Four banned from football grounds for homophobic chants at Tottenham game
Eleven people have appeared at Portsmouth Magistrate’s Court on charges of indecent chanting.
The three accused under the age of 16 pleaded not guilty, along with four others.
Four men pleaded guilty.
Sol Campbell, a Portsmouth player, was subjected to racial and homophobic abuse at a game in Portsmouth on September 28th.
The magistrate placed reporting restrictions on a 13-year-old defendant but said the two 15-year-olds on trail deserved to be treated like adults.
The court was told that chants of “gay boy” and “You are a Judas **** with HIV” were directed towards Campbell, who left Tottenham for north London rivals Arsenal in 2001.
Four men, Stuart Turner, 34, of Telford, Keith Stevens, 54, of Hailsham, Oliver Sylvester, 28, of Southampton and Richard Gibbs, 36, of Wokingham, pleaded guilty.
They were fined £500 each and banned from football grounds for three years.
The seven defendants who pleaded not guilty will be tried on May 13th.
Indecent or racist chanting is an offence under the Football Offences Act 1991 and carries a fine of up to £1,000 and a football banning order.
“They were charged with indecent chanting at a football match using words which were essentially swearwords,” a police spokesperson said.
“They weren’t appropriate to be used at all, especially where there were children and we received a number of complaints.”
Last month Hampshire police published pictures of 16 people wanted in connected with the incident at Fratton Park.
Five men are still being sought.
