Huge crackdown on pubs showing illegal Burnley matches

7:10am Saturday 20th March 2010

By David Watkinson

PREMIER League bosses have launched a huge crackdown on illegally televised Clarets matches in Burnley pubs.

Investigators said since Burnley’s promotion last year the town has been flooded with decoder cards, typically for Albanian TV, allowing clubs and pubs to show matches without a licence.

Three pubs, including the Rose and Crown in Manchester Road on Thursday, have already been raided and police said many more will follow.

But fans groups said that the practice of using illegal satellite cards was not hurting clubs, especially because Burnley’s attendances had been good all season.

And Burnley’s chief executive Paul Fletcher said he had sympathy for fans watching the games in pubs but said: “It is illegal and we have to be supportive of the Premier League's actions."

On Thursday police raided the Rose and Crown and arrested the 56-year-old venue's manager on suspicion of fraud. Satellite boxes, decoding cards and documentation were seized.

"The message to pubs is that further work is ongoing and I want to work with licensees on this issue.

"But if they continually fail to heed warnings then we will take positive action."

Mr Fletcher said: "We are always sympathetic to our fans and understand many watch games at these pubs.

"But we have got to balance it out with the laws of the land. Each club has the same problems but ours are new ones because of the promotion.

"We have to work with Sky on this issue because if we lose their support then the whole thing collapses."

Ray Hoskin, the managing director of Media Protection Services which investigates copyright offences for the Premier League, said there is a 'serious problem' in Burnley.

He said: "There are a lot of publicans who have been misled into buying these decoders by organised crime gangs who tell them that they will not be prosecuted.

"In Burnley's case this is a relatively new phenomenon because the club has just been promoted.

"It is a serious offence because it affects gates because people are not taking up tickets, particularly for away games.

"It is a serious problem and that is why we are going to continue these investigators. These decoders only cost £60 in Albania but are being sold to landlords for anywhere between £900 and £1,000.

He said covert visits are made to offending pubs and warnings given before raids are carried out.

Tony Scholes, who runs the ClaretsMad fans website, said: “I don’t think this hits attendances, and especially not this season judging by the crowds we have had.

“I don’t see it as a major problem. Football fans go to football matches and the people who watch these games in pubs are a different market altogether.

“It is only like games being shown on Sky and the attendances are hardly affected then.”

Alan Beecroft, leader of the Colne Clarets fans group, added: “If it is illegal then it is illegal but I can’t imagine this has hit our attendances too much this season.

“This has been going on for years so I find it curious that they have suddenly started cracking down on it now.

“You have to ask whether the people who watch these illegal games in pubs are ones who would otherwise pay £30 to watch a game at Turf Moor. I don’t think they are.”

Bosses at Punch Taverns, confirmed it runs the Rose and Crown, but was unable to comment on the raid.