Legislation proved difficult to manage

THE Offensive Behaviour at Football Act was unpopular with fans and proved to be problematic for prosecutors and judges alike.

In 2012, Celtic fan Dion McLeish, 20, was charged after he was filmed at Dundee’s Dens Park singing Roll of Honour, which celebrates Irish terrorist hunger strikers.

In court the next year, Dundee sheriff Richard Davidson said the legislation was “horribly drafted”, adding: “Mince comes to mind.”

He said under the terms of the law, there might even be a problem with those who attend Murrayfield and sing Flower of Scotland.

It is thought he meant that the anthem could be seen as anti-English and therefore racist and sectarian.

Sheriff Davidson added: “If they can proscribe a list of songs which people are banned from singing, they will find the courts are full and the football grounds are empty.” McLeish, of Clydebank, was cleared.

In 2013, Dundee sheriff Kenneth Hogg cleared Rangers fan Richard Scroggie, 48, who had called Dundee United’s Willo Flood a “Fenian b*****d” at Tannadice.

He branded the Act “confusing” and “very difficult to wade through”.

Scroggie, of Johnstone, Renfrewshire, was cleared of breaching the Football Act but was convicted of breaching the peace.

The following year Darren Murphy, from Coatbridge, was given a fiveyear football banning order for sectarian singing at an Airdrie game.

He was seen singing two sectarian songs in support of terrorist organisations during the match between Airdrieonians and Rangers at New Broomfield.

The 21-year-old was found guilty of breaching the Football Act and was fined £400 by an Airdrie sheriff.

Last year, a bigot who shouted sectarian abuse at Celtic Park was fined £300.

Drunk Linfield fan Scott Colville, a 46-year-old greengrocer from Northern Ireland, was fined £300 for singing “Fenian “b*****ds” in the song Super Rangers.

Glasgow sheriff Brian Cameron told him: “I think the wrath of your wife will be more than the punishment I’m going to hand out.”

Government figures show that in 2016-17, 377 charges were brought that were related to the Act. It was nearly a third more than the 286 charges reported in 2015-16 and the highest since the Act was introduced.

The increase included 140 charges at one game, the Rangers v Hibernian Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park in May 2016.

Of the 377 persons reported in 2016-17, 373 were men. Thirty-one per cent involved an accused aged 20 or under, with 39 per cent aged 21-30 and 30 per cent aged 31 or older.

The majority of the charges (69 per cent) occurred at a football stadium.

Court proceedings were commenced in 337 of the 377 charges and of 196 concluded cases, there were 145 convictions.