FOOTBALL is a better experience for all supporters in the 21st century than it was in the dark days of the 70s and 80s.

Facilities as a whole are much improved, stadiums are better, and the threat of violence does not hang around every corner.

More women and children attend football matches than ever before for these reasons.

Sadly, there is still a sizeable minority of people for whom a game of football is an excuse to get pie-eyed and have a punch-up.

Darren Bourne is one of those idiots.

Nominally a Newport County ‘fan’ (the reality is such people are not true football supporters), Bourne was arrested in August last year for a violent attack on Portsmouth fan Harry Davis after the two teams had met in a League Two match on the south coast.

Bourne has since received a three-year banning order from football activities.

The two sides meet again at Rodney Parade on Saturday and the police and the club are taking no chances.

The match is all-ticket (meaning no tickets will be sold on the day of the match) and yesterday the police and the club highlighted Bourne’s case as a warning to anyone planning trouble on Saturday.

There will be thousands of genuine football supporters in Newport on Saturday.

We hope the idiots stay at home. There is no place for them in football.