Middlesbrough Fan Banned From Every Football Ground In England For Tearing Pages Out Of The Koran

Chris Wright

17th, December 2014

14 Comments

By Chris Wright

Soccer - Sky Bet Championship - Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - St Andrew's

Kick It Out have confirmed that a Middlesbrough fan has today been banned from entering every football ground across the country after being caught tearing pages out of a Koran in the crowd during her side’s 2-2 draw away against Birmingham City last December.

Boro fan Julie Phillips, 51, was found guilty and fined for using “religiously aggravated threatening or insulting behaviour” by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court back in May, with Teesside Magistrates’ Court following up today by banning her from every single football ground in England and Wales for the next three years.

As the Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard, Phillips was caught on stadium CCTV producing a copy of the Koran from her handbag during the game at St. Andrews before proceeding to tear up the pages and throw them into the air “like confetti” while reportedly chanting adorable little ditties about stabbing Muslims with bayonets.

In her defence, Phillips explained that football fans often tear up paper to use as confetti and that she had absolutely no idea the book she was carrying around in her handbag was the Islamic holy text.

Apparently, however, this is far from the first time the delightful Mrs Phillips has acted like a monolithic c**t at a football match – with the Koran incident very much looking like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

This from the Kick It Out report:

“Cleveland Police applied to the court in Teesside to have her banned from all football grounds saying the Koran incident was one of several involving Phillips.

“They said she was arrested last year during another Middlesbrough game where she allegedly racially abused a steward.

“And the court heard that while travelling back from another game Phillips was drunk, abusive towards British Transport Police officers and made threats to another group of fans while shouting and swearing at them.”

What a treasure she truly sounds.

Posted in Championship, FAIL, Newsnow

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14 Comments

  1. Sultan says:

    B**** !

  2. David says:

    As a Boro fan I hope other fans realise she is just one abhorrent person who doesn’t represent the majority of fans. Thankfully the incident was made aware to stewards by fellow Middlesbrough supporters who realised what an utter bellend she was being. It’s a shame she’s only getting a banning order and not something stronger as a deterrent to other fans.

    It’s disgusting behaviour and should not be tolerated.

  3. B13 via Blendon says:

    A mate of mine once threw an old copy of SHOOT! magazine onto the bonfire we’d made in the back garden of the local convent to keep warm.

    He’s still not allowed to watch Songs Of Praise to this day.

  4. Alfred says:

    This makes no sense. Are there no rights for people in England to have free expression of her beliefs?

    Here in the US, this entire sentence “religiously aggravated threatening or insulting behaviour” would be considered protected speech and the government wouldn’t be allowed even arrest you, so the government couldn’t have used this as a third strike.

    But throwing the crumpled pages around could be considered littering, so maybe that would be a legal loophole to have you removed from a stadium.

  5. Tom says:

    Off with her head!

  6. Ron says:

    I was just about to say…wow, all the comments are in support of this wacko being banned.

    Then I get to Alfred’s. Alfred, you dumb fucking piece of shit asshole. “Here in the U.S.”…we make a lot of dumb fucking decisions all the time. Such as…GUNS! No other modern nation allows inbred red necks to buy assault machine guns down at the local store. It’s insane. And IT ISN’T IN THE CONSTITUTION. The NRA has rigged and rewritten the laws. The Constitution allows people to march on down to the armory and pick up a musket if the nation is invaded. It doesn’t allow concealed carry, it doesn’t allow assault rifles.

    Fuck off, you stupid fucking idiot.

    I’m an American too. We make tons of stupid decisions. This is a great decision to ban this nut.

    Go fuck yourself.

  7. Geraldo says:

    Ron – you beat me to it. But the law of averages suggests that every racist bigoted f***wit like this will always get at least one racist bigoted f***wit leaping to her defence. And in this case, it was Alfred.

  8. zamisdat says:

    Wow! Poor old Ron is incapable of understanding the irony in Alfred´s statement. Like the typical vassal of political correctness, he´s unable to generate a valid argument, or understand one, but very quick to unleash the most sophomoric of attacks from the safety of a computer. His proudly underdeveloped brain nonsequituriously glues together a Koran, the Constitution, and the NRA, with the predictably goal of apologizing for his country.

    But I digress……

    I´m not defending that Boro fan; her conduct was disgraceful and some sort of punishment necessary. But it really seems like it was administered out of fear of a possible retaliation, much more violent in nature, and indeed, aren´t control and censorship some of the goals of terrorism? And ¨making an example of someone¨ is one of the trademark moves of vast, pseudototalitarian organizations that fit better in Orwell´s pages or the Soviet Union circa 1950 than in modern-day England. And again, where´s the heavy hand when Muslims in the UK propagate hate speech and yell at the returning soldiers?

    Sadly, in this case football has been used as a conduit for fear.

  9. Smith&Wesson says:

    @Ron What part of “well regulated” do you not understand?????

    You Hook & Bulleters make me sad.

  10. TheTruth says:

    If she’d torn up the bible, would she have still received this ban? I doubt it!

  11. Irshaad says:

    It’s a fitting punishment… Anyone who disrespects another Religion is really someone who is playing with fire and walking on thin ice… At The Truth if she had torn up any other Religious Book she would have received the same punishment… At Ron “Your Government” are truly biased when it comes to certain Religions and aspects that goes around the World, whether it’s Africa, Europe, Asia, etc… This article was intended for Football/Soccer purposes but it was certain other topics where going to be discussed here… Well done to everyone involved who has solved this shocking incident

  12. Irshaad says:

    At Alfred not Ron… My Bad Ron I totally support you

  13. ChrisCan says:

    A few points from another American (white, Christian, 20s, if you were wondering) to clear up some of the falsehoods and other pseudo-American shite above:

    1) Just to clear up this “in the U.S.” argument, freedom of speech does not protect threats or hate speech in the United States, and this case seems a fine example of hate speech accompanied by loud and clear death threats in public. An American walking down the street will (if caught by a policeman who actually care about and follows the law) be arrested pretty much 100% of the time if he threatens to stab someone with a bayonet as this woman did. Making threats is a crime and becomes a hate crime if the threats explicitly target a religious group (as Phillips did) or some other group. Some of my countrymen (like Alfred) are a strangely bit touchy on how freedom of speech (and other freedoms; spot on Ron) works and what kinds of speech are actually protected, presumably because they enjoy throwing around the occasional threat and quite dislike the consequences (probably because they think they ought to be able to do whatever they please). I wonder, Alfred, has the state you’re from always been part of the Union or is it one of those ones that threw a tantrum and seceded for a while? These things tend to correlate. (To be fair, I’m from one of those states, but I left at 18 and am now happily elsewhere.)

    2) Most professional sports organizations (at least, as I am aware, in western countries) have as part of their policy a rule to the tune of “by purchasing a ticket for this event, the purchaser agrees to x and y regulations, and failure to adhere to these regulations can lead to the ticket and the privilege of purchasing future tickets being revoked”. Check the fine print next time you buy a ticket. I imagine this woman fell afoul of many an FA regulation in this case, and they probably had the legal upper-hand a thousand times over. Notice she didn’t go prison, but was only fined by the court (presumably for the hate speech and threats) and denied future service by the FA (separate from the legal consequences; pretty standard). She’s actually quite lucky…again, in America, making a death threat is definitely crime in itself and could even in rare cases result in a very serious charge like conspiracy to commit murder (especially, say, if she were found to own a bayonet factory). I don’t know UK law very well, but I would imagine she was in violation and the fine was well earned and deserved.

    3) @zamisdat So, you think the FA are supporting terrorists by banning this woman? I think you’re on to something. It’s probably only a matter of time until we see Al-Qaeda FC turning up for a fundraiser match at Anfield (or maybe ISIS Rovers at Upton Park?…you get the picture). “Where´s the heavy hand when Muslims in the UK propagate hate speech and yell at the returning soldiers?” If they did it at the stadium, they’d be banned as well (again, not illegal, just a breach of the policy you agree to when you purchase the ticket). Luckily they seem to in their protests tend to stick to their disgust with the moral implications of the war, etc., etc. and leave destroying holy books and making direct threats out of it, something this woman obviously failed to do. I’m curious what you think a more suitable punishment for her would be.

    4) @TheTruth You’re right, she probably wouldn’t have received this ban. She’d probably be in the hospital after Boro supporters seated around her (who I would wager are quite a large part Christian and quite a smaller part bigoted pricks, as David pointed out) went ape-shit on her intolerant ass. I hope those who alerted stewards were/will be treated to a match in a VIP suite or given a free home shirt or something for the service they’ve done for their club.

    5) Take a bow if you actually read all of points 1-4. I patiently await responses to my questions.

  14. zamisdat says:

    @ChrisCan
    Where did I claim that the FA supported terrorism by banning Phillips? It’s rather early in this soon-to-be-blooming relationship to be substituting my ideas with your own reductive conclusions, my boy! Perhaps, it would have been more productive to quote that sentence about “fear of a possible retaliation”, which, quite frankly, seems like the main motivation behind the FA administering swift justice in this case.
    Isis Rovers, you say? Funny, ha-ha! Terrorism is always good for a joke, but political correctness is no laughing matter. Just read your description of Muslim protesters, and one might reach the erroneous conclusion that these hecklers epitomize civility. “Leave direct threats out of” their demos? Don’t think so! Now compare it to that of the enraged Christian Boro fans assaulting someone ripping a Bible at the stadium, fangs, and claws and knives out. Al-Qaeda FC? Judging by your statements, it’s more of a case of Spur’s supporters staging a mass beheading!
    Don’t be naïve; the FA was attempting to control the damage. Considering that the gentlemen they were trying to appease went into killer mode with the publication of a simple cartoon, the reaction to the desecration of a sacred text was something well worth avoiding. Now factor in an atmosphere of censorship and control for everything un-PC and you have the FA coming out like a knight in shining armor. Hopefully just not a Templar’s.
    No doubt Phillips’s transgression required punishment, but most of us could agree that worse has been said and done in English terraces, and many other groups targeted, without attracting the attention of the FA. Yet, this douchebaguette is the easiest of targets in the society of multiculturalism ‘for the sake of it’, whereas the main issue here remains unaddressed: not a case of uprooting bigotry from football as much as an example of how civilian institutions will progressively have to deal more with that new specter haunting Europe.

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