The football fan Eric Cantona kung-fu kicked more than
15 years ago was found guilty yesterday of punching another man at
a match.
Matthew Simmons, 36, faces jail for battering Stuart Cooper,
whom he blamed for dropping his son from an under-8s team because
of the Cantona incident.
Simmons denied assault causing actual bodily harm and claimed he
acted in self defence after Mr Cooper called him a “Nazi thug”.
But jurors at Kingston crown court found him guilty after
hearing Mr Cooper, whom Simmons had not seen for years, had bruises
and a bloody nose after the attack at a park football game.
Judge Michael Hopmeier bailed Simmons, of Thornton Heath, South
London, until May 9 for sentencing and told him he faced jail.
He added: “This was an assault in a public place and an
aggravating factor is that there were young people in the
vicinity.”