A British Football Ticket Reseller Who Was Banned From Qatar Just Got Put In Jail
Following confirmation from authorities that he had travelled to Qatar for the World Cup late last year, a British ticket scalper who had been banned from entering any football stadium has been imprisoned in the United Kingdom.
Stuart O’Brien, 48, appeared to be in Ireland for a family gathering when cops called his home, but a family member told them he was actually in Qatar.
O’Brien was also prohibited from going to Qatar for the World Cup
He received a five-year football suspension in February 2021 for buying tickets in bulk and reselling them in Liverpool for profit.
He was not allowed to be in specific locations close to Liverpool FC’s home stadium for six hours prior to start and for one hour after the game, and he was not allowed to attend any matches in the United Kingdom.
The Football Banning Orders Authority (FBOA) sent letters to all people affected by the World Cup restrictions on October 17th directing them to give up their passports at their neighbourhood police station.
O’Brien, a local of Liverpool’s Anfield district, was granted a ticket after claiming he would be travelling to Ireland for a family wedding.
He promised to leave on November 14th and return on November 17th to turn in his passport the following day.
Two emails were sent by the FBOA to the ticket seller asking him to confirm his return flight reservation to the UK, but they never got a reply.
On December 1st, a police officer called his home and asked to speak with him; a family member answered and said, “He’s in Qatar.”
A Hayya card, multiple hospitality option tickets for several England games in Qatar, as well as a sizable number of tickets for the USA against Wales match on November 21st were discovered by police who searched the home of a relative in the city’s Everton suburb in connection with a separate crime.
Following his arrest on the basis of the revelations, he was given a 12-week jail sentence at Sefton Magistrates’ Court on April 26th after entering a guilty plea to violating a football ban.
