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London - English second tier club Millwall have banned a 13-year-old supporter for "the foreseeable future" after he verbally abused Bolton's Marvin Sordell during a match last month, the club announced on Wednesday.
The incident occurred during Millwall's 2-1 Championship win at the New Den, their home ground in south London, on October 6 and led to a Football Association investigation.
Millwall said the teenager had admitted abusing Sordell and had written an apology to the player.
They added they had decided against imposing a life ban on the fan, given his age, and said that instead they'd offered him a place on a "Millwall for All" educational scheme "in the hope that we can change his outlook on equality, racism and life in general".
Millwall supporters became notorious for violent and racist behaviour during the 1970s and 1980s, Lions fans revelling in their unpopularity with rival clubs in a chant of "nobody likes us, we don't care."
But Millwall officials have tried to rid the club of its unsavoury image with a series of community schemes.
Initial reports of the Sordell incident suggested there had been mass racial abuse of Bolton players by Millwall fans.
Millwall chiefs hit back on Wednesday, saying in a statement: "We would also like to put on record how disappointed everybody at Millwall FC was in the way in which the initial allegations were reported in some sections of the media.
"These reports were made with no knowledge of the facts and created the impression that Bolton players were subjected to racial chanting or systematic abuse by more than one individual."
Issues regarding racism have been a hot topic within English soccer in recent weeks.
Chelsea captain John Terry recently served a four-game ban for racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand.
Meanwhile Chelsea themselves have complained about "inappropriate language" used towards midfielder John Obi Mikel by referee Mark Clattenburg following their Premier League defeat by Manchester United.
Both the Football Association and the police, as a result of a complaint by the Society of Black Lawyers, are making enquiries into Clattenburg's alleged remarks.
