Footballer jailed for jaw breaking (From Penarth Times)

Footballer jailed for jaw breaking

A DINAS POWYS footballer was jailed this week for breaking an opponent's jaw in a 'friendly' match.

Jason Cowan, aged 22, a semi-professional player with the Welsh League One side, punched Rowan Gregory during a friendly game between office workers at the Legal and General and the Principality. The match was abandoned after a penalty area bust-up in the second-half.

Mortgage consultant Mr Gregory, 25, needed surgery to rebuild his jaw using titanium plates.

Cowan, a postman, was playing up front for Legal and General after being asked to take part by a friend.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the game was just "a bit of a run around" until violence flared during a free kick.

Mr Gregory said: "As the ball came in we started jostling for it, our arms going across one other. He was taller than me so I felt intimidated. I could see from his face and eyes he was angry.

"I was stepping back and my hands went to my face. I said: "Easy, mate, it's only a friendly". Then I felt a blow to the right side of my face.

"I remember feeling excruciating pain. I didn't know I had broken my jaw; I was so dazed I just fell to the floor."

Mr Gregory was off work for a month after the game, and has not played football since the incident in November last year.

A jury found Cowan, of Whitchurch, Cardiff, guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Matthew Cobbe, defending, said: "Although labelled "a friendly" these were two evenly-matched teams playing a competitive game.

"It was in these perceived pressured circumstances Cowan reacted in an unacceptable and petulant way."

Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones, QC, jailed Cowan for eight months. He told him: "You were probably one of the best players on the pitch.

"You were perhaps becoming a little frustrated by Mr Gregory who was not nearly as good as you and was probably using all the tactics he could to try and stop you scoring.

"Football is a game and the sort of behaviour you showed cannot be tolerated."