By Cara Sulieman
A FAN was cautioned by police for waving a Swastika during a junior football match, it was revealed yesterday.
The man in his mid-20s was clocked by officers at the Emirates Scottish Junior Cup tie between Bathgate Thistle and Bo’ness United at the weekend.
The Bo’ness supporter was then asked to take down the eight foot high flag emblazoned with the Nazi emblem.
It came after complaints of sectarian songs being sung in pubs before the game, and sick chants about Vicky Hamilton’s murder during the match.
“Out of order”
One fan, who was at the game, said: “There’s no need for that in society, never mind at a football game.
“No one minds a bit of rivalry between clubs, especially at Scottish Cup games where a bit of needle is expected.
“But that is completely out of order.
“It’s got nothing to do with football. Their granddads probably fought and died against the Nazis.”
A police spokesman said: “A person was warned by police to discard the flag and this was done straight away.”
“Idiots”
Bo’ness chairman Dougie Sneddon said that a group of “so-called fans” had been causing problems for a while, and had targeted the club’s big matches in the Junior Scottish Cup against local rivals Linlithgow in recent years.
He said: “We have been trying to get rid of that crowd for a long time and don’t want them following us.
“They’re damaging our clubs reputation.
“For big matches we have to hire extra security on top of the police, and this costs us half our gate money.
“It’s a very awkward situation but what can we do about it? We have all our buses vetted by police before we travel.
“We really can’t do any more.
“We have an official supporters club with a lot of good youngsters who follow us and we only want people who have the club’s best interest at heart to come along to our games.
“We are a well supported family club with a lot of older supporters and shouldn’t be put in this position by these idiots.”
“Unacceptable”
Bathgate councillor Jim Walker, who sits on Bathgate Thistle’s committee, said: “This type of thing is totally unacceptable.
“We never have anything remotely like this at games but I sympathise and express our appreciation with Bo’ness over ‘fans’ who surface at Scottish Cup games.
“I wasn’t aware of the incident but have since heard the police dealt with this very quickly because we don’t want to see this anywhere in society.”
