A football nursery coach who flung a beer glass at a police officer during a brawl at Victor Tedesco Stadium yesterday was granted bail and banned from football stadiums today. 

Keith Darmanin, 37, from Fgura, was charged with having threatened and assaulted a police officer halfway through the match between Fgura United and Rabat Ajax.

Mr Darmanin coaches aspiring footballers at the Floriana FC nursery and has a history of similar offences. 

The court heard how the accused allegedly got entangled in an argument at the stadium bar. When a policeman stepped in to defuse the heated exchange and ordered Mr Darmanin to leave the bar, the latter refused and instead threw a beer glass in the direction of the officer.

Mr Darmanin was charged with having threatened and assaulted the police officer, with having caused him slight injuries, with having disrupted public order, behaved abusively, used foul language and with having disobeyed police orders. The man was also charged with having caused the fracas while in a drunken state.

The prosecution explained that although in the past the accused had committed similar offences, he was a married man and a father who could not be considered a threat to society.

The court, presided by magistrate Charmaine Galea, granted bail against a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €2000.

Mr Darmanin, accompanied in court by his tearful wife, was ordered to sign the bail book once weekly and to keep away from all stadia except for performing his coaching role at the nursery.

Inspector Robert Vella prosecuted. Lawyer Rachel Tua was defence counsel.