A MAN who ran onto the football pitch when the Weston and Doncaster Rovers FA Cup match was cancelled just 20 minutes before kick-off has appeared in court, charged under the Football Offences Act.

Ian Salter, of Stainforth Road in Doncaster, appeared at North Somerset Courthouse on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to going onto the playing area at the match and causing criminal damage to property valued under £5,000.

On November 8, 2014 the 48-year-old scaled metal railings at the Woodspring Stadium’s away fans’ enclosure and started shouting when the match was called off at the 11th hour due to an unplayable pitch.

A spokesman from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “It happened when the match was cancelled.

“He climbed down the metal railings and started shouting.”

Salter then took a camera, worth £514.16, from a photojournalist.

The CPS spokesman said: “He took offence because the cameraman was taking photographs of the Doncaster crowd.

“He grabbed a camera from a cameraman – he was a photojournalist working for a national newspaper.”

Salter was given a conditional discharge for going onto the pitch and ordered to pay £514.16 compensation for the criminal damage offence and a £15 victim surcharge as well as £85 costs.