Appropå det här.

Såhär nio månader senare gör nu kommentatorssignaturen Axel mig uppmärksam på att hela historien med en 13-åring som hängdes ut av polisen för att ha sjungit fotbollssånger till sist fått sin upplösning.

Den här gången är jag väldigt, väldigt glad över att kunna säga att den goda sidan vann – och att jag hoppas att det väcker en ordentlig diskussion om hur fullständigt rättslösa fotbollssupportrar numera blivit i Storbritannien.

Samtidigt fick det mig att fundera ytterligare extra på det här med hur vi i medierna behandlar såna här händelser. Dagen efter publikskandalen på Stockholms Stadion fick jag ett välskrivet och tankeväckande mail från en barndomskompis till en av killarna som var ute på planen och skämde ut sig. Utan att gå in på detaljer gällde ju grundfrågan huruvida konsekvenserna stod i proportion till dårskapen som begåtts.

Just i fallet med Djurgårdskillarna – eller med dansken som stormade in på Parken – tycker jag trots allt ändå att de inte kan skylla på några andra än sig själva. Det är klart att det mediala gatloppet är tufft, det är klart att hotet om ekonomiska bestraffningar är ett hotfullt svärd – men trots allt kände vi alla till spelreglerna redan på förhand.

Stormar man planen och avbryter en fotbollsmatch så blir följderna såhär. Det kan tyckas oproportionerligt och överdrivet – men det går liksom inte för en målvakt som sablar ner en anfallare att börja gnälla på regeln om frilägesutvisning när domaren halar upp det röda kortet.

However, att det fortfarande är möjligt för en fotbollssupporter att få ett rättssystem att erkänna sina fel ger i alla fall mig lite mer tillförsikt inför framtiden. Det här är brevet som Tottenham-supportern Ian Trow skrev, å sina egna och sin 13-åriga son Lewis Trows vägnar. Jag ber om ursäkt om någon inte läser engelska, men jag pallar helt enkelt inte att översätta det i sin helhet just nu.

”It’s nine months to the day the CCTV images of 16 Spurs supporters were distributed by the police to all national media, and these images were placed in all papers and on front page of Crimestoppers next to the likes of murderers and drug dealers. For the first time in the nine months since I woke up in a hotel in Germany and saw my face and that of my 13 year old son on the TV screen we can now hold our heads up high, having been proved innocent of all charges. 

I cannot go into full detail, as we will be bringing civil action – certainly on behalf of Lewis, as I can get all costs covered under Legal Aid – against the police and the CPS for the damage their total negligence and lack of due care caused. In summary though, in December, 11 of the 16 people identified themselves to the police (including one 13 and two 15 year old boys) and were all charged with engaging in racist or indecent chanting. In February four of these people pleaded guilty, the other seven pleaded not guilty. The difference was that the four who pleaded guilty were singing the “Sol, Sol” song which certainly is indecent. 

The other seven were singing songs such as ”We’ve got Ledley at the back”. These seven people were then banned by Tottenham Hotspur under the premise that we had been arrested, and that contravened the terms of our season ticket (the fact that we had not been found guilty was irrelevant). In early May all seven people were offered cautions, as they had not been singing indecent songs. Five took what I would call the easy route out and accepted the caution. I decided to uphold my principles: I had done nothing wrong so why should my son and I admit any form of guilt (which in effect is what a caution does). 

The police then offered to drop all charges against me if I would get my son to accept a reprimand (they were obviously scared of future repercussions by my son). I rejected this out of principle as well. 

So in the middle of May, the two of us went to trial at Portsmouth Magistrates Court and despite there being no evidence to support the charge brought against us we were found guilty, basically by association of singing indecent songs: i.e. we can prove bad songs were sung, we can prove you were at the ground, therefore we assume you were singing these songs. My legal counsel advised me afterwards that this was always going to be the case, it was purely a show trial, in front of national media (invited by the Police). We were each given a three year Football Banning Order. 

Last Friday [11 September] we had a full re-trial at Portsmouth Crown Court in front of the most senior judge in Hampshire. I was quite surprised no media was present. The prosecution showed their evidence, to which the judge said ”Is that it?” We asked for immediate dismissal of the case (before we even had put our defence case) and after two minutes of deliberation the judge that came back and said, ”Not guilty, no case to answer and that is totally unanimous of us all – and you can tell by the time it us it took it was not a hard decision”. The judge then ripped into the CPS that this had been brought into his courtroom, and even been tried in the first case. 

All costs have been awarded to me and the football banning orders lifted. I have been in touch with the club and expect to hear early this week [w/c 14 September] that the season tickets will be returned. 

I would like to thank my family, friends and fellow supporters who have supported me in this, and also the Tottenham Supporters’ Trust who gave some invaluable advice and have been in contact with Spurs during the whole scenario. I am writing this with a sore head (as you can imagine I celebrated hard ) and with a big smile on my face. I will be going into Tottenham for a few (or maybe more than a few) drinks before the Man United game, as I am now allowed back into the borough of Haringey on match days, although I do not have ticket for match. 

Thanks for the support”.

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Välkomna tillbaka, Ian och Lewis Trow.

/Erik Niva