A man has been banned from attending regulated football matches after he threatened and threw punches at stewards last year (2024).
Tomas Coxe, aged 46 and of Swift Road in Farnham, Hampshire was given a three-year football banning order on Wednesday 2 July after pleading guilty to a Section 4 Public Order offence.
Coxe, who is an Aldershot Town fan, came to the attention of police after he was involved in an altercation over the ejection of two other fans during an away match at Forest Green Rovers’ The New Lawn on Saturday 21 December 2024.
During the first half of the game two young men had been asked to leave the stadium after they were caught vaping in the toilets which is a breach of the stadium rules.
A number of men began to complain to stewards and security staff about the ejections and this is when Coxe became increasingly agitated and security staff took the decision that he should be ejected too.
Coxe lunged forward and began to punch out at the security staff whilst they were attempting to remove him.
He had also shouted threats at the stewards and so was detained by police officers in order for his details to be taken.
Coxe was later postal charged and pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
As well as receiving the banning order, Coxe was ordered to take part in 140 hours of community services and pay £200 in compensation to his victims.
Dedicated Football Officer PC Adrian Tuft from Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “We will always take action against anyone who thinks they can assault stewards, be it physically or verbally, and get away with their actions.
“Our aim is to always ensure that staff working at and fans watching football games can have a safe and enjoyable time.”
Mark Smith, Safety Officer at Forest Green Rovers, added: “We employ stewards to ensure that fans can have an enjoyable and safe match day experience; it is not acceptable for a member of our staff to be assaulted whilst at work.
“We have an excellent CCTV system that operates in all areas of our ground and which captured the whole of this deplorable incident.
“We will continue to provide our full support to the police to ensure that offenders can be prosecuted when necessary.”
