Bristol Rovers fined £16,500 by FA for crowd trouble in Scunthorpe promotion game
- Published
Fans piled on to the pitch for the second time at the Memorial Ground when Bristol Rovers' promotion was secured
Bristol Rovers have been fined £16,500 by the Football Association for fan disorder during their 7-0 final-day win over Scunthorpe last season.
Rovers secured automatic promotion to League One in the match on 7 May.
The FA cited incidents of a fan assaulting Scunthorpe goalkeeper Owen Foster, smoke devices being thrown and an 85th-minute pitch invasion which sparked a 20-minute delay to the match.
Rovers admitted the charges and have also been given a warning by the FA.
The report by the regulatory commission stated that while the club had prepared for the risk of a pitch invasion at the end of the match, they had "no adequate plan" for such an incident during the game.
It added the steps taken - such as deploying an additional 22 stewards for the match - "fell some way short" of sufficient.
A lack of supporter searches entering the ground was cited, given the number of smoke devices used, while the commission were "concerned" that requested CCTV footage had been deleted by the club.
Spectators first ran on to the pitch following Elliot Anderson's goal, which made the score 7-0 and moved Rovers above Northampton into an automatic promotion spot.
Fans then invaded for a second time at full-time, when Joey Barton's side were confirmed as having returned to League One.
Foster, 17, told referee Charles Breakspear he was "pushed by a spectator and a clenched fist made contact with his neck/jaw", the report stated, with a boy later cautioned and banned from attending games for a "fixed period" after admitting to the assault.
Breakspear also reported being abused, and that a spectator "attempted to grab him".
Rovers are having to play their first two home matches of the season at reduced capacity, because of crowd trouble both at the Scunthorpe game and the match against Forest Green in April.
The club have received three previous fines, dating back to November 2018, for breaches of the FA rule E20. The most recent, a £7,500 fine in November 2019 for homophobic chanting by spectators, led to an action plan for the club to review the quality of its stewarding.
But because of the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of any issues or complaints, the FA had not returned to audit the club.
Everton, Huddersfield and Port Vale are still waiting on the outcome of charges relating to incidents of fan disorder, which occurred towards the end of last season.