SIX hooligans have today received suspended jail sentences after an alcohol-fuelled fight in Darlington town centre in the wake of a 'friendly' football match.

Onlookers, including a stag party, were caught up in the battle which involved upto 30 people after last summer's game between the Quakers and St Mirren.

Trouble broke out in Darlington's market place shortly after the end of an ugly pre-season encounter between the two sides, which St Mirren won 1-0.

Police had to break up the fight - which broke out amidst terrified shoppers and children - and was caught on CCTV.

Watch footage of incident

Ten men - nine from Darlington and one St Mirren fan - who admitted charges of affray last month returned to Teesside Crown Court today to be sentenced.

Giving them a range of sentences, Judge George Moorhouse said: "On August 2, Darlington and St Mirren were having a friendly football match. After the match had taken place, 30 young men were then seen fighting in the town centre in the market area.

"Witnesses whether they be children or bystanders must have been terrified by what they saw.

"To see 35-year-old men punching and kicking each other is a very sad sight indeed. In each case it was fuelled by drink. Drink has been your misfortune in the past.

"I have heard that text messages were sent from some of your phones. They were not sent to local people or to others to join in. I have seen videos of you all.

"I am quite satisfied that this kind of behaviour is so serious to justify a custodial sentence not only because of what you did but what other people witnessed."

Footage showed a range of violence, including between 15 and 20 punches being thrown, 25 to 30 kicks being aimed, men grabbed in headlocks and one man striking another with a chair.

Prosecuting Chris Baker said the violence started after St Mirren fans came into Darlington town centre.

Solicitors acting on behalf of the ten defendants expressed a mixture of remorse, shame and regret, and added some acted in self-defence or to help friends.

Jonathan Walker said: "It was a collection of cowardly and rather pathetic and camp acts in a brawl in which the group were inwardly turning on each other in drink-fuelled actions."

Only two were Darlington fans, both of which had recently completed football banning orders. None of those involved had actually been to the game.

Malcolm Campbell, 26, of Flamingo Close, Lee Davidson, 25, of Laburnum Road, Wayne William Thomas Turner, 22, of Alnwick Place, Nigel Jason Rochester, 36, of North Road, and Scott Andrew Turner, 19, of Alnwick Place, all Darlington and Paul McInally, 35, of Renfrew Road, Paisley, Scotland, were all given two month suspended prison sentences.

McInally, Davidson, and John Robert Reynoldson, 44, of Lowson Street, were also given three-year football banning orders.

All seven, plus Kevin Arthur Barker, 39, of Auckland Avenue, Dominic Vincent Cosgrove, 40, of Roslyn Street, and John William Derek Wilkinson, 35, of Dunelm Walk, were all ordered to pay costs, banned from pubs in Darlington and given a mixture of orders and unpaid work totalling 990 hours.

* An 11th person who was arrested, a 17-year-old boy, was previously given a football banning order and referral order by magistrates.

Speaking afterwards, PC Fiona Cunningham and PC Greg Beswick, the Darlington police officers who worked on the case, welcomed the sentences.

PC Cunningham said: "I would hope that the sentences passed today would highlight that Darlington police shall not tolerate football-related violence within their town.

"Although the violence did not take place at Darlington football ground, it was deemed that the incident was a football-related offence as it took place in the town that the event occurred."