A football hooligan was shown mercy by a sheriff after a court was told he was only berating other supporters of his own team.
Dundee fan Mark Wallace, 22, escaped a football banning order after Sheriff Lindsay Foulis heard he had missed seeing his team winning their first trophy in several years.
Sheriff Foulis - also a Dundee FC supporter - had himself been present at the Alba Challenge Cup Final at McDiarmid Park in Perth on Sunday when Wallace was arrested.
The court heard he berated fellow Dundee fans for not singing loudly enough in support of their team as they fought back from being 2-0 down against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
He had already been warned about his behaviour and when his team scored a second goal to equalise, Wallace was heard to shout: "Come on you p***** - sing!"
He was seen rushing towards another supporter to berate him and the police stepped in to arrest Wallace - removing him from the ground before his team scored the winner and collected the trophy.
The sheriff said: "If you are a supporter of Dundee Football Club then you should know that you could go through the emotional wringer when you support that club."
After being told Wallace was a lifelong supporter, Sheriff Foulis added: "He will have had a lot of disappointments, a few ups and downs.
"If your remarks had been directed at opposing fans I would have had no hesitation in making a banning order, but in the circumstances I suspect those around you were slightly more tolerant towards your behaviour and therefore the potential for disorder was a little less."
Painter and decorator Wallace, of Bennan Gardens, Broughty Ferry, admitted breaching the peace by shouting and swearing and struggling with police officers on 22 November.
Solicitor John McLaughlin said: "He is a long time Dundee supporter. During Sunday's match he went through the gamut of emotions from A to Z.
"He did not think that the crowd were perhaps giving the team the support they deserved and he tried to exhort them. He acted in a stupid way and is very embarrassed. He missed the rest of the game and was unable to join in with the really important bit."
Sheriff Foulis fined Wallace £600 and marked the conviction as taking place in a sports ground. He warned Wallace he would probably face a banning order if the offence was repeated in future.
Last updated: 23 November 2009, 15:40
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