Three football fans have been banned from attending matches up to five years after a large fight broke out before a Mansfield Town game.
Nottinghamshire Police received reports that supporters from Mansfield Town and Macclesfield Town were fighting for "several minutes" outside the One Call Stadium when the two clubs clashed on February 2, 2019.
Three men have admitted a charge of affray, including Warsop man David Smith and two men from Macclesfield, after they were identified by Nottinghamshire Police and Cheshire Constabulary.
Smith, 40, of Cherry Grove, was handed a three-year football banning order when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. He was also given a 12-month community order, including 40 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
He stood alongside Wesley Gibbons, of Chestnut Avenue, Macclesfield, and Stephen Ward, of Westbury Drive, Macclesfield, who all pleaded guilty to affray.
Gibbons, 24, received a five-year football banning order. He was also given a 12-month community order, including 60 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
Ward, 47, was given a three-year football banning order. He was also handed a 12-month community order, including 40 hours’ unpaid work, andordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
Rob Taylor of Nottinghamshire Police says the banning orders should act as a "warning" to football fans intending to cause disorder.
He said: “We welcome these banning orders and sentences and hope they act as a warning to anyone attending a football match in the future, who may be intent on causing trouble, that they will be dealt with robustly by Nottinghamshire Police.
“We want to send a clear message to fans that any reckless, disorderly or criminal behaviour will not be tolerated and that we, as a police service, will actively seek banning orders for anyone brought before the courts.”
