A FOOTBALL fan was jailed for 16 weeks yesterday after he admitted attacking a goalkeeper during a televised football match.
Aaron Cawley, 21, from Cheltenham, pleaded guilty to assault and invading the pitch during Sheffield Wednesday’s home match against Leeds United on Friday night.
Cawley, who appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court, was arrested after Wednesday keeper Chris Kirkland was pushed in the face during the game at Hillsborough stadium.
Kirkland, who has played for England, was shoved to the ground moments after conceding an equaliser in the 76th minute.
Unemployed labourer Cawley stood in the glass-fronted dock wearing a blue T-shirt that left an “LUFC” tattoo clearly visible on his neck and a Leeds United club crest on his right arm.
The court heard that he had been the subject of two football banning orders in the past, which he had breached four times.
Despite living with his mother in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, he had supported Leeds United all his life and went to every game – home and away, a district judge was told.
Prosecutor Paul Macaulay said Cawley told police he was so drunk he could not remember the incident, which has been seen by millions of TV viewers.
Mr Macaulay said Cawley told officers he had drunk a number of cans of strong lager on Friday morning, followed by three-quarters of a litre of vodka – all before he got to Sheffield by train.
Once in Sheffield, he had seven to ten pints of cider, the court heard.
District Judge Redhouse heard that Cawley, of Blenheim Square, Cheltenham, only realised what he had done when other people told him and then he saw himself clearly on TV.
He e-mailed the police to say sorry.
The prosecutor said Kirkland was not seriously injured and Cawley was quickly identified as the perpetrator on the internet.
“This was not the most difficult police investigation,” Mr Macaulay said.
The court was told that Kirkland made a victim impact statement that said: “I feel shocked, upset and angry.
“I think the man is a thug and should be caught and put jail.”
Cawley admitted common assault and going on to a football pitch.
He was jailed for 16 weeks, ordered to pay £85 costs and given a six-year football banning order.
One of the conditions is for him to stay at least a mile away from stadiums where Leeds United are playing on match days.