Soccer louts face lifelong Turf ban

The Division Two Lancashire derby is already a sell-out and Turf Moor bosses are acting early to avoid a repeat of the violence that flared at the last home game against Wigan.

Three hundred Burnley and Wigan supporters fought running battles in Yorkshire Street after 20,000 turned up to see Ian Wright's debut.

That attendance will be topped on Saturday for a tense derby battle which could see the Clarets move to within two points of their local rivals for promotion to Division One.

Both Burnley and Preston North End have agreed that anybody arrested for violence either inside or outside the ground on Saturday will face a ban from Turf Moor and Deepdale.

Chiefs from both clubs met at Deepdale when Burnley Reserves met Preston North End Reserves on Monday to draw up their "zero tolerance" clampdown for Saturday.

Burnley director Clive Holt, who is in charge of ground safety at Turf Moor, said: "If people are arrested, come to the attention of the courts and are then convicted they should be aware they will be banned from Turf Moor for life.

"There were problems in the town after the Wigan game, although it has to be stressed there was no problem inside the ground.

"We have had a policy of banning people who are arrested for some time and we quite often get people who have been banned writing to us asking us to reverse the ban, but we say no.

"Burnley have many very loyal fans, and there are lots of people returning to Turf Moor after some time away.

"We don't want them to be put off by violence. We want them to come to the game and enjoy themselves."

Meanwhile, Burnley FC are asking fans to make sure they arrive at the ground well before kick off and make sure they sit in the seat specified on their tickets to avoid problems in the run-up to kick-off.

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