say every remaining copy will be shredded and procedures will be reviewed.
Millwall replied through their supporters’ club account, branding the move “a serious misuse of a registered badge” that paints the club in an unfair light. Directors are still taking advice before deciding on court proceedings.
The Paul Canoville Foundation, which runs school talks about racism, stated it played no part in designing the booklet. Chief executive Raphael Frascogna explained that while Canoville did face KKK-style taunts during a 1980s reserve game at Millwall, the charity was “never shown, consulted on, or asked to approve” the final artwork.
On the pitch this season, Millwall sit third in the Championship, level on points with Ipswich Town in the race for Premier League promotion.
