A Scottish football club has lost its main sponsor after repeated incidents of fan violence - including an armed brawl which saw a supporter taken to hospital.
J&D Pierce Contracts had backed Ayrshire Junior team Kilbirnie Ladeside for over 20 years but the Beith-based steelwork contractor pulled the plug on their deal. The club are now banned from wearing their own strips bearing J&D Pierce's logos during games, while signs will be removed from the ground.
The news came just hours after Ladeside's committee said a number of fans had been given lifetime bans from all games - and that the 120-year-old club would fold if fans didn't start to behave themselves.
The developments came after a number of incidents involving fans of the club, nicknamed The Blasties after a Robert Burns poem, including one at the weekend where a fan was allegedly hit with a hammer. We told how a fan was rushed to hospital on Saturday after being badly hurt in a street brawl following the club's second round Scottish Junior Cup tie with Glasgow Perthshire.
The 34-year-old received treatment after being injured as fans wielding weapons clashed in the street outside the Glasgow side's Keppoch Park home ground, in the city's Possilpark area. Fans also threw bottles into their home ground, Valefield Park, in Kilbirnie, in an attempt to injure opposition players during a clash last month.
The club released a statement revealing the action taken against troublesome fans. And just hours later another statement was released revealing the sponsorship bombshell. It read: "They are withdrawing sponsorship support with immediate effect. Their long statement is summarised by the following, 'as a business we cannot be associated or connected with episodes of disorder'."
A Police Scotland spokesperson confirmed enquiries are ongoing into Saturday's violence. The force said previously: “We were made aware of a disturbance involving a large group of people fighting in the Closeburn Street area of Glasgow around 4.30pm on Saturday, 24 September.
"A 34-year-old man has been taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment and enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”
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