A cure worse than the disease? Reflections on Gough and Smith v. chief constable of Derbyshire

Abstract

Gough and Smith had unsuccessfully appealed 1 against the imposition upon them of two-year football ‘banning orders’ under the Football Spectators Act 1989, s.14(a) as amended by the Football (Disorder) Act 2000. They both had one previous conviction for an offence of violence, unrelated to football, in 1998 and 1990 respectively. Each had been the subject of a ‘profile’ prepared by the police, which indicated that they had repeatedly been involved in, or had been near to, incidents of violence at or near football matches.