by Jenni Horn

Three Gillingham football fans were arrested during Saturday’s away match against Swindon Town.

One supporter was alleged to have thrown a missile into the Swindon fans at the County Ground.

A spokesman for the club said: “The individual was identified and arrested after the game. Police are now investigating.

“We will be speaking to the police and to Gillingham FC about the possibility of imposing a banning order on this individual.”

Other Gillingham fans were arrested for being drunk and disorderly. One was stopped at Swindon train station, the other was refused entry to the game.

Swindon Police football liaison officer PC Jim Neighbour, told the Swindon Advertiser: “There is a history between these two teams which goes back years. I don’t think having an earlier kick-off would have made any difference. The game was policed appropriately.

“There was no evidence of excess drinking before the game in the town. The Gillingham fans also arrived in Swindon quite late on.”

There is a long-running rivalry between the two clubs and the match, which kicked-off at 3pm, was heavily policed.

When Swindon played at Priestfield in the Gills’ first match of the season last year, the game was brought forward to 12.30pm to keep trouble to a minimum.

During that match, there was some fighting in the ground which resulted in eight Swindon supporters and two Blues fans being ejected from the stadium.

Clashes between fans outside the stadium after the game led to three arrests for public order offences.