Clubs fined for TV satellite screenings
A crackdown is underway on private members clubs that show foreign satellite football.
Two clubs have been fined in the past six weeks following tip-offs from local pub licensees, said Media Pro-tection Services managing director Ray Hoskin, who is responsible for investigating the screenings.
Staley Ward No 1 Conservative Club in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,318.50 costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge, at Thameside Magistrates this week.
Club president John Nadin was fined £500, plus £15 victim surcharge.
On 11 September Brookvale Park Club pleaded guilty and was fined £400 and ordered to pay £410 costs at Birmingham Magistrates. MPS withdrew its action against a club official after the guilty plea was entered.
Both venues had received warnings and were found to have illegally screened games on at least three occasions.
Hoskin said: "We are turning the spotlight on clubs that for some reason have thought they are impervious to the law."
Solicitor Paul Dixon of Molesworth, Bright & Clegg, who represents several foreign satellite suppliers and licensees, but was not involved in these cases, said: "I cannot understand why anybody would plead guilty to a criminal charge for using a legitimate foreign satellite decoder card other than through ignorance of the law.
"Private members clubs are private. This means that only club members, their invited guests and, in limited circumstances, a police constable, can lawfully enter club premises. Anybody else entering club premises, including MPS investigators, does so as a trespasser."
In response, Hoskin said: "They were committing a criminal offence and pleaded guilty to it."
No date has been set for the European Court of Justice appeal by Portsmouth licensee Karen Murphy for her conviction for screening foreign satellite football.
