Belfast’s Lord Mayor calls for urgent ruling on football hooligan laws

Loyalist campaigner Jamie Bryson said Councillor Tracy Kelly has set out her concerns over the alleged failure to update legislation regulating conduct at Irish Premiership and Championship stadiums.

The development came as Mr Bryson secured a hearing date in his application for a judicial review against the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Football banning orders were introduced by Stormont under the terms of the Justice Act 2011.

The legislation aimed at promoting good behaviour among fans at sporting events prohibited possession of flares or fireworks, offensive chanting, missile throwing, unauthorised pitch incursions or alcohol on hired buses en route to regulated matches.

Introduced in 2012, the provisions applied to IFA (Irish Football Association) Premiership and Championship divisions.

But according to Mr Bryson, the legislation was never updated after both competitions were abolished and replaced by a completely new entity, the Northern Ireland Football League, in 2013.

The relevant section of the 2011 Act no longer applies because the IFA Premiership and Championship no longer exists, he contends.

Based on that alleged oversight by the Department, current NIFL games are not properly regulated.

Mr Bryson is seeking a declaration that the current situation represents an error or law which potentially removes legal protections aimed at making football safer.

He has already been granted leave to seek a judicial review and returned to court today in a bid to obtain a full hearing as soon as possible.

The high-profile campaigner, who is representing himself, argued that a number of contentious fixtures in the coming weeks underlined the pressing need to deal with the case.

The court also heard how a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with riotous behaviour and other offences related to disorder before an Irish Cup semi-final at Windsor Park in south Belfast earlier this month.

Nine police officers sustained injuries and a child was hit by a bottle as fireworks, flares and other missiles were thrown during an approved public procession ahead of the match between Cliftonville and Dungannon Swifts.

“If the Act is not legally in force for the (forthcoming) matches that is going to cause significant issues,” Mr Bryson submitted.

He told the court Ms Kelly, a DUP councillor in south Belfast and the current Lord Mayor, wrote to him expressing her own concerns at the situation.

In the correspondence she stressed the need for proper regulation of football spectator conduct in order to avoid the scenes witnessed before the Irish Cup semi-final.

“In my view as Councillor for an area most impacted by spectator conduct, it is a matter of the utmost urgency that the DoJ corrects that which is self-evidently an omission and exercises the powers… in the 2011 Act to update the law,” she wrote.

“In the absence of them doing so, then it is absolutely crucial there is an urgent judicial determination on this issue.”

Disputing the alleged urgency, counsel for the Department insisted the police have powers to deal with any public order incidents.

Joseph Kennedy also told the court that consideration is being given to the current legislation.

“The Department is working to see if improvements can be made, or if changes need to be made,” he said.

“It will remedy the position on what can happen in the future.”

But listing the challenge for hearing next month, Mr Justice Fowler stressed: “I want to have this case on as soon as possible.”