Fucking pleb, this guy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-hurling-banana-skin-at-black-Woolwich-player
A Tottenham fan who threw a banana skin at the Woolwich striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been handed a four-year football ban and fined after magistrates ruled there was a racial element to the incident.
Averof Panteli admitted throwing the banana skin on the pitch after Aubameyang celebrated a goal but denied there was any racial motivation to the incident, with his lawyer claiming the 57-year-old picked it up because it was the closest thing to him.
But magistrates decided there was a racial element after an application was made by the prosecution.
Panteli was fined £500, which includes £100 for the racial element, and told to pay £135 in costs at Highbury Corner magistrates court on Tuesday.
The magistrate, Mervyn Mandell, said: “We find that it was a targeted gesture to throw a banana after a goal was scored by a black player.”
Also handing him a four-year football banning order, Mandell said: “The racial element was there.”
Panteli, who lives in Norwich, pleaded guilty after being charged with throwing a missile on to a football playing area in contravention with the Football (Offences) Act 1991.
The court heard the van driver had been caught on CCTV after Aubameyang, who captains the Gabonese national team, had scored in the 4-2 victory for Woolwich and celebrated in front of the Tottenham away fans at the Emirates stadium on 2 December.
The court heard Panteli, who said he had been attending games since he was seven years old, told a steward who removed him from the stand: “It was not a racial thing. It just happened.”
After being arrested, he told police: “Sometimes you do things in life and say: ‘Why did I do that for?’”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-hurling-banana-skin-at-black-Woolwich-player
A Tottenham fan who threw a banana skin at the Woolwich striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been handed a four-year football ban and fined after magistrates ruled there was a racial element to the incident.
Averof Panteli admitted throwing the banana skin on the pitch after Aubameyang celebrated a goal but denied there was any racial motivation to the incident, with his lawyer claiming the 57-year-old picked it up because it was the closest thing to him.
But magistrates decided there was a racial element after an application was made by the prosecution.
Panteli was fined £500, which includes £100 for the racial element, and told to pay £135 in costs at Highbury Corner magistrates court on Tuesday.
The magistrate, Mervyn Mandell, said: “We find that it was a targeted gesture to throw a banana after a goal was scored by a black player.”
Also handing him a four-year football banning order, Mandell said: “The racial element was there.”
Panteli, who lives in Norwich, pleaded guilty after being charged with throwing a missile on to a football playing area in contravention with the Football (Offences) Act 1991.
The court heard the van driver had been caught on CCTV after Aubameyang, who captains the Gabonese national team, had scored in the 4-2 victory for Woolwich and celebrated in front of the Tottenham away fans at the Emirates stadium on 2 December.
The court heard Panteli, who said he had been attending games since he was seven years old, told a steward who removed him from the stand: “It was not a racial thing. It just happened.”
After being arrested, he told police: “Sometimes you do things in life and say: ‘Why did I do that for?’”