First football ban for drugs offences, say Staffordshire Police

Tony Bordley was caught by security taking the drug at Burton's Pirelli Stadium last month

A football fan caught taking cocaine at a match has become the first person in the UK to be banned for drug offences, a police force said.

Charlton Athletic fan Tony John Bordley received a three-year banning order at Cannock Magistrates' Court after using the drug at Burton Albion in November.

Staffordshire Police said it was the first football banning order (FBO) to be issued for drug offences.

Bordley, from Kent, admitted using the drug during the League One clash.

Under the new legislation, fans who commit class A drug offences at matches can now be banned for up to 10 years and receive a criminal conviction.

The 52-year-old, of Halt Robin Road, Belvedere, went into a toilet cubicle in the East Stand of the Pirelli Stadium and was heard taking drugs by stadium security staff, who alerted dedicated football officer, PC Rich Lymer, the force said.

The officer approached Bordley after he came out of the cubicle and he then handed over a plastic bag containing cocaine, which was hidden in his wallet.

'Act as a warning'

He was arrested for possessing a class A controlled drug and removed from the ground.

Bordley has now been banned from attending any football match in the UK for the next three years and will be unable to travel abroad to watch England internationals.

He cannot go within two miles of a football match and must surrender his passport when England play away fixtures.

Ch Con Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for football policing, said the court result should act as a warning to other considering taking drugs to a football match.

"Drugs and alcohol continue to be persistent drivers of poor behaviour in football, and wider society, and the introduction of these banning orders is a positive step in tackling the problem," he said.