Millwall Consider Legal Action After Club Badge Placed on KKK Figure in Children's Anti-Racism Booklet

A Children's Booklet Sparks a Major Controversy

Millwall Football Club is considering legal action against Westminster City Council after its registered club badge was placed on an illustration of a Ku Klux Klan member in a children's educational booklet distributed across London primary schools. The image, which surfaced on social media this week, appeared in a publication titled The Paul Canoville Story, written by Peter Daniel, an education and interpretation officer employed by the council.

The booklet was produced as part of an anti-racism programme and focuses on the life of Paul Canoville, who in 1982 became the first Black player to make a first-team appearance for Chelsea. Page 20 of the booklet features a cartoon figure dressed in the white robes and pointed hood synonymous with the KKK — a white supremacist organisation responsible for numerous acts of racial violence throughout American history — with Millwall's crest prominently displayed on the outfit. The figure appears alongside a photograph of Canoville, accompanied by a speech bubble attributed to him reading: "Racism never went away. I was badly abused in a reserve match at Millwall, but then I could show the racists my 1984 2nd Division Champions medal!"

Westminster Council Issues Apology, Withdraws Booklet

Facing immediate backlash, Westminster City Council issued an apology to Millwall on Thursday, acknowledging that the illustration was "an insensitive way to illustrate the historic problem of racism within football." The council confirmed that all remaining copies of the booklet would be destroyed, no further copies would be printed or distributed, and that internal processes were being reviewed to prevent a recurrence. Despite the apology, Millwall — through a statement released via its supporters' trust — said the club was "still considering its legal position" over what it described as the "serious misuse of a registered club badge."

Who Knew What — and When?

A central element of the dispute concerns responsibility for the booklet's content. The Paul Canoville Foundation, which the former winger established in 2015 to support anti-racism and drug awareness initiatives, was swift to distance itself from the illustration. Foundation CEO Raphael Frascogna confirmed that the material was "not produced by, commissioned by, or approved" by the foundation or by Canoville himself. The foundation's involvement, he stated, was limited solely to Canoville's personal appearances at schools to share his own experiences.

Frascogna did, however, clarify that the incident depicted in the illustration is historically accurate: during his time at Chelsea in the 1980s, Canoville was subjected to serious racial abuse by individuals wearing KKK-style white hoods during a reserve match against Millwall. The depiction of the event, the foundation stressed, was not the issue — it was the unauthorised use of Millwall's badge that crossed a line.

The Club's Fury and Its Broader Meaning

Sources close to Millwall described the club as "furious." A spokesperson told multiple outlets that the club had spent years working to dismantle its long-standing — and often unfair — association with racism and hooliganism, investing heavily in equality, diversity and inclusion programmes. The club's community trust won Community Project of the Year at the London Football Awards as recently as last month, recognised for its work with young people in areas including employability training. To have their badge placed on a white supremacist symbol in a document circulated to primary school children, the club argued, effectively undid years of reputational rebuilding in a single illustration.

"We do so much work in EDI and to have the club depicted that way to young people is outrageous," one club source told the Telegraph.

Millwall are also said to be particularly sensitive to the context of distribution: the booklet reached young children at an impressionable age, meaning the false association between the club's identity and white supremacist imagery could have a lasting impact on public perception.

Trademark Misuse, Institutional Accountability, and the Risks of Well-Intentioned Campaigns

This episode raises significant questions beyond football — namely, the responsibilities of local government bodies when producing and distributing educational materials, and the legal protections afforded to organisations whose intellectual property is misused in a public context.

From a legal standpoint, the unauthorised use of a registered trademark — such as a football club's badge — on a figure associated with a hate group constitutes potential grounds for trademark infringement, as well as reputational damage claims. That the booklet's stated purpose was anti-racism makes the error no less significant from a legal perspective, as intent does not typically override the consequences of trademark misuse.

The controversy also illustrates the complex institutional chains that can lead to such errors. The booklet was written by a council officer, distributed through schools, and linked — however loosely — to a foundation bearing the name of a living public figure, all without adequate editorial oversight. As local governments increasingly engage in social and community programmes, the incident underscores the importance of rigorous approval processes, particularly when registered intellectual property is involved. The question of how a council education officer's decision to place a club badge on a KKK illustration passed through any review stage without being flagged remains unanswered.

This dynamic, in which well-funded public institutions pursue laudable social goals but stumble over procedural failures, echoes broader discussions around how local government bodies manage public programmes and their associated liabilities.

For Paul Canoville — a genuine trailblazer whose courage in enduring racist abuse while playing for Chelsea in the early 1980s helped open doors for generations of Black footballers in England — the controversy risks overshadowing the very legacy the booklet was designed to celebrate. At 64, he remains an important voice on the lasting damage of racism in sport, and the foundation bearing his name has worked to extend that message into education and drug awareness. How Westminster City Council's error ultimately plays out in the courts or in negotiations may well determine how freely institutions can tell stories like his in the future.