Scotland and Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie has been cleared of assaulting a rival fan during a pitch invasion earlier this year.
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court had heard allegations that the 26-year-old had stamped on Nottingham Forest fan George Brinkley after the team beat Sheffield in a play-off semi-final. McBurnie had denied the charge, claiming he had stepped over Brinkley to avoid aggravating an existing injury.
Finding Oli McBurnie, 26, of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, not guilty of a single charge of assault by beating, District Judge Leo Pyle said his judgment was based on evidence heard in court and “not the instant judgment of social media”. The Scotland star had been accused of stamping on Brinkley at Nottingham's City Ground in May.
Brinkley claimed he had been set upon by the striker after shouting at him that he was "**** at football". But in his ruling, the judge said some of the evidence given by the alleged victim had been “somewhat flimsy”.
Judge Pyle had been urged by McBurnie’s barrister to find that “a degree of club bias” was responsible for the accounts given by witnesses to the incident. During her closing speech, McBurnie’s barrister Lisa Judge said the footballer had lifted his boot “like a ballerina” to clear the legs of the complainant, who was “lying on the floor of a pitch he ought not to have been on”.
Clearing McBurnie, District Judge Pyle said of mobile phone footage of the alleged attack: “The defendant’s foot is nowhere near Mr Brinkley’s left shin. He (McBurnie) quickly and clearly lifts his leg up to avoid the complainant.”
