A flustered football fan hurled a smoke bomb at a playoff final between two north-east amateur football teams “to get rid of it”, a court has heard.
Matthew Grant admitted throwing a flare at Cove Rangers’ Balmoral Stadium on Wellington Circle on June 7, 2019, damaging the pitch.
The 28-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to plead guilty to the offence.
He had been in attendance for Bervie Caledonian’s 5-1 win over Tolbooth, which earned them promotion to the top flight of the Aberdeenshire Amateur Football Association.
As the game had been “big” for the teams involved, Grant and others had been out drinking before the incident.
Fiscal depute Lynzi Souter said: “Upon the completion of the match the players both congregated in their respective halves – and at this time people noticed red smoke coming from the crowd.
“The accused was seen to be in possession of a flare.”
With an underarm throw, the flare was then hurled by Grant about five to 10 feet onto the pitch.
The flare damaged the artificial grass playing surface when it landed. It was picked up and removed by one of the football players.
Police then identified Grant as the perpetrator.
The depute fiscal said he had been “quite candid in accepting responsibility,” and told officers he had “got a bit excited” when Bervie Caledonian won the match, due to the fact he had friends on the team.
Police were also told he “wanted to get rid of the flare after he lit it, as he had realised it was a stupid mistake”.
Grant’s defence agent, Christopher Maitland, echoed this.
He said: “He knows the connotations of these items at football matches.
“Most of the players had left the pitch at this point. Only a handful were still there.”
Mr Maitland added that Grant had been drinking before the game and his client had been banned from attending games since the incident.
But Grant, whose address was given as Fetteresso Terrace, Stonehaven, was spared a match ban yesterday.
Sheriff Grant Hutchison said he did not see a further ban as necessary, as it had not been as “sinister” as other incidents.
He added, however, that it was “remarkably reckless and stupid thing to do” and fined him £450.