Drunk football fan fined £90 for throwing burger at police horse
A football fan was fined and spend a night in a cell after throwing a burger at a police horse.
Mounted units from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Lancaster Police and Merseyside Police worked together at the Man City v Celtic game on Tuesday night (6 December).
“On the night there were 10 GMP horses and a further nine from Lancashire and five from Merseyside, who provided excellent support,” a GMP spokesman told H&H.
The horse and rider involved in the burger incident were standing with another police horse and his mounted officer, while they chatted to some children.
A drunk man walked past and threw a burger at one of the horses.
A statement from GMP said that a “drunk and disorderly” Celtic fan was arrested for throwing a hamburger at a police horse in Piccadilly Gardens.
He started “kicking about in the van” and spent the night in a police cell before being released the next morning and ordered to pay a £90 fine.
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“The horse wasn’t injured and is fine – some might say, in a ‘stable’ condition,” added a police spokesman.
Thousands of away fans turned up to watch the game at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, which finished with a one-all stalemate.
“For the large part both sets of fans were well behaved, however there a few incidents which were dealt with swiftly and a total of 14 arrests were made throughout the day,” said a GMP spokesman.
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Superintendent Craig Thompson of GMP’s specialist operations branch said it was “testament to fans of both clubs” that the fixture passed largely without incident.
“I would like to thank them for their cooperation throughout and although the result may not have been what either side wanted, I hope everyone in attendance enjoyed the occasion and the competitive atmosphere the game was played in,” he added.
“We have significant experience in policing occasions like this and sadly, as is often the case, we did experience a small number of incidents which were dealt with swiftly and resulted in a number of arrests. “However the majority of fans were extremely well behaved.”
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.