Middlesbrough fan found guilty of racially aggravated 'monkey gestures'
A British football fan has been convicted of making racist gestures at black Blackburn Rovers players during a championship match last year.
Seventy two-year-old Ernest Goult from Middlesbrough was found guilty of making "monkey gestures" at three players including Rudy Gestede who scored a last-minute equalizer against the home team.
The incident happened in November and Goult was spotted making "under-arm" gestures four or five times at Lee Williamson, Rudy Gestede and Markus Olsson. During the hearing in Teesside Magistrates' Court, Williamson said the incident happened after Rovers scored a 94th-minute equalizer.
The players agreed with prosecutor that Gestede was the "pantomime villain" after his injury time goal deprived Middlesbrough of two points.
Goult, a retired steelworker, denied he was racist or that he meant to convey racial hatred but he has been fined £600 and given a three-year football banning order.
‘Soccer hooliganism’
Football incidents are not isolated from day-to-day racial offenses occurring in Britain. The incident has further damaged the already tarnished image of British football in Europe.
Just over a week ago, four Chelsea fans were banned from football matches for chanting racist slogans and pushing a black commuter from a Paris metro train.
The incident occurred ahead of the UEFA Champions League match between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain last February. It was described as “abhorrent, nasty, offensive, arrogant and utterly unacceptable” by the district judge, Gareth Branson.
Mobile footage which later went viral showed the black man named Souleymane Sylla was violently pushed off the carriage while trying to board at the Richelieu-Drouot station in Paris.
One of the four convicts is a former police officer and is currently a director with the World Human Rights Forum. The banning orders against the four fans were issued under section 14B of the Football Spectators Act 1989.
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