Hungary fans throw punches at police at Wembley after arresting spectator for racially abusing steward, in ugly scenes during World Cup qualifier against England

The early stages of England’s World Cup qualifier against Hungary were marred by ugly scenes at Wembley.

With barely a minute on the clock, Hungary fans were filmed fighting police in the stands.

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talkSPORT’s Hugh Woozencroft said the police in the stands housing the away supporters were ‘overwhelmed in one of the stairwells’ with some of the fans ‘throwing punches’.

Police later said the ‘minor disorder’ came after officers attempted to arrest a spectator for racially abusing a steward.

“Shortly after the start of the match, officers entered the stand to arrest a spectator for a racially aggravated public order offence in relation to comments directed towards a steward,” read a Metropolitan Police statement.

“As the officers made the arrest, minor disorder broke out involving other spectators. Order was quickly restored and there have been no further incidents at this stage.”

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The violence calmed down shortly afterwards, however, a flare was set off in the Hungary end after Roland Sallai gave them a shock lead with a penalty on 24 minutes.

England hit back on the pitch as John Stones levelled the scores on 36 minutes.

That proved to be it as far as goals were concerned as both sides played out a 1-1 draw.

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Last month’s meeting between the sides in Budapest, which England won 4-0, was marred by monkey chants aimed at Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham.

FIFA ordered Hungary to play two home FIFA competition matches behind closed doors, one suspended for two years, following racist behaviour by supporters.

The fanbase was again under scrutiny in London, with the travelling fans booing as England players took the knee before kick-off.

Clashes then broke out in the away section, with police using batons in an attempt to control the crowd before appearing to be forced into the concourse.

Former Culture Secretary, now Conservative Party Chairman, Oliver Dowden responded to the ‘dreadful scenes’ at Wembley, and was among those to question the decision to allow Hungarian fans in for the game.

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“They were dreadful scenes and I’m very concerned by them,” Dowden told talkRADIO.

“The FA has said they are conducting an investigation and raising it with FIFA, and I think it’s entirely appropriate that they do so.

“Clearly there is no place for racism in football, and we’ve still got further steps to go to eliminate it. 

“You only have to listen to the testimonies from black players about the racist abuse they still suffer.

“I think there are very serious questions to be answered [on whether Hungary fans should have been allowed in Wembley], and we need to find out exactly what went wrong there.”