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A man has been banned from attending football matches after beating up a stadium steward in a row over vaping.
Tomas Coxe was attending a match between Forest Green Rovers and Aldershot Town last year when he saw two other fans being kicked out of the stadium.
During the first half of the game, the two other fans were caught vaping in the toilets in breach of the New Lawn stadium rules and kicked out.
A number of men started complaining to stewards about the ejections and Coxe, 46, joined in, growing increasingly agitated until security staff decided he should also be removed.
Coxe was caught on CCTV lunging forward and punching a staff member while they tried to kick him out of the stadium.
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He punched one man in the head three times before swinging at another steward, continually shouting threats.
Coxe, of Swift Road in Farnham, Hampshire, was then detained by police.
He pleaded guilty to using threatening words to harass the stewards at the match, and was given a three-year ban.
Coxe was also ordered to take part in 140 hours of community service and pay £200 in compensation to his victims.
Dedicated football officer PC Adrian Tuft, from Gloucestershire Constabulary, said: ‘We will always take action against anyone who thinks they can assault stewards, be it physically or verbally, and get away with their actions.
‘Our aim is to always ensure that staff working at and fans watching football games can have a safe and enjoyable time.’
Mark Smith, safety officer at Forest Green Rovers, added: ‘We employ stewards to ensure that fans can have an enjoyable and safe match day experience; it is not acceptable for a member of our staff to be assaulted whilst at work.
‘We have an excellent CCTV system that operates in all areas of our ground and which captured the whole of this deplorable incident.
‘We will continue to provide our full support to the police to ensure that offenders can be prosecuted when necessary.’
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