Chelsea fans banned after racist incident on Paris Metro

LONDON (Reuters) - Four Chelsea fans who refused to allow a black man onto the Paris Metro were banned on Wednesday from attending football matches for between three and five years. The incident occurred in February when Chelsea fans were in the French capital to watch the Champions League match against Paris St Germain. Video footage showed Chelsea fans refusing to allow Souleymane Sylla, a black Frenchman, from boarding the train amid chants of "We're racist and that's the way we like it". Richard Barklie, from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Josh Parsons and William Simpson, both from Surrey, were each banned for five years at Thames Magistrates' Court, the Metropolitan Police said. Jordan Munday, from Sidcup in Kent, was banned for three years. All four had denied racist behaviour. Police Chief Superintendent Colin Morgan said in a statement: "Violence and racism have no place in football and we will continue to put offenders before the courts as part of our efforts to make football a safer environment for everyone." Chelsea followed suit by banning the four for life from buying tickets from them or attending games at their Stamford Bridge stadium. Another individual, Dean Callis, was also handed a lifetime ticket ban by the west London club. "The club will always reserve the right to decide who purchases tickets to attend Chelsea matches, and the behaviour of these five individuals was abhorrent, against all of the club’s values and falls way below the standards the club expects of supporters attending our games," they said in a statement on their website (www.www.chelseafc.com). (Reporting by Stephen Addison and Toby Davis; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Pritha Sarkar)