FOOTBALL hooligans have escaped stadium bans because sheriffs are inconsistently applying laws to stamp out violence and sectarian abuse at matches, according to police.
The warning from senior officers comes as new figures show fewer than one in ten supporters subject to an application by police for a football banning order is actually receiving one.
Football banning orders were introduced in Scotland in 2006
and allow courts to prohibit anyone convicted of a football- related offence from attending any Scottish football ground for up to ten years.
Figures obtained by The Scotsman show that since then police have applied for 482 football banning orders. Some 326 were for alleged violent and disorderly crimes, 128 for sectarian offences and 27 for racism.
Of the cases that have been resolved, 193 resulted in a conviction – but only 43 in a football banning order.
Six of those were orders sought by police retrospectively for Rangers supporters who went on the rampage during the Uefa Cup final in Manchester last year. While they were given banning orders in England, a loophole meant they could not be enforced in Scotland. In a further nine cases, Scottish police, frustrated by the criminal courts, have gone to a sheriff to obtain a football banning order using civil law.
The Scotsman can also reveal that more Aberdeen fans have been made subject to a football banning order than any other set of supporters. Among the 12 handed an order are a number who took part in a brawl with Celtic fans outside a hotel on the outskirts of Aberdeen in 2007.
Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson, the lead officer on football banning orders for the Association of Chief police Officers in Scotland, suggested the orders were "taking time to feed through as a disposal" – because the legislation was still unfamiliar to many sheriffs.
"When similar legislation was introduced south of the Border, we saw the same sort of story around what would appear to be the judiciary not using the legislation. Steps were put in place to address that and we will do something similar to make them more effective."
Police will seek to raise the profile of banning orders, with a presentation already planned at the Judicial Studies Committee, the body responsible for judicial training in Scotland.
