Football fan jailed for racially abusing player
A football fan has been sentenced to 9 months in prison for racially abusing a Forest Green Rovers player.
Ryan Ferguson, 24, from Liverpool, was heard shouting racist abuse at Forest Green Rovers player Jordon Garrick at match against Fleetwood Town FC in April 2023.
The court heard Mr Garrick was 'shocked and disgusted to hear racial abuse at work' and Ferguson's word had left a 'scarring memory.'
Ferguson was already subject to a football ban order, after a pitch invasion in 2019. He was sentenced for breaching this eight times. And has been received a new ban of six years.
The sentence also included one charge of obstructing a police constable. As after Ferguson was arrested at the stadium he tried to give a false name to police officers.
The judge said Ferguson was an 'immature and underdeveloped individual that has not learned to treat all individual equally', adding he has 'a real contempt for the law.'
PC Adrian Tuft, from Gloucestershire Police, said: "Nine months imprisonment sends a really strong message to anyone who thinks racist abuse at a football match is acceptable, when it clearly is not.
"It shows the victim we take it seriously and the courts take it seriously. We're all trying to eradicate this behaviour from society and from football."