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Justice for the Archway One

Did you know that you could be banned from Arsenal for an unrelated court conviction?

23 April, 2014 10:00 42 comments
Justice for the Archway One

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A Campaign to get the ludicrous ‘Club Ban’ imposed on Mick Doherty following misleading and false allegations by the then Arsenal Football Banning Officer WPC Lucy McAuley-Burnett has managed to recruit nearly 1900 signatures in an online petition run by Change.org.

Mick was arrested following a drunken pub argument between fellow Arsenal supporters at a pub in Finsbury Park following a home match against Spurs in November 2012, eight hours after the match had kicked off. He was subsequently charged with a Public Order offence ‘Threatening Words & Behaviour’, despite no witnesses or anyone pressing charges. He was found guilty and accepted a punishment of unpaid work. Despite no evidence of the offence being football related, WPC McAuley-Burnett applied for a football banning order. This was opposed and the judge refused the application stating that it was obvious that this was nothing to do with football.

WPC McAuley-Burnett was unwilling to settle for the decision of the court and approached Arsenal FC Stadium Manager John Beattie claiming Mick was a ‘Danger to Public Safety’ and asked him to impose a ban on Mick attending any events at The Emirates Stadium, purchasing any away match tickets from the club or organising any Charity Boxing Events at The Emirates Stadium on behalf of Islington Community Sports Academy (Islington Boxing Club). To his detriment Mr Beattie agreed to her request.

WPC McAuley-Burnett turned up at 11.20am on the Saturday of the Emirates Cup weekend at Mick’s house with a vanload of police dressed in riot gear in an attempt to hand deliver a letter from Arsenal FC informing him of the ‘Club Ban’ (despite the club having sent a copy of this letter in the post). In doing so she harassed Mick’s wife as he was not present at the time of the visit, and was rude & aggressive in her manner. Since when are police officers employed to be couriers of Arsenal FC?? This was an obvious attempt to provoke a reaction and antagonise Mick.

Mick wrote to John Beattie asking for the information provided to him by the Police which led to him imposing this ban - a reasonable request! However the response was that all information provided by the Police was confidential and was not to be disclosed to third parties. Mick then invoked the Data Protection Act/Freedom of Information Act to obtain this information from both the club & the Police. Both failed to release this information. Only after Mick contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office did the Police release correspondence between Arsenal & WPC McAuley-Burnett. This paperwork revealed that she had provided false information to Arsenal - she failed to disclose the fact that she had a Football Banning Order refused in court & also made other false allegations regarding Mick.

Mick now has lodged an official Police complaint against this WPC, which is now in the hands of the IPCC. He has called on the CPS to prosecute her for Misconduct in Public Office/Abuse of Power in Public Office. He has provided evidence of this WPC’s lies to the club, which they are still to reply to. Letters calling for Arsenal to rescind this ‘Club Ban’ have been written by Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, Islington Counsellor/Solicitor Greg Foxsmith, Islington Boxing Club Chairman Lenny Hagland and many others. Arsenal fans are asked to email the club on [email protected] calling for an end to this ban. However Arsenal FC have not had the courtesy to reply to any of these letters

WPC McAuley-Burnett was suspended and consequently removed from the Arsenal Football Intelligence Unit following these revelations. It is anticipated that Criminal Proceedings will follow.

Mick has released a song ‘Justice for the Archway One’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Campaign T-Shirts are also available at £7 each, Campaign badges are available at £3 each.

This ban sets a worrying precedent for all Arsenal supporters as any non-football related conviction can lead to a ‘Club Ban’. Police Officers are supposed to enforce the law, not overrule the law or its courts.

All fans are urged to support the ‘Justice for The Archway One’ Campaign’ to get this unjust ‘Club Ban’ rescinded. You can do so by signing the petition here

For updates on the campaign, follow Mick Doherty on Twitter@mickpatdoc

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42
comments

  1. Mandrake

    Apr 24, 2014, 23:08 #50202

    If injustice has been spruced then a pardon oh good friend. If guilty as they say to the gallows ye shall sway.

  2. Cyril

    Apr 24, 2014, 22:38 #50201

    Good luck to mick! On a lighter note, I work with the Norwich keeper's mum and apparently he is confident of collecting 3 points against us. It's a worry. I made her 3 cups of tea and asked her if she could tell him to chuck a couple in the onion bag for us , but she said no as I did not leave my bag in long enuff. I heard that one before an all....

  3. Jack Regan

    Apr 24, 2014, 21:38 #50198

    "Get yer trousers on, Tinkerbell - You're nicked ".

  4. Eddie

    Apr 24, 2014, 21:24 #50197

    We love football, and we love a beer pre and post match. Arguements, and petty ones at that happen when we're p*ssed...we ain't a danger to the public, or the players or any geezer or girl for that happen. Joke! Powers that be would probably rather give his seat to some Hertfordshire Yuppy high-flyer, or some Chinese student that will spent the dollar in the club shop and on rubbish modern day sporting memorabilia. Get a grip!

  5. billthered

    Apr 24, 2014, 19:40 #50192

    Well boys all the talk in world wont help Mick just do what I done e mail the buggers.It's not fair they are taking away one mans love of HIS and OUR club they will go on and work somewhere else and not bother about people who have given undying support through years of glory and misery who do these faceless morons think they are.

  6. WPC McAuley-Burnett

    Apr 24, 2014, 19:36 #50191

    Does anyone have the contact details of a decent lawyer?

  7. BADARSE

    Apr 24, 2014, 18:00 #50184

    OK Ron, I know Dreams of a Gooner is you, own up, and just say what you mean, why don't you? Seriously dude, I loved it, encore!

  8. BADARSE

    Apr 24, 2014, 17:27 #50181

    Box-Office Brenda, if you sell an item at a boot fair and do not put the 20p profit on your tax return you are breaking the law, for that the death penalty then? I don't hold out much hope for your grasp of reality.

  9. Matthew Bazell

    Apr 24, 2014, 14:28 #50166

    No, it was Red Rum

  10. maguiresbridge gooner

    Apr 24, 2014, 12:54 #50158

    Terry, no it's not me.

  11. maguiresbridge gooner

    Apr 24, 2014, 12:44 #50157

    I pity her Husband.

  12. Croker

    Apr 24, 2014, 11:38 #50153

    That is heavy handed, overzealousness at its worst. Well done to Mick and his supporters for fighting back in a very considered fashion, considering all the ill treatment apparently received by him. Hope OUR club takes note and remembers who makes The Arseanl the magnificent Football Club it is and should continue to be.

  13. Gaz

    Apr 24, 2014, 9:50 #50145

    @BADARSE: Hi mate. Of course you have a point. It was just a short and simple way of trying to generalise the support I was talkling about...

  14. Terry

    Apr 24, 2014, 9:04 #50142

    Seems very harsh. Probably just another Irishman who likes a few jars.

  15. BADARSE

    Apr 24, 2014, 7:20 #50137

    Morning gentlemen and ladies. Gaz just a point. The working class doesn't exist. It is an outlook, no more. It isn't based on finances anymore, it is at best abstract and nebulous. Here is an analogy. When a couple are expecting a child they secretly wish for it to be 'normal'. The moment it is born normal they are relieved and then immediately want it to be different (special), it is human nature. Much in life can be loosely described as that, and some aspects need to be recognised and perhaps controlled. So too working class. It is in a sense honourable to claim that heritage as it says so much. It shuws thus, 'I am humble and a realist so have my feet on the ground-joined up and aware. I got where I am, (wherever that happens to be), through my wits, skills and endeavours. Magnanimity in that despite my intellect and financial clout I still want to identify with my roots and 'you guys'.'Just a point chum. Like politics, broadly speaking possibly less than 10% occupy each end of the spectrum the 80 plus% consider themselves to be reasonable middle ground individuals. Working class mentality follows a similar pattern to the birth scenario, normal until born then different, in working class to the outside world as an inverted snobbery proclamation, deeper thoughts of I am a little better than the rest and have certainly scaled the heights of the social system due to my ability, but shall smugly just keep that to myself.

  16. Gaz

    Apr 24, 2014, 6:56 #50136

    Sign of the times I'm sad to say. Footballs changed for the worse and there's no going back. Expect more stories like this as the working class fan gets shafted and forced away from the game. It's the new order of things...

  17. Stevieo

    Apr 24, 2014, 6:26 #50135

    Matthew, you should have upgraded to the 4 star offering at Charleroi! Just the one night in the stables there, and then allowed out to watch phil Neville do his magic against Rumania. But what criteria there was to arrest in the first place never mind the criteria for releasing or deporting? Was like being in an Eastern European country compared to the policing at countries like holland and Germany.

  18. UTU

    Apr 24, 2014, 1:36 #50134

    Good Luck to Mick, he should have the choice to attend Arsenal matches, he has done noting wrong while attending Arsenal matches and should not be banned on a dodgy evidence.

  19. Matthew Bazell

    Apr 23, 2014, 23:19 #50131

    Stevio, yes I was in the horse yard in Brussels!!! Then on to two miserable nights in a cell. And it wasn't just English in there, there were also plenty of people arrested for looking English! Plus a father and son who were in Brussels for a museum trip. It was a complete scandal yet because 200 people caused trouble the next day no one could be seen to stick up for football fans. So what that 1000 of us were locked up for nothing. We were football fans therefore deserved it.

  20. jjetplane

    Apr 23, 2014, 22:14 #50126

    Well said MIKE COllINS Am aligned with a lot of this as a former postie, an N19 60s fan and one who has never been to the Emirates but spent 40 yrs at Highbury. Watched a lot of football since in much lower leagues and as a consequence have enjoyed football and not missed the present spectacle as it stands. Nearest I get to the PL is the radio as my pub days are over Ha ha! Up the Toffees and whoever!

  21. Green Hut

    Apr 23, 2014, 22:09 #50124

    Bob- Didn't stop them banning 39 fans after a campaign orchestrated by Piers Morgan's newspaper (you know, the bloke who later printed fake photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners while his brother was serving in Basra).

  22. Jah Gooner

    Apr 23, 2014, 21:42 #50121

    " Arsenal Football Intelligence Unit"? An oxymoron if ever there was one. BTW Great song!

  23. Mike Collins

    Apr 23, 2014, 21:36 #50120

    I cannot judge the rights and wrongs of the case as I have only heard one side of the argument and would want all the claims made here verified before committing myself to an opinion. However, the comments about Arsenal having changed are spot-on and we are in a different era compared to, say, just 15 years ago. Top-flight football is now part of the leisure and financial industries (look at Man Utd's announcement of Moyes' sacking timed to have maximum impact on the US stock exchange). We no longer have a crowd, we have an audience. We are no longer a north London club drawing in mainly working-class supporters from the locality, we are a global "brand" consumed by people who may never have set foot in London and many of those who have are provincial incomers with no 'blood' loyalty to N1, N5, N7, N19, etc. If you want that sort of parochialism then go to Millwall or Brentford, to take a couple of capital examples. The real crime of the Mick mentioned here sounds like he's a real local bloke who got a bit carried away in a pub after a Spurs game one night. If that is a banning offence - and a lot of us used to get up to a lot worse - then thousands of Gooners over 40 would be excluded from the ground. Get it straight, folks - AFC would rather the shire-county-born and bred ad executives and media folk who swarm around the ground now to the old-style and frankly embarrassing "fans" who might have gone up the Lane for a "laugh". It's the new world order - get used to it.

  24. Horse Face

    Apr 23, 2014, 21:10 #50115

    I was only doing as I was told. Mr Doherty deserves it. Honest 'Guv!

  25. Stevieo

    Apr 23, 2014, 19:41 #50104

    Think Matthew is on about England in Belgium in euro 2000. Was in Charleroi and they converted the police stables in to temporary cells. Swept the streets, even banging up a lad from Rochdale with his leg in pot? They'd gone to the trouble and expense, so had to justify it with results. Problem is, mud sticks.

  26. Ron

    Apr 23, 2014, 18:37 #50100

    Thats doesnt surprise me one bit about Arsenal and even less am i surprised at the Police.Good luck to Mick. There was once a football Club over there! Long since departed though now.

  27. jeff wright

    Apr 23, 2014, 18:18 #50098

    Personally I believe that the club uses these type of alleged incidents to try and claim some sort of moral standing and as a diversion from other issues . Things are however looking a bit brighter now for the gang of 4 with a usual 4th place finish and a qualifier tie for the group stage of the Champions League likely , doubled up with the added bonus of a possible FAC triumph. This will set things up nicely for justifying the increased ticket prices, and the new 8 million a year wages that Arsene will sign on for, before he flies off to comment on France's world cup games and to make even more cash . The old dodger should really be trying to work on improving our squad instead and also taking coaching lessons to bring him up to date with the modern era. This might enable him to work out why he was unable to beat the worst United side in decades, managed by a manager producing the poorest football and results at OT since they were relegated back in the 70s. And also as to why he came up short again in all of the games against top 4 opponents away from the Emirates. Of course there is no chance of him doing this as the usual stock excuses of injuries and bad luck have already been wheeled out like a garbage bin full of old rubbish.The problem is that some of the bad away results were when we had Ramsey and Walcott on parade. Also the Capital Cup game early season at home saw our first team at full strength exposed by Chelsea . The away at United against that poor United side said all many of us needed to know about the truth of our alleged title tilt. Wenger himself appears to believe these excuses that he comes out with and that are parrotted faithfully by the deluded AKB's , so next season ,as in previous ones ,the same problems will occur again. There is still a chance that something could go wrong in the Prem if Everton refuse to roll over and take it to the last game . Wenger will be hoping to avoid having to beat Norwich away . In truth he is more concerned about 4th place than he is winning the cup.Especially after Stan's role models, the grinning Glazers, showed how to deal with a manager who can't produce Champs League football and the cash that goes with it.

  28. Bob

    Apr 23, 2014, 17:40 #50096

    I thought the name rung a bell....Copenhagen 2000? It sounds like some at the club marked his cards a long time ago but did not at that time want to risk upsetting a working class fan base which they now assume no longer holds sway...

  29. BADARSE

    Apr 23, 2014, 16:54 #50094

    Tombo, there's no going back chum. No way to rewind. The only comfort is the knowledge that we brought this all upon ourselves. Once we shrug, say it's nothing to do with me; or, I can't be bothered, or buy into the media-speak, which is really just an arm of conservative governments, (all are, some just more than others), then we give the civil servants the power to operate and do their master's bidding. We are lost pal, another aspect which may be comforting is that the entire world is lost with us. Think westlower's got an A-Z though.

  30. Tombo

    Apr 23, 2014, 16:41 #50093

    Arsenal used to be a class act, in many ways. Now, no. No no no. My 'last straw' was when my Silver membership (and being original TRS too) went from £26 > £39 > £45 in two seasons. Which, of course, these days would allow me to get the 'cheapest' Cat' A £61 ticket. I emailed the club about this extortion and just a got computer generated crap reply about 'it allowing me to purchase match tickets two months prior...'. Can we go back to Highbury please, in every sense..?

  31. Drayton Park Preacher

    Apr 23, 2014, 15:09 #50090

    I know the man in question and have never known him to cause trouble at Arsenal matches . John Beatie on the other hand is well known for dishing out bans to lifelong supporters for little or no reason based on 1 sided accounts from stewards or police . There is no chance to present your side of the story and there is no ,appeal, his word is final. His actions are an affront to civil liberties and natural fair play and justice and I do hope the club looks into his actions and sack him forthwith !

  32. maguiresbridge gooner

    Apr 23, 2014, 14:56 #50088

    Showing up in force to deliver a letter that had already been delivered, i can just see her now, self important trumped up little hitler.

  33. KC

    Apr 23, 2014, 14:22 #50083

    21st century justice! we are meant to be moving forward as a race! It is just another sad case showing the club is moving further away from its fans. Big business with no principles.

  34. Matthew Bazell

    Apr 23, 2014, 13:47 #50078

    'Our' club is one of many big businesses that have paid the Metropolitan Police donations [bribes] of around one million pounds a year. How this is allowed to happen I don't know but this is a conflict of interest.

  35. BADARSE

    Apr 23, 2014, 13:28 #50077

    Hi radfordkennedy, have missed you buddy. You know the person representing AFC is just a 'suit', no more Arsenal than the Tiny Tott sitting on the park bench with his mouth wide open catching flies. It's a titanic struggle against the odds, one that will never be won as the 'grey men' are too powerful, and control everything now, but I cannot think of a more noble way than to be taken down fighting for a just cause. I will know I am in good company. As Billy Joel sings, 'And we shall all go down together!'

  36. radfordkennedy

    Apr 23, 2014, 13:16 #50075

    Well well who would have thought it the Peelers falsifying evidence and misleading the court...good luck Mick and I hope it comes on top for her,and shame on you Arsenal for being complicit in this diabolical liberty

  37. BADARSE

    Apr 23, 2014, 13:06 #50074

    This is sadly symptomatic of the way our society, and the New World Order, want the future to look like. We all lose by degrees gentlemen and ladies. This is serious business, not for clowning around, we can do that on the previous article. I have signed and would urge all to do so. Power to the people-all people! Good old Archway 1.

  38. Gilly

    Apr 23, 2014, 13:00 #50073

    How long will it take for an employee of the club to come on here, give themselves an amusing username and tell us how Mick must of been doing something illegal and therefore the ban should stand? I am going to give it by 15:00 today.

  39. QuartzGooner

    Apr 23, 2014, 12:58 #50072

    Hope a full investigation is carried out and justice is done!

  40. WENGER OUT

    Apr 23, 2014, 12:16 #50070

    Further working class cleansing by sterile Arsenal FC (not to suggest that Mick is or isn't 'working class'). In the context of the periodic price increases it's a worrying trend - Fill the stadium full of well-to-do people who will spend more in the shops and won't complain when the football is s***e. Meanwhile, the real fans are being priced out or banned.

  41. Matthew Bazell

    Apr 23, 2014, 11:22 #50067

    I know the Archway 1. The incident in question was totally unrelated to football. It's a joke and the club ban someone without trial or appeal. My cousin got banned for 4 years for nothing, for stuff that would get ignored by the police if it were not football related. In 2001 I was sent a letter by Northumberland police to tell me that I could be arrested if I was seen in Sunderland on the day of the England v Turkey game. My crime: having been deported from Belgium the year before, but so were 1000 others and most of us did nothing to even warrant attention. Most of the 1000 were just sweeped up from the street. Those who deserve to be banned should be, but it does not take much I'm afraid.

  42. Website Editor

    Apr 23, 2014, 10:58 #50065

    I realise that this is potentially an emotive subject, but what should be discussed here is whether the authorities should be allowed to use any methods they choose to get the result they want - in this case, the banning of an individual from a football stadium - regardless of correct procedure.