Rival fan banned for three years after taking firework to Mansfield Town football match

Stevenage FC fan Caleb Hough was carrying a "large flare" which was sniffed out by a detection dog and said by a security guard to be "bigger than the normal smoke grenades we normally get", on April 22.

Catherine Wilson, prosecuting, said 22-year-old Hough told police, "I was just going to hold it," before he was given a disposal order and told to leave Mansfield town centre.

His solicitor said Hough, of previous good character, had bought the firework for £10 from Amazon after seeing it advertised for weddings and baby showers and said he had seen numerous fans taking them to matches.

“He initially told officers he didn't have anything on him because he thought they were looking for drugs,” she said.

“There has been a recent crackdown.

The court heard the refrigeration engineer’s work could be affected if he is banned from going within three miles of football stadiums.

His solicitor said Hough is a "non-risk supporter unlikely to engage in disorderly, criminal or anti-social behaviour" and the offence was “completely out of character”.

Hough, of The Oval, Nailstone, Nuneaton, admitted the offence when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

He was fined £153 and ordered to pay a £61 surcharge and £85 costs.

The presiding magistrate told him: ""We can’t escape the fact you travelled to a football match with pyrotechnics.

"You spent good money on it and had it on your person. You were going to do something with it.

“If you have attended or watched many football matches you will know the moment a flare is let off in the crowd the person involved is invariably ejected by the scruff of the neck.”

A football banning order was imposed for three years “to help prevent violence and disorder in football matches” and Hough must go to Mansfield police station to get full details of the order.

He must also surrender his passport when certain matches are being played outside the UK.