Footballers cleared of brawl assault

TWO players and a coach have been cleared of assault following a mass brawl between two teams during a juniors football match.

Spartans FC assistant manager Jim Rae, 40, was ordered off after allegedly headbutting Livingston Juniors' defender Jonathan Clifford in a bitterly fought 2-2 draw. The 21-year-old was in turn accused of spitting in Rae's face and butting him on the head, while team-mate Mark Wilson was accused of barging Rae to the ground.

Following the brawl, at Spartans' football academy in Edinburgh's Pilton area on October 31 last year, Rae was charged with assault to injury and banned from the club's academy. Clifford was charged with assault while Wilson, 24, faced claims of assault to injury.

But at Edinburgh Sheriff Court recently, all three were told that prosecutors were dropping the cases against them.