Footballer broke player's jaw with single punch during Wakefield five-a-side match

Leeds Crown Court heard that around two minutes were left in the match at the Wakefield Football Centre on September 9, 2021, when a scuffle between players broke out.

Painter and decorator Ashley Tranter became involved and said he was grabbed by another player, with Tranter then telling him he would fight him afterwards.

But he then shoulder barged the player before punching him once to the face using “maximum force”, prosecutor Charlotte Noddings said.

He then threatened the injured victim by telling him: “If you report this to the police, I will find out where you live.”

The victim suffered a fracture to his jaw and a cut to his chin. Tranter, 30, later went for a voluntary interview with police where he admitted throwing the punch but maintained it was in self defence. He later admitted Section 20 unlawful wounding.

Tranter, of Chequers Close, Pontefract, has 23 previous convictions for 31 offences, including multiple actual bodily harm and battery offences.

A probation report said that father-of-four Tranter claimed the victim had got him in a chokehold during the scuffle and he could not breathe, so reacted by punching him. Tranter said he knew he should have walked away.

Mitigating, Joseph Hudson addressed Tranter’s previous convictions and said: “He is not the man he used to be. I, for one moment, do not justify the blow thrown in this case. What went before then has to be seen in the context of the heat of a fired-up football match.”

The judge, Recorder David Gordon, was persuaded not to jail Tranter, and instead gave him a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years.

He told him: “You could not really complain if I gave you the 15 months, but you have come that close. Do not make a fool of me. I do not like to think I have been hoodwinked. Take this chance with both hands for your own sake and your family’s.”

He also gave him 150 hours of unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation days and told him to pay £500 compensation to the victim.