Post by leicesterlass on May 5, 2006 17:44:23 GMT -1
I'm no thug says gran
A GRANDMOTHER has been banned from attending any football grounds for the next three years after being branded a hooligan. Leicester City season ticketholder Diane McGregor, 52, of Capell Gardens, Corby, was given the ban yesterday after she swiped a fellow supporter with her match programme during a game last season.
McGregor assaulted John Hill at a home match against Nottingham Forest last season after he allegedly called her a "disabled cow".
The altercation came when McGregor told Mr Hill, 36, to support their team rather than criticise after he had offered to sell his season ticket to other fans out of frustration at the team's poor performance in the game, which took place in March last year.
Speaking outside Harborough Magistrates Court yesterday McGregor said: "I am devastated. Along with my grandchildren Leicester City is my life. It is my one social activity, I don't do anything else.
"When I realised I couldn't watch them for three years I was nearly knocked off my feet. If Leicester get promoted while I am banned I will cry. I will be devastated. I feel like a statistic. If there is any trouble at the World Cup and people start talking about the numbers of hooligans with banning orders it is shocking to think that one of those is me."
McGregor admitted to the court that she hit Mr Hill with the programme, but denied punching him on the back of the head during the attack, which happened 15 minutes before the end of the game with Leicester losing 1-0.
She was found guilty of common assault, and given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £414 in costs and compensation, as well as being given the banning order.
McGregor was at the game with her husband Robert and grandson Josh Watkins, 15, and has been a regular at home and away games since 1969. She helped set up the Corby branch of the Leicester City Supporters' Club in 1995 and travelled to Madrid when the team qualified for Europe. She first met her husband at an away game against Tranmere Rovers in the early 1990s.
She is now banned from all grounds in England and Wales and will also have to hand her passport in at a police station when certain major matches take place abroad.
A GRANDMOTHER has been banned from attending any football grounds for the next three years after being branded a hooligan. Leicester City season ticketholder Diane McGregor, 52, of Capell Gardens, Corby, was given the ban yesterday after she swiped a fellow supporter with her match programme during a game last season.
McGregor assaulted John Hill at a home match against Nottingham Forest last season after he allegedly called her a "disabled cow".
The altercation came when McGregor told Mr Hill, 36, to support their team rather than criticise after he had offered to sell his season ticket to other fans out of frustration at the team's poor performance in the game, which took place in March last year.
Speaking outside Harborough Magistrates Court yesterday McGregor said: "I am devastated. Along with my grandchildren Leicester City is my life. It is my one social activity, I don't do anything else.
"When I realised I couldn't watch them for three years I was nearly knocked off my feet. If Leicester get promoted while I am banned I will cry. I will be devastated. I feel like a statistic. If there is any trouble at the World Cup and people start talking about the numbers of hooligans with banning orders it is shocking to think that one of those is me."
McGregor admitted to the court that she hit Mr Hill with the programme, but denied punching him on the back of the head during the attack, which happened 15 minutes before the end of the game with Leicester losing 1-0.
She was found guilty of common assault, and given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £414 in costs and compensation, as well as being given the banning order.
McGregor was at the game with her husband Robert and grandson Josh Watkins, 15, and has been a regular at home and away games since 1969. She helped set up the Corby branch of the Leicester City Supporters' Club in 1995 and travelled to Madrid when the team qualified for Europe. She first met her husband at an away game against Tranmere Rovers in the early 1990s.
She is now banned from all grounds in England and Wales and will also have to hand her passport in at a police station when certain major matches take place abroad.