Hearts fan fined and banned for offensive gestures

A HEARTS fan, who was arrested after making “scissor-snipping” gestures with his fingers towards supporters of Tottenham Hotspur during a Europa Cup match at Tynecastle Stadium, has been fined £220 and banned from football grounds in Scotland for six months.

Stuart Atkinson, 36, of East Craigs Rigg, Edinburgh, had pled guilty previously at the city’s Sheriff Court to committing a breach of the peace by repeatedly making the gestures causing the Spurs’ fans to react to the alarm and annoyance of others on August 18 last year.

Sentence was deferred until today for background reports.

Sheriff William Holligan was told that the stadium was packed to capacity and that Atkinson was sitting in close proximity to the Spurs’ fans. He began making gestures with his hands, imitating “scissor snipping”.

The Tottenham supporters had informed the police, who looked up and saw Atkinson still making the same gestures. The away supporters, the Sheriff heard, were standing up and shouting angrily at him.

Defence solicitor, Graeme Runcie, said the first leg Europa Cup tie had been “an incredibly one-sided game”.

Hearts were beaten 5-0 and his client had acted on an impulse in the heat of the moment by standing up and making the “scissor-like motions”.

The Sheriff asked about the movement and Mr Runcie told him that Tottenham Hotspur were a team associated with the Jewish culture.

“They are not shy in expressing that culture” he said. “One can only assume the scissor-type motion might have something to do with circumcision which is commonly associated with the Jewish faith”.

Mr Runcie said Atkinson accepted he had “over-stepped the mark”, but he added it had been “banter and interplay between two sets of supporters”.

His client, he said, had already suffered because of his actions. He had been a season ticket holder at Tynecastle for a considerable number of years and his £400 ticket had been suspended and as a result of media interest, Atkinson had lost his job as a transport manager.

The Crown had asked for a Football Banning Order to be imposed, but, said the solicitor, his client’s actions had come at the lower end of the scale. There had been no violence.

“The game of football is adversarial. It is part and parcel of the game” said Mr Runcie.

Fining Atkinson £220 and imposing the six month ban, Sheriff Holligan said the supporters of the other team had been angered by the gestures and the gestures had provoked a response.