Brawling fans banned from matches over terror on Tube platform

FOOTBALL fans from Rotherham who brawled on a platform at a London tube station after their team lost a vital match have been banned from games in England and Wales for three years.

Six other men, also from Rotherham, were given suspended sentences and community service for their part in the fight at King’s Cross.

Violence broke out following Rotherham United’s League Two play-off final against Dagenham and Redbridge at Wembley on Sunday, May 30 last year.

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After the game – which Dag and Red won 3-2 – the eight men boarded a Metropolitan line train heading towards King’s Cross.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said that, when on board, they “became rowdy and started chanting loudly.”

As the train arrived into King’s Cross, a fight broke out between the group and other supporters. Bottles were thrown at the train and passengers were threatened.

The eight men were arrested two months later and were sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court in London on Friday, September 23.

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Both Craig Rockett, 33, of Pepper Close in Rotherham and 26-year-old John Vernon, of Badsley Moor Lane in Rotherham, pleaded guilty to a public order offence and received a three-year football banning order, a four-month suspended prison sentence, must perform 100 hours of community service work and were ordered to pay £200 costs.

Under the ban, Rockett and Vernon must not enter any premises in which football is being played.

On days when Rotherham United or the England national team are playing a home game, they are banned from travelling on the railway network or London Underground transport system.

Another man who should have appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court in connection with the incident has failed to appear and is currently on the run.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of 20-year-old Ben Waddington, from Blackburn in Rotherham, should contact British Transport Police on 0800 405040.