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07 Sept 2025
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07 Sept 2025
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A football fan accused of running on to the pitch and using threatening behaviour towards a referee has pleaded not guilty.
Ted Piolunowicz, 63, allegedly stormed the pitch at Vale Park in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, and confronted referee Craig Hicks during Port Vale’s match against Portsmouth on January 27.
Top-of-the-table Portsmouth won the League One match 1-0 after Hicks awarded an 88th-minute penalty to the visitors.
Piolunowicz was arrested and charged by Staffordshire Police with one count of going on to the playing area at a football match and one of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence.
Piolunowicz, of Newshaw Walk in Stoke-on-Trent, appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on Thursday to plead not guilty to both charges.
He is next due to appear at the same court for a case management hearing on May 9 and is on bail, with one condition not to attend any football matches in the UK.
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