Bristol Rovers fined £16.5k over FA misconduct charges after Scunthorpe United win

Bristol Rovers have been fined by the Football Association for breaching two misconduct rules in their match with Scunthorpe United.

Last month the football club made the decision not to contest the charges relating to a pitch invasion in the 85th minute of the game, which saw Rovers secure promotion to League One.

And today, following a virtual hearing that took place last week, the FA announced it had fined Rovers £16,500 and given a warning for the breaching of FA Rule E20.1 and E20.2.

An independent regulatory commission imposed the sanction during the virtual hearing last week.

Published on the FA website, it was posted that “Bristol Rovers FC admitted that it failed to ensure that its spectators, and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers, conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from using threatening and violent behaviour whilst encroaching onto the pitch area, in the 85th minute of the fixture.

“The club also admitted it failed to ensure that its spectators, and all persons purporting to be its supporters or followers, conducted themselves in an orderly fashion at the conclusion of the fixture.”

It was noted by the referee in his report that a smoke device was released in the crowd after the club’s fifth goal with play not resuming until the stewards dealt with it. A second one was released after the sixth goal, which landed behind the goal of the Thatcher’s Terrace.

Scunthorpe United, in the report, stated that goalkeeper Owen Foster was ‘goaded, abused and then assaulted by a home supporter’ as he tried to make his way off the pitch following the pitch invashion following the seventh goal.

The pitch invasion on the 85th minute of what is said to have been made up of 500 spectators, led to both sets of players and coaching staff being taken off the field of play for 19 minutes.

First-team manager Joey Barton and owner Wael al-Qadi then had to address the stadium to act responsibly and to exit the pitch to allow the match to restart.

Foster had communicated with Scunthorpe that he was satisfied with the way the incident was dealt with by the match officials and the team.

In the report, Scunthorpe United said they ‘appreciated’ the measures put in place to restart the match by the match officials.

The full report can be read here on the Football Association’s website.