A gang of football fans were jailed today for violent disorder after fighting with supporters from an opposing team.

Middlesbrough fans Christopher Arthur, 22, Justin McLeary, 29, Glen Gilbert, 34, Lee Franklin, 24, Karl Rogers, 32, James Doyle, 24, Richard Nunn, 29, and Phillip Payne, 24, had travelled to watch an away match between their team and Portsmouth Football Club on May 15.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the group left the match at half-time when their team was losing.

The men had been drinking all day and continued with a pub crawl in Southsea, Hampshire, the court heard.

Trouble started when the men, from Stockton-on-Tees, began singing abusive lyrics about Portsmouth FC.

A Portsmouth fan allegedly threw a glass at the group and a fight broke out with chairs, glasses and abuse being hurled around the Apsley pub in Southsea.

The men were then followed to Sam's Bar where a second fight broke out between the two groups of fans. Trouble spilled out on to a main road and the court was shown CCTV footage of some of the men kicking and punching other men.

A police car arrived and the eight men ran across the road into The Queen's Hotel, where they were staying for the weekend, followed by angry Portsmouth fans.

Ian Harris, prosecuting, said: ''They got themselves extremely drunk. Went to a public house, were singing chants that were bound to, if not designed to, infuriate local people. They did infuriate local people. A glass was thrown and we have heard about the subsequent disorder.''

David Lancaster, defending, said: ''The police have been trying to find out who the Portsmouth perpetrators were.

''It's the Portsmouth lads that seem to be, for whatever reason, wanting to carry this on.

''If it hadn't been for the Portsmouth fans pursuing the Middlesbrough fans on two or three occasions, these young men would not be here today.''

mf Judge Gareth Cowling sentenced Arthur, McLeary, Doyle, Payne, Rogers and Nunn to six months in jail for their part in the disorder.

Franklin was jailed for four months.

The judge imposed a community punishment order of 150 hours on Gilbert.

A six-year football banning order was imposed on all the gang except Gilbert, who received a three-year banning order.

The judge warned them they would be arrested if they attended regulated football matches in breach of the banning orders.

He said incidents caught on CCTV cameras brought ''fear'' to people who saw it happening on their streets.

He added: ''It's necessary to spell out what the offence of violent disorder really is. Whatever the individual contribution to violence, each individual contributed to the scene itself.

''You all in different degrees had taken part in the whole alarming activity. Those who chose to take part in such activity, even if provoked, must do so at their own peril and they must take the consequences.''

All eight had pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Portsmouth Magistrates Court in July.