THREE Swindon Town fans arrested after an "organised fight" with Cherries supporters in Bournemouth have been banned from matches for three years.

Christopher Sawford, 26, Craig Tuck, 26, and Kevin Pike, were involved in clashes with AFC Bournemouth fans in Boscombe's shopping precinct last December.

Sawford, Tuck and Pike, who all come from Swindon, were each charged with a public order offence on December 18 last year.

The Daily Echo reported how some shoppers had to run for cover after violence flared on the day Swindon Town met AFC Bournemouth at the Fitness First Stadium.

Missiles were thrown while the match was in progress and Inspector Martyn Webster, of Bournemouth police, described the incident as "an organised fight between supporters of AFC Bournemouth and Swindon Town".

Bournemouth magistrates imposed a one-year conditional discharge on Sawford, Tuck and Pike, ordering each of them to pay £55 costs.

They will have to surrender their passports when England play abroad and sign on at Swindon police station when Swindon Town play at home.

Sawford, Tuck and Pike were among 17 men arrested in Swindon, Chippenham and Devizes on March 23 and 24 during Operation Sweep, a joint Dorset and Wiltshire police operation.

Five men from Bournemouth, Lymington, Poole and Christchurch, had earlier been arrested in the Bournemouth area.

Three men arrested during Operation Sweep will appear before Poole magistrates on Tuesday October 18.

First published: October 12