Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:58 pm
BBC
A Middlesbrough fan who made "monkey gestures" towards three black footballers at a Championship match has been fined and given a banning order.
Ernest Goult had denied two public order offences, one racially aggravated, at the Riverside Stadium at a Blackburn Rovers game in November.
The 72-year-old, of Redcar, said his "under-arm" gesture was an established local expression meaning "the pits".
He was found guilty after a one-day trial at Teesside Magistrates' Court.
Blackburn player Lee Williamson told the court the incident happened after Rovers scored a 94th-minute equaliser.
Paul Power, prosecuting, said the "under-arm" gestures were directed at Williamson, Rudy Gestede and Markus Olsson.
Williamson, who was the Rovers captain that evening, spoke about the incident after the final whistle and said: "On the way to our fans I see a Middlesbrough fan making monkey gestures towards me."
He then demonstrated a one-armed gesture under his armpit and said the man did it four or five times.
Asked what he felt the gesture meant, he said: "Implying that I'm a monkey."
Gestede said he saw the man making the gesture about 10 times. He added he was then told to calm down by a colleague after becoming angry.
The player agreed with Mr Power that he was the "pantomime villain" after his injury time goal deprived Middlesbrough of two points.
Goult contacted Cleveland Police after the force released a picture of a man they wanted to talk to.
Goult, a retired steelworker, demonstrated what he did by tapping his armpit twice as he gave evidence.
He said: "Mr Gestede and I, our eyes met, I raised my left hand and went one-two, one-two."
It was an "old Teesside gesture", which meant "you're under the arm of the pit."
When asked whether he intended to express racial hatred, he said: "Not at all.
"The fact the three chaps happened to be black, it didn't register. The whole lot could have come over."
After he was found guilty, district judge Stephen Harmes fined him £600, with £600 costs, and he was given a three-year football banning order.