A FOOTBALL fan was cautioned by police for waving a swastika flag at the Emirates Scottish Junior Cup tie between Bathgate Thistle and Bo'ness United last weekend.
Police at the match at Creamery Park in Bathgate, which was attended by around 1,000 fans, were qu
ick to react near the final whistle to warn a youngster brandishing the Nazi emblem on an eight foot flag in the main stand.
Hundreds of fans from Bo'ness poured into Bathgate for the football match last Saturday, with some locals also complaining of sectarian singing by factions of the away support in the town's pubs before the game.
There were even sick chants from a section of the Bo'ness crowd during the game regarding killer Peter Tobin, who lived in Bathgate at the time he murdered Vicky Hamilton.
A police spokesman said: "A person was warned by police to discard the flag and this was done straight away.
"There was a larger crowd than normal at the game. There were no complaints from publicans regarding sectarian singing before the game."
One fan who was at the game said: "There's no need for that in society, never mind at a football game.
"No-one minds a bit of rivalry between clubs, especially at Scottish Cup games where a bit of needle is expected, but that is completely out of order.
"It's got absolutely nothing to do with football. Their grandads probably fought and died against the Nazis."
Bo'ness chairman Dougie Sneddon said a group of "so-called fans" from the town have targeted the club's big matches in the Junior Scottish Cup and against local rivals Linlithgow to cause trouble in recent years.
He said: "We have been trying to get rid of that crowd for a long time and don't want them following us. They're damaging our club's reputation. It's very disappointing.
"For big matches in the Scottish Cup and against Linlithgow we have to hire extra security on top of the police, and this costs us half our gate money."
"It's a very awkward situation but what can we do about it? We have tried our best and all our buses vetted by police before we travel. We really can't do anymore.
"We have an official supporters club with a lot of good youngsters who follow us and we only want people who have the club's best interests at heart to come along to our games."
"We are a well supported family club with a lot of older supporters and shouldn't be put in this position by these idiots."
Bathgate Councillor Jim Walker, who also sits on Bathgate Thistle's committee, added: "This type of thing is totally unacceptable.
"We never have anything remotely like this at games but I sympathise and express our appreciation with Bo'ness over 'fans' who surface at Scottish Cup games."
He added: "I wasn't aware of the incident but have since heard the police dealt with this very quickly because we don't want to see this anywhere in society."
A Bo'ness man was banned from every ground in Scotland for throwing a flare on to the pitch in a derby match between Linlithgow and Bo'ness in October last year.
Michael Smith, 21, also lost his job as a security steward at Falkirk FC after he was branded "mindless" by a sheriff and fined £1,000 for the offence.
