A FOOTBALL hooligan who chanted homophobic abuse and brawled with opposing fans has been banned from matches.
Ben Carrick Rhodes, 22, has been given the order for a catalogue of disorder dating back four years, including glassing a Newcastle United fan in 2009.
Rhodes, of Sykes Close, Swanland, attacked the fan with a bottle in a Hull bar after they sang Newcastle songs.
He also took part in a pre-arranged fight in Barnsley after the penultimate game of last season.
PC Neil Gibson, of the football intelligence unit in Hull, said: "He has been actively involved with hooligans for a few years, often in a large group of people causing trouble.
"Often they are very confrontational and look for like-minded individuals from other clubs.
"Quite often, it can be pre-arranged. A lot of the time it doesn't actually come to violence because of police being there and because we try our hardest to keep them apart.
"Most of it goes on behind the scenes and away from the ground, but we still want to get these people away from football."
Rhodes has now been handed a three-year football banning order at Hull Magistrates' Court.
In February 2010, Rhodes was among 150 people who damaged seats and caused problems when Hull City played at West Ham.
PC Gibson said: "Their behaviour was so bad that coaches refused to take them back to Hull.
"They caused so many problems in London that the Met Police had to escort them from Upton Park to Kings Cross station, which was quite a big operation for them."
Last year, he was ejected from the KC Stadium for homophobic chanting in the ground and was caught by police fighting in Barnsley in April.
"It was the last away match of the season and there were two groups of rival fans fighting in the town centre," said PC Gibson.
"If he had continued getting involved in large-scale fights, he could have been going to prison, so we have decided to go for this first.
"His family are very supportive of the order and getting him away from the group so he can sort his life out."
PC Gibson is one of eight officers who are dedicated to policing football matches and identifying fans causing problems.
Two of the team go to every away match to spot known troublemakers.
With the team now back in the Premier League, there is a sharper focus on making sure matches stay trouble-free.
PC Gibson said: "People coming to Hull and people going to see Hull away are there to support their teams, which you can with passion without fighting.
"There are people who will be coming to Hull this season who have never been before, and we want to make it a good experience for them."
In 2007, Rhodes had also been banned from Hull KR games at Craven Park for antisocial behaviour.
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
