Man sentenced for throwing banana at soccer player

A Limerick football fan who carried out what a judge said was the lowest form of racial taunt when throwing a banana at a black player was yesterday ordered to do 240 hours of community work, or face eight months in jail.

Kelvin Reynolds, aged 20, of Pinewood Avenue, Caherdavin, admitted at Limerick District Court to a breach of public order, by throwing the banana at a player and assaulting a garda sergeant at Thomond Park last August when Limerick FC played host to Manchester City.

Judge Eugene O’Kelly told Reynolds, a Manchester United fan: “Save for acting like a monkey, throwing a banana was the lowest taunt.”