A football fan who “taunted” police with a flare amid the chaos following an Angus fixture has been warned his actions could have had “catastrophic” consequences.
The fourth-round Scottish Cup tie between Forfar Athletic and junior side Linlithgow Rose was abandoned due to floodlight failure on January 19.
Station Park then became wreathed in smoke as frustrated visiting supporters, some of whom had been drinking, lit flares in the darkness.
Subsequently Linlithgow man Jordan Kennedy appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and admitted culpably and recklessly throwing a pyrotechnic smoke flare into a stand filled with spectators, to their danger.
The 19-year-old was spared detention and a football banning order for his actions but the court heard that he was no longer welcome at the junior side’s games.
Depute fiscal Kirsten Thomson said “sudden darkness” in the ground combined with alcohol to create “unruly behaviour” in some sections of the crowd before Kennedy ran on to the pitch with a flare.
“He then proceeded to skip around in front of police officers and proceeded to antagonise and taunt them,” the fiscal added.
Solicitor John Hall said the flare was already lit when it came into Kennedy’s possession.
“By the time he arrived at the football stadium he was already highly intoxicated,” he added.
“As to why he did it, he remains unclear.
“He has written a letter of apology to both clubs… he is not welcome at Linlithgow games any longer.”
Kennedy, of Lovells Glen, was sentenced to a year’s social work supervision and 120 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told him: “The fact remains that you went on to a plastic pitch with a lit flare and the consequences could have been catastrophic.
“If that had landed on a child or someone who couldn’t move, it again could have had severe consequences.” A co-accused, Joshua Bell, had previously been handed 60 hours’ unpaid work for running on to the pitch.
The Crown had previously invited the court to consider a football banning order for both men, which was refused.
Bell, 22, of Deanburn Road, Linlithgow, pleaded guilty to running on to the pitch and committing a breach of the peace, which Kennedy denied.
The court heard that Bell was to start a degree in criminology at Falkirk, but Mr Hall said the offence “was not the kind of coursework” he had imagined.