Under existing regulations, the banned 41 could have attended grounds that had never hosted league football. That meant 14 grounds in this season's Conference. But league rules allow clubs to deny entry to any individual and Moules has instructed his member clubs to invoke this rule. The ban would have kept the thugs out of grounds like Halifax's Shay and York's Bootham Crescent but not Canvey Island's Park Lane or Farnborough's Cherrywood Road. Moules acted after The Non-League Paper, the weekly newspaper that covers the Conference and all major non-league football, contacted him after reading of the loophole in the Cumbrian press. Moules said: "We have a league rule that allows our clubs to refuse entry to whomever they wish. I have now informed them about these people and they have all agreed to ban them. We will also be pushing the Home Office for a change in the law of the land as well." Detective Constable Ian Hodgson, the football liasion officer for Cumbria, said: "A total of 41 people are banned from home games, England games and all League grounds. It would help us greatly if the government could amend the legislation to ban them from Conference grounds as well." Hodgson has been working with the club to rid United of a hooligan problem and pointed to a reduced number of incidents last season as proof that the effort was paying off. "Two seasons ago, we had serious incidents at Hartlepool and York when more than 40 people were arrested. Last year there were only eight. We tackled the problem head on and that's why there were so many arrests and banning orders." Picture from News & Star |
