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Labour MSP James Kelly raises the issue of conviction rates.

Mr Kelly says the COPFS say convicton rates are pretty good.

Jeanette Findlay from Fans Against Criminalisation says conviction rates can be based on the year of the charge, but what is reported is comleted cases in a year.

Ms Findlay says lets say there are 300 charges and only 150 are completed then the conviction rate is calculated by the smaller number.

She says this is not the true conviction rate which is never properly reported.

Ms Findlay says the real conviction rate is about 30% from all the convictions since 2011.

Mr Kelly asks for that analysis to be presented to the committee.

Labour MSP James Kelly says the committee heard from the Law Society that there would not be a gap in the law.

Supporters Direct Scotland head Andrew Jenkin says it is unfair that football supporters in Scotland should be criminalised.

Mr Kelly asks if the repeal of this legislation would make the approach towards eradicating some behaviours easier.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chief executive Paul Goodwin says something would have to give for fans and the authorities to work together.

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SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson says since 1989 there have been 87 pieces of legislation in the UK that have football in their title and he asks if all 87 pieces of leg should be abolished

Supporters Direct Scotland head Andrew Jenkin says he would like to know why they were specific to football.

Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation tries to answer but Committee Convener Margaret Mitchell says he can answer in correspondence.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chair Simon Barrow says legislation which just applies to football fans is unacceptable.

Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation says "we support an outright repeal".

Mr Quigley says he does not think criminalising offensiveness would be right for wider society.

He says the lack of conviction does not make up for turning people's lives upside down.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chief executive Paul Goodwin says this Act should not be specific across sport.

Mr Goodwin says "this is a PR mess that needs fixed" and "it is not sending out a good message about Scottish football".

"The Act has bad credibility," he says.

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Jeanette Findlay from Fans Against Criminalisation says there appears to be a lack of prosecutorial independence which is even more concerning.

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor says he is far from convinced that repeal of the Act would not send out the wrong message.

Mr MacGregor asks where the witness stands on amendments to the Act rather than repeal.

Supporters Direct Scotland head Andrew Jenkin says his organisation does not believe in football specific legislation so widening the legislation to all society would be supported.

Supporters Direct Scotland head Andrew Jenkin says statistics show that fans were aware of a greater police presence but, according to those fans, behaviour had not changed as a result of that.

Mr Jenkin says Supporters Direct feel that clubs could be doing more.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chief executive Paul Goodwin says there is far less trust in the police and the policing of football matches has deteriorated over the last 10 years.

Mr Goodwin says when fans at a Partick Thistle v Falkirk match, where fans were doing the conga, the police filmed the fans and threatened them with an arrest.

He says: "It is certainly not in a good place."

Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation says fans' enjoyment has been dramatically changed by this Act.

Mr Quiglay says in his own experience, as a Celtic fan, you are filmed from getting off this bus until you get back on it.

He says the level of surveillance does not take place anywhere else and it has damaged the relationship between fans and the police.

Mr Quiglay says police have applied it over zealously in some instances.

Labour MSP Mary Fee asks if the guidelines to the 2012 Act are sufficient.

Jeanette Findlay from Fans Against Criminalisation says very low conviction rates would suggest there is a problem.

Ms Findlay says the Crown Office clearly did not have information on appeals but "we do".

She says the Lord Advocate's guidelines might have seemed reasonable but the outcome in case law shows that they are not adequate but that may be because the original draft of the Act was not adequate.

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Jeanette Findlay from Fans Against Criminalisation says she is supportive of people conducting hate crime being brought to justice, but not under this Act.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chair Simon Barrow says the questions is about when speech should be criminalised.

Mr Barrow says he attends a ground where someone nearby's enjoyment appears to be criticising the officials,sometimes interrupted by football, and much of what he says is offensive.

He questions whether that person should be criminalised.

Mr Macpherson asks when the Act covers banners in support of terrorist organisations if Ms Findlay is against that.

Ms Findlay says that is "insulting" and that she is against sectarianism.

She says that, by enlarge, this Act is not capturing hate crime.

Ms Findlay says it is leaving citizens open to charge by a police officer who may deem something to be offensive.

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SNP MSP Ben Macpherson says he does not know what behaviours the witnesses want to do that this Act is preventing.

Jeanette Findlay from Fans Against Criminalisation says the behaviours that are prevented are any behaviour that any police officer regards as offensive to a person may not be there.

Ms Findlay says almost all cases are prosecuted.

She says the concern is that you could be doing anything that a police officer might find offensive.

Ms Findlay says she is not prevented from doing anything but she sees young men being charged and being put through all of that disruption which should not be an offence in a civilised democracy.

SNP MSP Maurice Corry asks what is meant by divisions in the submissions and what can be done to resolve them.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chief executive Paul Goodwin says the very nature of football itself is that fans are divided by divisions because of loyalty to their clubs.

Mr Goodwin says that fans opinions are being excluded from the game and that the big divisions are brought about by the game becoming more corporate.

Mr Corry asks if this would be helped by the repeal of the Act.

Mr Goodwin says he does not think the two are linked.

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A bid to scrap a controversial law aimed at tackling sectarian behaviour at football has been officially lodged at the Scottish Parliament.

Labour MSP James Kelly has brought forward a Member's Bill to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.

The law came into force in 2012 after the SNP used its majority in the last Scottish Parliament to pass the Act.

But after losing its majority at the last Holyrood election, the government faces defeat on the issue.

All of the other parties at Holyrood have called for the bill to be scrapped, with MSPs uniting in November to back a motion calling for its repeal by 64 votes to 63.

Opponents of the law say it is poorly written, unnecessary in light of existing legislation and unfairly targets football fans, with the Fans Against Criminalisation campaign group staging protests against it.

But the Scottish government has defended the law, arguing that opponents have not put forward any viable alternatives and that scrapping it would send out the wrong message on prejudice and offensive behaviour.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay asks if the panel would be in favour of this act if it did not include "at football".

Scottish Football Supporters Association chief executive Paul Goodwin says a big part of this was "horrific PR" when this "emergency Act" was created.

Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation says this criminalises football fans and is therefore discriminatory.

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor asks if the Act was extended to sport grounds and other venues would Mr Quigely be comfortable with that.

Mr Quigely says this legislation was introduced as an emergency after the "so-called shame game".

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That refers to an ill-tempered Scottish Cup replay at Celtic Park in 2011 which was described as "shameful".

Three Rangers players were sent off during the tie, which also saw several touch-line and tunnel confrontations and 34 arrests inside the stadium.

At that game 16 people were arrested within the grounds of Celtic Park for alleged offences of a sectarian nature.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor asks what message a repeal of the Act would send out.

Scottish Football Supporters Association chair Simon Barrow says many football fans feel they are being targeted unfairly.

Mr Barrow says, what makes fans feel safe, is the way clubs and fan groups deal with issues.

He says the primary messages fans pick up are the ones which come locally.