From the Dover Mercury 28 June 2007. Report by Phil Reilly.

Why me? Deal landlord WiIIiam Smith. DOPJ150607. Picture by PAUL JERREAT

Landlord fined £2,OOO for screening football.

A DEAL pub landlord slapped with a £2,000 fine for showing Premiership football has asked: "Why me?"

William Smith, 32, who runs the Jolly Gardener pub in Golf Road, was given the fine after being caught screening games on Arabic TV channel ART.

Mr Smith was fined for breaking football governing body Uefa's rule protecting the league's exclusive deal with Sky, but the landlord insisted he had no idea he was breaking the law.

He said: "I've been showing football on that channel for about two years.

"I know there are at least three or four other pubs in Deal that use the Arabic channel, and lots more in Dover.

"It is commonplace, but I seem to be the only person around here who has been fined for it.

"I genuinely didn't think I was doing anything wrong. I pleaded guilty when it went to court because I have been showing the games and I can't deny it, but I don't feel I'm guilty because I honestly didn't know it was illegal."

Mr Smith claimed that to subscribe to Sky Sports would cost him about £500 a month, compared with the £100 for six months he pays to show ART.

He was prosecuted by Media Protection Services (MPS) on behalf of the Premier League, and pleaded guilty by letter to Folkestone Magistrates' Court earlier this month.

An MPS inspector visited the pub in November, after which Mr Smith continued to show the matches.

He said: "All he did was take my viewing card number. I didn't hear anything again until just before it went to court and because I heard nothing I assumed that I was not doing anything wrong."

He was ordered to pay a £2,000 fine, and £540 in court costs.