Banbury board express fears of big punishment after fan trouble in game against Chester

The Banbury United board express fears of receiving a big punishment after fan trouble in last weekend’s game against Chester.

The club’s board of directors have took to social media with a message to the National League North‘s side supporters.

Banbury picked up all three points with Tope Obadeyi taking it down well and got the shot off, finding it’s way straight into the bottom corner after just two minutes of the first half.

The board have now said that they are awaiting letters detailing the fines they will be ordered to pay and that they would rather spend the money on players and ground improvements.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬!#UTP pic.twitter.com/K7xjH3SgAC

— Banbury United FC (@BanburyUnitedFC) August 19, 2023

BANBURY STATEMENT

Dear Banbury United supporters,

As we head into a new week with the uplift of a second win on the trot for our men’s first team, the Club awaits the inevitable arrival of letters from the FA detailing the fines we have to pay following the throwing of flares and other items at our match v Chester FC on Saturday.

It is likely that the incidents during Saturday’s match have cost the Club several hundreds of pounds – money that could otherwise be spent on players, ground improvements and other items we’d all like to benefit from. It is somewhat ironic to witness these incidents on the same weekend as the Spencer Villa Fund was launched, to help boost the Club’s player budget.

Our message to anyone looking to create or participate in a disorder is that you are not welcome at the Banbury United Plant Hire Community Stadium. We take the breaching of our ground regulations very seriously as well as the threat to the prosperity and reputation of our community-owned Club. Fans should take confidence that this misbehaviour is being dealt with, in conjunction with our security team and authorities, which will result in disciplinary action being taken.

As a reminder, please read our ground regulations…

Banbury United reserves the right to refuse admission to the ground, or to eject from the ground, any person who fails to comply with these ground regulations.

The following items are prohibited and may not be brought into the ground by spectators:- alcohol, knives, glasses or glass bottles, fireworks, smoke bombs or pyros, aerosol/gas canisters, any article likely to cause injury, any article prohibited under law, any article likely to cause annoyance to other spectators.

The following are prohibited and may not be undertaken within the ground:-

the throwing of any object within the ground without lawful authority or excuse, the chanting of anything of an indecent or racist nature, the use of threatening behaviour, foul or abusive language, the entry onto the playing area or any adjacent area to which spectators are not generally admitted without lawful authority or excuse. In addition, spectators shall comply with any request from Club staff or appointed match stewards.

We are well aware that most people reading this are not part of the handful of culprits of this detrimental behaviour. However, we hope that through this communication and the networks of you, our true fans, we can manage to push out the signal that Banbury United Football Club is more strictly enforcing its ground regulations this season. Disciplinary action can range from Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) to lengthy or lifetime bans. We are currently planning the introduction of CCTV cameras to support this.

Thank you for doing what you can to help your Club maintain and nurture its family atmosphere and positive sporting trajectory. Let’s build our resilience together as one Club and protect what we all love.

We look forward to welcoming home and away fans, players and officials to our next home match v Buxton FC on Bank Holiday Monday, August 28th 3pm. See you there!

#WeAreUnited

The Board of Directors
Banbury United Football Club

Twitter users reacted as Banbury board express fears of a big punishment after fan trouble in the game against Chester…

@markhudsonjones: I was furious to see those flares thrown. These people aren’t genuine Banbury United fans. They are just using the club as a platform to cause trouble. I suspect they were only there because we were playing Chester. Can provision be made for fans to contribute towards the fines? Twitter users reacted as Banbury board express fears of a big punishment after fan trouble in game against Chester…

@meadows_liam: We ain’t got a multi millionaire owner to pay these fines like a lot of clubs. We own our club and the fines come out of our pockets nobody else’s 🤷‍♂️ anybody who genuinely supports us wouldn’t be throwing things onto the pitch or flairs at other fans etc

@SpencerReds: The stewards did a great job & ejected a person immediately after throwing an object. A lot of these fences goers are once in a blue moon fans who probably still thinks gio & babos are in midfield. It you care enough & threw stuff bring yourself forward to raise 💰 for the fines.

@alcock_glenn: Well done @BanburyUnitedFC. A shame the minority ruin it for the majority