Vile football fan lands long ban and fine after racist gesture at Son Heung-min
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A football fan who made a racist gesture towards Tottenham forward Son Heung-min has received a three-year ban from all matches.
Robert Garland, 44, was handed the punishment after making the gesture during Spurs' 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May last season. He pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment in court earlier this year.
Garland committed the act as Son was being substituted off in the final minutes of the clash and has since been handed a fine and ordered to carry out community service. Prosecutors, however, pushed for a banning order as the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed he will not be able to attend any matches for three years. The 44-year-old will also be forced to surrender his passport during international matches.
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At the time, the incident immediately spread across social media as Palace issued a club ban to the fan when noticing the video. The Spurs forward had told police that he did "nothing to be targeted with this horrible racist and discriminatory behaviour".
A stringent warning has been made by the CPS to football fans who decide to show discriminatory behaviour as Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Douglas Mackay has warned: "It has a massive impact on the game, the players and fans.
"Not only will the CPS look to prosecute anyone making vile gestures or actions, we will ask courts to ban them from the sport they say they love. Anyone committing offences this season runs the risk of being banned from seeing their national team play in Euro 2024 as well as travelling abroad during that time, limiting summer holiday plans."
The South Korean icon was named captain of the North London club by new manager Ange Postecoglou who has since led Spurs to a blistering start to the season where they went unbeaten in the first 10 games of the Premier League season.
In what was the game of the season so far, they were handed their first defeat by Chelsea on Monday (November 6) having lost 4-1 at home as they endured red cards to Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie. The clash was chockful of action as Spurs also suffered first-half injuries to Micky van de Ven and James Maddison.
- Tottenham Hotspur FC
- Premier League
- Crystal Palace FC
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