AN avid York City fan who was banned from the club's matches following an attack on a rival supporter has had the order overturned.

Anthony Charles Long, 44, of Lowfield Drive, Haxby, was fined and given a three-year ban by York magistrates after he admitted punching a Hartlepool fan outside the Bootham Tavern pub before City's game on February 15.

But at an appeal hearing at York Crown Court yesterday , the ban was lifted after the judge agreed that Long was not a football hooligan.

David Bradshaw, representing Long, argued successfully that the Football Spectators Act 1989, under which the ban was made, was designed to stop football hooligans committing further violence or disorder at regulated matches. He accepted Long's conviction was of the type for which a ban could be made, but argued his client posed no such risk.

He said: "He's a forty-four-year-old man with no other convictions, who is hard working, with an avid interest in football. He's a regular supporter of York City and he attends most away matches. For him this sort of ban is a severe punishment indeed."

Long's conviction for the attack still stands.

Mr Bradshaw said Long fully accepted he had to be punished for "losing his temper" and had immediately admitted his guilt to the police and magistrates.

Nigel Wray, representing the Crown, earlier told the court that Long had been in the Bootham Tavern drinking with friends "for some hours" when he noticed his son had been arrested outside.

When he went out to ask why, a group of Hartlepool supporters went past chanting songs at him and others. Long punched one of the group three times. The attack was witnessed by police officers and Long was arrested. He told police he had lost control, and he apologised for his actions. Recorder Martin Simpson said the decision to overturn the ban should not be seen as undermining the support magistrates courts needed from crown courts to tackle football hooliganism."

He said: "In this particular case we are satisfied that he left the pub to do with his son. He didn't go out with a view to causing trouble."

Updated: 10:31 Saturday, April 26, 2003