Eels close in on abusive fan
NRL officials are confident the Parramatta club is close to identifying a fan who racially abused Petero Civoniceva as the Penrith captain made an extraordinary apology to Eels fans for spilling their beer.
Parramatta released a statement on Monday night saying the perpetrator remained unidentified but NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley told AAP: "(Parramatta) seem to be narrowing in on a potential suspect."
Eels boss Denis Fitzgerald called on the culprit, who Civoniceva said had aimed a monkey chant at him during Sunday's 22-16 win to the Panthers at Parramatta Stadium, to come forward and apologise to the Test prop - and then accept a ban from all NRL games.
"We are disgusted with the behaviour of one of our patrons in making derogatory comments towards Petero Civoniceva," Fitzgerald said.
"We are doing everything possible to identify the person and I would like to appeal to them to come forward voluntarily so that they can apologise directly to Petero.
"The Parramatta Eels are a proudly multicultural club and it is unacceptable that our standing has been tarnished in this manner."
Police and the Nine Network have offered to help identify the perpetrator and on Monday afternoon the Eels were pouring over footage provided by the broadcaster.
Several people sitting near where the incident occurred had also offered to point out the offenders to Parramatta officials if they recognised them in the footage.
"The police have offered assistance in trying to identify these people, Channel Nine have assisted," Fitzgerald told AAP.
"We've had a number of people who were sitting in the area who said they could identify the people if shown photographs.
"We also have one of our lower grade players who I spoke to who said there were four males who were involved and he'd be happy to identify them as well."
Ticketing agency Ticketek and Parramatta Stadium's CCTV were also being employed, said Fitzgerald, who was confident the offender was not a Parramatta season ticket holder.
Civoniceva, one of the most respected figures in the game, has been given four days off by Penrith after also starring for Queensland in last Wednesday's State of Origin decider.
But on Monday he took the extraordinary step of issuing an apology to Eels officials and fans after beer was spilt when he reacted to the taunts by hitting the fence at the stadium near the offenders.
"Unfortunately I may have sprayed spectators behind the front row where these guys were sitting," Civoniceva said in a statement.
"I'm pretty sure there were some young families around and I want to apologise to them for my actions, hopefully it won't turn them off coming to the football.
"I have great memories of going to the football as a kid with my parents and what a great day it was.
"Parramatta Stadium has always been a great venue for me to play at, not just with the Panthers but for my former club the Broncos and the response from the fans has always been positive.
"It's unfortunate that the few fans involved spoilt the day for myself and the other spectators in that area."
Annesley said the league would consider banning the perpetrators.
"It's outrageous, it's disgraceful and the person responsible should be hanging his head in shame and if we can identify the person we will take action against them," Annesley told AAP.
"We've got the ability to ban people from all NRL matches and that's clearly something that we would seriously consider in this case."
Asked how long such a ban would be, Annesley said: "That depends on firstly identifying the person and then considering all the circumstances, whatever they had to say in their own defence, whether they're prepared to apologise, a whole range of things will come into that decision."
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