The Tottenham forward was subjected to racist chants from visiting fans at White Hart Lane
22:30, 12 Mar 2017Updated 22:42, 12 Mar 2017
Son Heung-min was subjected to racist abuse(Image: REUTERS)
"Sam?" asked the reporter nervously.
"How much did you mention the abuse on Son?"
It was 40 minutes after the match and debates, accusations and anger were raging on social media.
I had been commentating on Tottenham's dismantling of Millwall, and the contribution of the hat-trick hero couldn't be underplayed.
In the first half, seconds before he scored a whipping curler, Son Hueng-Min had been wildly jeered after miscontrolling the ball.
Instinctively I didn't like it, but I couldn't hear exactly what was being said. When you commentate at Spurs you do so in an underground bunker that insulates you from a lot of the crowd noise.
At half time I checked it. I was told by a source in the tunnel that a Spurs player had been heard shouting 'they are racially abusing him.'
Fans were separated by seats and stewards(Image: Getty Images Europe)
At the start of the second half I felt it was my duty to report that whilst I had not personally heard what was being said it was clear there had been insults.
I went no further. I couldn't confirm it was racist in nature as I hadn't heard it, but something had happened and I felt I had to draw attention to it.
You are in a difficult position as a sports journalist. The story should always be about the game, the commentary should be about what is happening, but occasionally what's happening off the field becomes pertininent.
It's incredibly noisy, you are watching the game, some are typing and keeping tabs on the match, some are commentating or preparing for a flash interview. You can not brand someone a racist or a group of people racists because you saw it on Twitter.
That is why the reporter I mentioned asked how I had handled it. Probably because the producer back at base had asked why it hadn't been mentioned during the post-match interviews.
Trouble had been brewing before the game(Image: PA)
At the time, in the match, it was not abundantly clear from where we were, and the noise from the Millwall fans was drowned out altogether by a brilliant Tottenham fan base in the second half.
The pressure on reporters and commentators to see, hear, and report everything that happens in a stadium with 35,000 people in it is high and some will rush to judgement for fear of missing out.
I think the balance was struck across the board. Reporting accurately without hysteria. The game, the wonderful performance from Spurs, should be front and centre. Clowns shouldn't get too many column inches.
Subsequently, there has been a lot more evidence and the FA will surely investigate. I can only hope justice is served.
Son hit a hat-trick in Spurs' rout(Image: Reuters)
I will say this. In the last ten years I have covered Millwall five times. I have been spat on, I have witnessed fighting and vandalism at a Wembley semi-final, charging at Barnsley supporters in a playoff final and now an accusation of racism.
That was four separate occasions. On the other, the one that passed off with no incident, the away fans weren't allowed in and it was basically behind closed doors.
Despite the work the owners, board, management and community staff do to extinguish the unsavoury reputation the club has picked up over 30 years, sections of the support perpetually let them down.
As a Millwall fan said: "Every club has idiots, we just have more than most".