A Farnham man has been given a three-year football banning order after throwing punches and threatening stewards at a ground in Gloucestershire.

Tomas Cox won’t be allowed to watch his beloved Aldershot Town for a while following his antics at the home of Forest Green Rovers (FGR) last December.

The 46-year-old of Swift Road was banned from attending regulated football matches for three years after he pleaded guilty to a Section 4 Public Order Offence.

A vaping incident was the catalyst with the offence taking place during the first half of the FGR versus Aldershot Town match at The New Lawn ground on Saturday, December 21.

Coxe came to the attention of police after getting involved in an altercation over the ejection of two other ATFC fans in the last fixture before Christmas.

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire Police said: “During the first half of the game two young men had been asked to leave the stadium after they were caught vaping in the toilets, which is a breach of the stadium rules.

“A number of men began to complain to stewards and security staff about the ejections and this is when Coxe became increasingly agitated. Security staff took the decision that he should be ejected too.”

The spokesperson added: “Coxe lunged forward and began to punch out at the security staff whilst they were attempting to remove him.

“He had also shouted threats at the stewards and so was detained by police officers in order for his details to be taken.”

Coxe was later postal charged and pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

In addition to receiving the banning order, Coxe was ordered to take part in 140 hours of community services and pay £200 in compensation to his victims.

Dedicated Football Officer PC Adrian Tuft said: “We will always take action against anyone who thinks they can assault stewards, be it physically or verbally, and get away with their actions.

"Our aim is to always ensure that staff working at and fans watching football games can have a safe and enjoyable time.”

Mark Smith, Safety Officer at FGR, added: "We employ stewards to ensure that fans can have an enjoyable and safe match day experience; it is not acceptable for a member of our staff to be assaulted whilst at work.

"We have an excellent CCTV system that operates in all areas of our ground and which captured the whole of this deplorable incident.

"We will continue to provide our full support to the police to ensure that offenders can be prosecuted when necessary."