THREE football hooligans from North Yorkshire have been jailed and banned from attending games for their part in violence before a Championship match.

The trouble, which saw a man attacked and beaten unconscious, started before the Football League Championship match between Sheffield United and Middlesbrough on Saturday, April 9, last year, police said.

Rival fans started throwing glasses in the beer garden outside the Roebuck Tavern, on Arundel Gate, in Sheffield, at around 2.30pm.

A member of the public confronted a number of Middlesbrough supporters about their actions, and police say he was attacked, knocked unconscious and suffered extensive injuries.

North Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police and Cleveland Police conducted a joint investigation and later arrested seven Middlesbrough supporters, including Jack Baker, of York, Patrick Hebblethwaite, of Northallerton, and Harry Gregory, of Northallerton, Baker, 17, and Gregory, 18, were both sentenced to twelve months in a Young Offenders' Institute for violent disorder and handed a nine-year ban.

Hebblethwaite, 19, was sentenced to nine months in a Young Offenders' Institution for affray and banned for nine years.

Four other Middlesbrough supporters were also jailed and given lengthy prison sentences and two Sheffield United fans were also found guilty of affray in connection with the initial incident in the beer garden.