The Middlesbrough fans were caught on camera punching and kicking Portsmouth FC supporters after a match in May.

Six men were jailed for six months and banned from matches for six years. Another man received four months in jail and a three-year ban.

All the men pleaded guilty to violent disorder when they appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Christopher Arthur, 22, Justin McLeary, 29, Karl Rogers, 32, James Doyle, 24, Richard Nunn, 29, and Phillip Payne, 24, all from Stockton on Tees, were all jailed for six months and banned from games for six years.

Lee Franklin, 24, also from Stockton-on-Tees, was jailed for four months and banned from matches for three years.

The eighth member of the gang, Glen Gilbert, 34, also from the same area, was given a 150-hour community punishment order.

Singing abusive songs

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how the gang had travelled to watch the game but left at half-time because their team was losing.

They then went on a drinking binge and trouble flared when they began singing abusive songs about the opposition.

A Portsmouth fan allegedly threw a glass at the group and a fight broke out with chairs, glasses and abuse being hurled around the Apsley pub in Southsea.

The men were then followed to Sam's Bar where a second fight broke out between the two groups of fans.

Trouble spilled out on to a main road and the court was shown CCTV footage of some of the men kicking and punching other men.

David Lancaster, defending, said: "If it hadn't been for the Portsmouth fans pursuing the Middlesbrough fans on two or three occasions, these young men would not be here today."