Kingsley Royal - The Riley Incident

The Riley Incident

During the first half of the home match against Newcastle United FC on April 30, 2007 Kingsley was shown a red card by referee Mike Riley for standing too close to the pitch. It was reported that one of Riley's assistants confused Kingsley for one of the players and almost flagged him for offside. Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, said "I can see where the referee was getting confused. He does look like so many of my players." He is to study video footage of the incident before deciding whether to take any disciplinary action.

The FA is investigating an allegation that Kingsley made “inflammatory gestures” which is the first time a club mascot has been officially reported to the FA. A spokesman for the FA said: “The referee reported to us that he had spoken to Reading officials and he has reported to us that the mascot made a number of inflammatory gestures. I don’t know what the gestures were and we are now making further enquiries and will look at video evidence.” The spokesman added he could not say for certain what punishment Kingsley might face but it might result in the mascot being given an official warning.

Jon Keen, of Supporters’ Trust At Reading (STAR), said: “My initial reaction is Mike Riley needs to get a life. Kingsley was getting into the spirit of it all, sometimes it’s good not to take football too seriously“. Club spokesman Andy West said: "We have no other comment than we’ll co-operate with the FA if they ask us to.".

After reviewing video footage, an FA spokesman said “We will be taking no further action.” Kingsley was then allowed to watch Reading take on Watford in the final home game of the 2006-07 season.