TWO Swindon Town football fans who ran on to the pitch and made offensive gestures to Oxford United fans at the local derby match earlier this month have escaped with a fine.

Paul Alan Johnson, 22, of no fixed Swindon address, and James Robert Trott, 23, of Thames Avenue, Haydon Wick, both pleaded guilty to charges of going onto the playing area at Swindon County Ground on February 5 this year and to abusive behaviour when they appeared together before magistrates in Swindon on Wednesday.

Kate Prince, prosecuting, told the court that because there was mutual loathing between the fans of the two teams the match had been arranged for midday on a Sunday and extra police had been drafted in to help control the 10,500 crowd that day.

After the game, at around 1.30pm when Oxford United had scored a 2-1 victory over Swindon, police officers saw two men run across the pitch towards Oxford United supporters.

Johnson, wearing a baseball cap, had bent over and made a mooning gesture towards the Oxford supporters although he did not entirely bare his bottom.

Trott had made antagonistic gestures with his arms towards the Oxford fans.

Both were detained by stewards and then arrested by police officers.

Miss Prince said Trott had previously thrown smoke bombs into a crowd of visiting fans at an earlier match. Johnson had a record of violent offences but these were not football related.

She asked for football banning orders, which carry a minimum of a year’s ban from matches, to be imposed on each of the defendants.

Emma Thacker, defending, said both men had made full admissions of their behaviour when interviewed by police and accepted that their conduct was unacceptable.

She said both were at a loss to explain why they had gone onto the pitch apart from the fact that Swindon Town had not beaten their rivals for a significant time, around 15 years, and their frustrations had bubbled over and they had run towards the Oxford supporters and made the gestures.

“They were caught up in the atmosphere and upset by the scoreline,” Miss Thatcher added.

The magistrates fined Johnson and Trott £166 each for each offence and ordered each to pay £85 court costs plus a victim surcharge of £30.

Bench chairman Christine Smith said their behaviour had not warranted a banning order but she warned: “If you commit further offences I don’t think the bench will hesitate to impose a banning order,” adding, “It is just a game of football.”

Fellow fan Samuel Bladen-Hovell, 20, of Ashbury Avenue, pleaded guilty to going onto the playing area at a football match, in contravention of the Football (Offences) Act 1991.

Magistrates in Swindon heard that Bladen-Hovell, a Swindon Town season ticket holder, had run over the barrier past marshals onto the pitch after the team lost against Oxford United.

Kate Prince, prosecuting, told the court that the Oxford team appeared to be celebrating their win in front of Swindon fans and Bladen-Hovell followed others onto the pitch.

Once on the pitch he was arrested by police.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said Bladen-Hovell was a long-term STFC fan but had never had any issues at a match before.

Once on the pitch he had thought to himself: “What on earth am I doing here,” Mr Glendenning said, adding that it was a mark of the man that after being arrested by police from another force he directed them to the police station.

Bladen-Hovell was studying international studies at university and worked at a local supermarket in his spare time to finance a trip to work with disadvantaged people abroad, Mr Glendenning told the court.

Magistrates fined Bladen-Hovell £80 and ordered him to pay £35 towards court costs and a victim surcharge of £30.

Chairman of the bench Christine Smith told him: “This was a silly incident. Pay the money and you should hear no more about it.”