A Celtic fan was arrested on the night of the Uefa Cup final for wearing a T-shirt that predicted Zenit St Petersburg's win over Rangers, a court heard yesterday.
Michael Devlin was spotted wearing the top, which had the words "dirty horrible huns" scrawled across the back, just minutes after the game in Manchester.
The top also had "Zenit St Petersburg, Champions Uefa Cup Final 2008" printed on the front. The 20-year-old was walking along Glasgow's Hillington Road South with friends when two police officers noticed the T-shirt and stopped him.
Sheriff Iain Peebles told Devlin: "This was an act of gross crassness and stupidity taking into account the timing and the place you were when wearing the T-shirt."
At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Devlin, of Gleddoch Road, Glasgow, was convicted of committing a religiously aggravated breach of the peace on May 14 this year.
The court heard that Devlin had been watching the game in a house with friends when the group decided to go out and get a takeaway at the end of the match.
Constable Andrew Gunn told the court he and his colleague were out on another call when they spotted the Celtic fan with a crowd of youths at around 10.10pm.
Mr Gunn said: "I informed him that the T-shirt was offensive and told him to take it off. He had a Celtic top on underneath. There were members of the public there and Rangers fans were walking along Paisley Road West nearby.
"There were no other difficulties, just that he was wearing that T-shirt."
Defence lawyer Bob Mackinnon told the court that the top was just a bit of "Glasgow banter".
He said: "From school to university to working life, almost everyone in Glasgow is affected by this divide and will get on the case of their friends and colleagues."
However, Sheriff Peebles told the court his decision was based purely on law. He deferred sentencing on Devlin until October next year for him to be of good behaviour.
Posts
