A FOOTBALL hooligan responsible for antisocial behaviour during several Swindon Town Football Club matches has been banned from future events.

Niall Mottram from Affleck Close in Toothill was given a conditional discharge for 12 months after pleading guilty to an antisocial behaviour charge at Swindon Magistrates Court. on Wednesday

He was also given a Football Banning Order banning him from entering the premises of any football match and hotspots like the town centre and pubs on match days in order to prevent further antisocial behaviour.

He will be sent to prison if any breaches are made.

This isn’t the first such order Mottram’s been given, though his previous one was made when he was a juvenile and the punishments for breaching that order were less severe.

This order was made because of an altercation between Mottram and an Exeter City fan in a pub on August 12.

Prosecutor Pauline Lambert described the circumstances of the case.

She said: “It was the first match of the season, Swindon Town played a match against Exeter City at the County Ground at 3pm and the defendant was in Yates’ Wine Bar in Bridge Street.

“A match assistant said he became aware of an incident when he heard a man shout,when he went to calm things down, he saw two Swindon fans and two Exeter fans who were visiting the town to see the match confronting each other.

“He asked the Swindon fans, including Mr Mottram, to leave.

“CCTV shows the two men going to push an Exeter fan, then the Exeter fan picked up a chair in self-defence.

“During his interview, Mr Mottram said he had been at the Sir Daniel Arms and had two pints before going to Yates and admitted that he pushed a man in the chest.

“The Exeter fans were on the opposite table to them and weren’t paying them any attention but Mr Mottram was staring at them and launched himself at one of them, who was returning to the table with a pint.”

Defence solicitor Stephen Collins argued that it was not a football-related incident and so a new Football Banning Order was not necessary.

He said: “Nothing about them distinguished them as Exeter supporters, as far as he’s concerned it was just an altercation in a pub and has nothing to do with football.

“He co-operated with the police and it may well be that his Tourettes impacted his behaviour and how he dealt with this situation.

“The Football Banning Order is a draconian order but he has no problem with it being made.”

Miss Lambert went on to detail his previous anti-social behaviour offences which have all occurred during home and away matches involving STFC.

She said: “He is known to the police as a member of a group of Swindon Town supporters who have a persistent tendency for anti-social behaviour at football events and are often at risk of causing disorder."

“On April 9 2011, he was ejected from a pub during an away game at Brentford and on August 21 2011, he was arrested for shouting at Oxford City supporters.

“On October 22 2011, he was arrested for exposing his genitals on the train home from an away game against Plymouth and this is why he was given the first Football Banning Order.”

Mottram later breached this order by loitering outside a pub full of away supporters by the railway station during another match on March 18 2012, then doing it again on April 28 2012 and hanging around a pub in Bradford during an away match on May 4 2012.

In April 2015, he was involved in a confrontation with Bristol City fans in Bristol and involved in another altercation with Sheffield FC fans in Swindon a month later.

After giving him the new order and the 12-month conditional discharge, chairman of the bench Linda Raine also fined Mottram £105 plus £85 in costs and £20 for victims’ services.