Former Dale player fined for drunken pitch antics

A former Rochdale football player has been fined by the courts for being a drunken nuisance on a Darwen football pitch.

Gary Brown, 23, of Anchor Avenue, Darwen, admitted drinking 20 bottles of lager before using threatening behavior on the pitch with a group of men, one of which was wielding a glass bottle in front of the police.

Blackburn magistrates heard Brown and others had been playing football on an artificial pitch in Olive Lane and when the lights went out they started drinking.

Robert Davidson, 22, of Gordon Street, Darwen, who was wielding the bottle, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay £300.

Brown was ordered to do 150 hours’ unpaid work and pay £100.

District Judge Peter Ward said the police simply asked them to get rid of their drinks and move on. He said: “Most of them did but you two started to cause a problem.” 

“The police should not have to put up with this kind of behaviour and neither should the people who live in this area.”

Brown played for Rochdale until earlier this year when he was released after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.

The court was told he hoped to start work as a coach teaching young children football skills and also hoped to return to the professional football ranks once his injury was fully healed.