Pitch Invasions and other fan transgressions

edited March 2019 in Football Chatter
This thread has been created for a discussion of the events of 9/10 March, such as the assault on Jack Grealish. I think people might want to discuss it further, the outcomes of the court cases, and any propoals that might be put forward by the EFL and so on. The politicians have had their say, too, so there may be some interminable committee set up.

If we don't have a separate thread, this topic will be lost as the weekend's match thread fades and dies.

Posts will be moved across ;ok
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Comments

  • Jack Grealish gets whacked by a fan, what an idiot the person is, cant call him a fan..

    Terrible stuff.
  • Unacceptable
  • I hope they throw the book at him, I do not know what sentencing guidelines exist but for all sorts of reasons, they must hand out the maximum, it must not be tolerated and no-one should be left in any doubt that such actions will result in severe punishment.

  • I hope they throw the book at him, I do not know what sentencing guidelines exist but for all sorts of reasons, they must hand out the maximum, it must not be tolerated and no-one should be left in any doubt that such actions will result in severe punishment.

    Five minutes in the Villa end would have been a good start
  • edited March 2019
    I had to laugh. While pleading guilty to assault Birmingham City fan Paul Mitchell's lawyer claimed that..
    My client’s young family have had to leave their home address to move to outside of Birmingham through fear that they would suffer serious harm or even death.
    Less than 24 hours after the assault? Sounds more like they did a runner to avoid the press turning up on their doorstep.
  • 14 weeks jail? That doesn't feel like it sends out much of a message. Wonder what the maximum could have been?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47523268
  • Not only 14 weeks , the associated “fine” of £350.00 certainly does not send a message and surely cannot be close to the maximum.

    Not only did he encroach but he pshyically assualted a player, if you assault a rail guard, bus driver, doctor, nurse or frankly any other public servant, I think the potential jail sentence and associated financial penalties are much higher

    I frankly do not know what the max is, but given the clear and obvious evidence of what this idiot did and assuming that he is being treated somewhat leniently, I struggle to see what you have to do to deserve the max.
  • Got a 10 yr banning order as well.

    Fines these days are, I think, linked to ability to pay. I'll check that though - it might be only for certain offences.
  • He could definitely pay more than that as he won’t be allowed a season ticket for the next 10 years
  • I assume that Birmingham will ban him for life so presumably that will save him a few quid enabling him to pay his fine ;wink
  • MrsGrey said:



    Fines these days are, I think, linked to ability to pay. I'll check that though - it might be only for certain offences.

    ;ok An offence carries a 'fine range' and the magistrate sets the specific fine taking into account the offenders income, also if it is a first time offence and if they plead not guilty (thus avoiding a trial).

    The guidelines on sentencing say that the fine for a first time offender pleading not guilty should usually not exceed 75 per cent of the maximum fine (but can be lower, obvs).
  • Our justice system these days is so soft it’s almost watery. He will probably be out in about 4 weeks and will treat it as a badge of honour and be a hero amongst his friends.
  • Don't wanna play Devils Advocate, especially as I thought it was disgraceful act, but I don't think the sentence is a disgrace

    Obviously idont know the guys situation, but £350 can be the difference between being able to pay your mortgage or not

    And 14 weeks seems low, but I see it as 3.5 months which seems about fair if you actually look what he did..... not to mention that the guys has either lost 3.5 months of pay or more likely he's just been flat out sacked

    The guys is a thug, but I've seen a lot worse
  • 14 weeks jail? That doesn't feel like it sends out much of a message. Wonder what the maximum could have been?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-47523268

    6 months for common assault but credit comes off that for a guilty plea
  • Don't wanna play Devils Advocate, especially as I thought it was disgraceful act, but I don't think the sentence is a disgrace

    Obviously idont know the guys situation, but £350 can be the difference between being able to pay your mortgage or not

    And 14 weeks seems low, but I see it as 3.5 months which seems about fair if you actually look what he did..... not to mention that the guys has either lost 3.5 months of pay or more likely he's just been flat out sacked

    The guys is a thug, but I've seen a lot worse

    He's described in the news as a "well known landlord in the nearby area" although whether he runs a pub or rents out property is unclear.
  • edited March 2019
    The Birmingham Mail report that he was described in court as unemployed and he previously was a pub manager. I think he might be an ex-pub manager for a rather long time.

    He could be out in seven weeks with good behaviour.
  • One moment of crazyness and you become a criminal and unemployable and banned for 10 years from Football.

    Did you see the Birmingham steward who was taken away by police after kicking Grealish when he jumped into the crows after scoring...

    grown men acting like Children, not great for the beautiful game...


  • He could be out in seven weeks with good behaviour.

    Most people serve about half their custodial sentence (if they behave) then when they are released they have various other hoops to jump through. ;ok
  • I am not sure that they can take into account the circumstances or if assault is assault, whether in a football stadium or in a local pub. If you can take circumstances into account when sentencing then 6 months would have been a better deterrent. What was pleasing is that it was immediate, happened Saturday in prison on Monday, that will certainly deter.
  • I agree with the immediacy and I understand that credit is normally given for a guilty plea as it saves court time etc, however, in this instance, I am not sure exactly how a “not guilty” plea could have possibly worked out for him.

    I would have added some penalty for the assault, he approached from behind and delivered a sucker punch to the side of the head - it was as nasty as it was cowardly

    Be interesting to see what is handed down to the bloke who assulted Smalling at the Utd game, he ran on like the idiot he is but delivered a shove that would have hardly made a weeble wobble.

  • Who am I to judge the length of sentence, all I do know as a human being spending any time in prison would scare the lot of me.
  • Chicago - you get "credit" for pleading guilty because its a hell of a lot cheaper than pleading not guilty and taking the case to a full trial.

    Under the sentencing guidelines there's nothing in the factors to be taken into consideration (pages 24 and 25) about the direction from which the assault was made.

    https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Assault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf

    If judges give a tougher sentence than the offence warrants then the defence lawyers will appeal - all at the taxpayers' expense.


  • Under the sentencing guidelines there's nothing in the factors to be taken into consideration (pages 24 and 25) about the direction from which the assault was made.

    It would be a bit bizarre if criminals got treated more favourably because they assaulted someone in a 'sporting' way ;hmm

  • edited March 2019
    Must admit I was pleasantly surprised to hear of a prison sentence, even if he is let out early for good behaviour.

    It sets the bar that getting onto the pitch, which the bloke probably thought was a ‘bit of a laugh’, & engaging in any violent act with a player will bring a minimum of a 3 month period. He probs thought ‘I’ll give that Grealish a good clip round the ear’. Bet he never even considered he’d end up in prison.

    Maybe people feel that is light, but I think that is quite a strong message given he probably had no idea the magnitude of the consequences of what he did. Many people can’t afford to lose 3 months & whilst he may have been unemployed, to other working people that could be career ending & also it’s going to influence his ability to seek work between now & the summer.

    They need to now do similar things for racist abuse. Have fans been imprisoned for abusive racial language before? What happened to that guy at the Chelsea game with the Sterling abuse?
  • Lukerz said:

    They need to now do similar things for racist abuse. Have fans been imprisoned for abusive racial language before? What happened to that guy at the Chelsea game with the Sterling abuse?

    The Chelsea fan was interviewed under caution by the Met and they said they'd be looking at the CCTV but I guess there wasn't enough evidence to prove that the abuse was racist.

    One of the Chelsea fans was interviewed by the Mail and claimed they called Sterling a "Manc" something not a "black" something.
  • The Smalling incident guy appears in court on 26 March.
  • And I bet he is sweating now
  • Down with Brummy, you're going down with the Brummy...
  • edited March 2019
    Just to be clear - I understand that no-one wants to prompt an appeal but when I said that I would have added a penalty for the nature of the assault, what I was getting at was that I would have been reluctant to grant much in the way of credit for the guilty plea.

    I obviously do not know the full circumstances but at face value, the £350 fine appears to be not much more than a token amount, i understand that the financial impact given his newly acquired criminal record and job prospects is far greater than the fine itself so may be meaningful to this guy but, to my mind, it does not post a meaningful message of deterance.

    I was actually quite shocked at this, idiots have run onto the pitch for a bit of laugh playing up to the crowd for decades (at least he kept his clothes on) but this is the first time that I can remember a real attack on a player.
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