A Bristol City fan has been issued with a three-year banning order after racially abusing a Huddersfield Town player during a Championship match at Ashton Gate in December 2021.
Gareth Ralph from Southville was sentenced at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Thursday (May 18) after being found guilty of a racially-aggravated public order offence. The banning order will prevent him from attending any UK football match. The 68-year-old was also fined £300, must pay £100 compensation and ordered to pay £201 in costs and victim surcharge.
Recipients of FBOs must also adhere to other conditions over the three years, including surrendering their passport for the duration of senior international football tournaments, which would cover next year’s European Championship in Germany.
The incident occurred during City’s 3-2 defeat to Huddersfield on December 18, 2021, after the visitors had scored their third goal in the 55th minute, with supporters reporting the matter to police within the ground after hearing what Ralph, who was sat in the Lansdown Stand, had said.
"This kind of behaviour has no place within football or wider society,” said PC Tom Williams from Avon & Somerset Police. “When incidents are reported, they will be thoroughly investigated and we will seek football banning orders for offenders.
"The abuse was not fortunately heard by the player himself, but this case highlights the importance of supporters reporting such incidents to the authorities if they do encounter any form of hate abuse. We are hugely grateful to those who reported this incident to us so we could get justice in this case.
"It’s always preferable for matters to be reported at the time to stewards in the ground or to the police. Alternatively, the anonymous phone line advertised by clubs can be used as this allows us to act on the incident immediately and increases the likelihood of us being able to identify those responsible.
"We will continue to work with all football clubs, players, supporters groups, Kick It Out and the Players Football Association to tackle this kind of deplorable and inexcusable behaviour.”
Bristol Live spoke to Robins fan Leon Oakes not long after the incident after he had confronted the man in the Lansdown Stand for what he said, after alerting stewards to the abuse.
“Huddersfield scored their third goal and their players came over to our corner to celebrate the goal. As soon as that happened, there was loads of racist abuse thrown their way," he said.
“It was ‘Get back to your own country!’, that sort of thing. They used the ‘N-word’. It was really, really shocking. At first I did a double-take, thinking ‘did I really just hear that?’ And then this voice shouted it all for a second time.
“He didn’t deny it, he didn’t apologise. He only said ‘well they shouldn’t be celebrating at our end, should they?’ I was amazed. Twenty minutes before this happened, they were cheering on the black players on our team, and yet here he was shouting this.
“Everyone in that section of the stand heard it - families, children, everyone. It was sickening.”
In a statement, Bristol City said: “Bristol City Football Club condemns the actions of the aforementioned individual and would like to firmly reiterate our zero tolerance policy towards racism or discrimination of any kind.
“The club has fully supported Avon & Somerset Police throughout the process and the decision to issue a football banning order. If fans see or hear any racist, homophobic or any other abuse around the stadium they should report it to our text line: 07770 736 047.”
