An Aldi worker could be banned from football matches after she launched a flare at a referee.
Abbie-Leigh Reay was arrested after she grabbed the missile and threw it toward the referee and goalkeeper after her team Tranmere Rovers went 3-0 down in a pivotal League Two match against Forest Green Rovers last season. As the flare landed next to referee Lee Swabey and Forest Green goalkeeper Luke McGee, CCTV managed to capture Reay as she threw her arms up in celebration.
Police later stopped the 23-year-old as she left Prenton Park stadium after the team were battered 4-0 in the top-of-the-table clash. At Sefton Magistrates Court, Reay of New Chester Road, Bebington, denied the charge of throwing a missile onto a football playing area under the Football (Offences) Act 1991 but she was convicted after the trial.
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She now faces a football banning order which would see her banned from visiting any sports ground in the UK. The incident, which took place on January 29 this year, happened just after halftime when Forest Green scored their third of the match and a number of items were discarded onto the pitch by angry homes fans towards McGee from the Kop end of the ground.
Reay was seen bending down and then throwing a flare onto the pitch before throwing her hands in the air in celebration when the missile lands on the pitch. She was stopped leaving the ground and questioned at her home.
A PC patrolling Prenton Park said in a statement: “She did admit throwing the flare. She said she felt it hit her and landed on the floor and then in a kind of panic she has thrown it away. She mentioned that she was just scared and that it was burning near her so she picked it up. She didn't know what to do and her first thought was to throw it away on the pitch.”
Representing herself, Reay, said the flare had been brought by some "lads" behind her and she had thrown it onto the pitch in a ''panic'' to protect her partner Libby Case and brother Joel. She insisted that she was not celebrating when threw her arms in the air.
She said: "We had moved a couple of seats in front of these lads but they rocked down and that's when the flare has come and it was smoking at my feet."
Reay added: "'Joel was on one side and my partner was on the other side and the first thing I thought was to get it away. I threw it directly onto the football pitch. I then turned around and told the lads to ‘F*** off.’ I've been going to Tranmere all my life and I hate things like this.
"I literally had nowhere else to put it. It happened so quickly and the next thing I knew I was getting arrested."
Libby told the hearing. "The lads told us that they had flares in their pockets. After halftime, the flare ended up on my feet. I am asthmatic, I did not want to be inhaling the smoke, so I just panicked. Abbie panicked and just picked it up and threw it and the police turned up.
"The lads behind did say it was not her flare."
Talking about how she had been seen speaking to her partner before hitting her her on the arm, Libby added: "I was not happy with her throwing it. I said 'you could have just put it on the floor' but I think she just panicked. She gave the lads a mouthful and I'm not going to repeat what she said.
"I did say to Abbie, ‘that needs to go now’ but I did not expect her to pick the flare up and throw it on the pitch. I thought she was just going to throw it over the wall."
Reay's older sister Megan, who was also at the match, said: "Abbie felt something hit her back. She turned around and saw it was a flare and picked it up. Libby has asthma and she was with Joel so, Abbie threw it on the pitch. She put her arms up and turned to the people behind her as if to say, ‘what the f***?’"
Find Reay guilty, District Judge James Hatton said: "You can be seen to throw the flare onto the path. It's clearly thrown in the direction of the goalkeeper and the referee stood near the goal, presumably because of the disorder on the pitch.
"You have given an account of what happened and there are substantial differences between what you have said and your two witnesses.
"There are significant levels of inconsistencies between the three accounts. I have looked very carefully at the CCTV. The flare was not smoking prior to you picking it up. There was no hint of panic in either yourself or in Libby Case when you were caught on CCTV.
"You simply picked it up and threw it towards the referee and the goalkeeper. Thereafter you put your arms in what was clearly an act of celebration. There is no other explanation for it. It is extremely clear and I reject your account in its entirety."
Reay is set to be sentenced in September. Following the match, Tranmere Rover's chairman Mark Palios released a statement promising that those who were responsible for throwing items on the pitch would be banned from the stadium irrespective of police action.
He said: "We take a zero-tolerance approach to these incidents. Tranmere is a family club and we want all spectators to be able to enjoy a game without it being spoiled by the actions of a mindless minority.
'"Any person encroaching on the pitch, throwing items on the pitch or doing anything to endanger supporters will be issued with an automatic stadium ban, quite apart from any criminal sanctions that the police may invoke."
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