Louie Barnfather, hell of a name, hell of a story
The life and times of Evesham United FC keeper Louie Barnfather wouldn’t usually concern us but every so often you see a headline that just makes you stop and this one, from the Gloucester Echo did just that.
‘Former Cheltenham Town goalkeeper Louie Barnfather ‘agreed to be put in rear neck choke hold’ at Fever nightclub, court is told’
That is the sort of headline that demands you read on and when we found out that the man at the centre of the case, Barnfather, was also a potential opponent for Ireland when we play Gibraltar in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, well, we had to find out more.
Barnfather has been called into the Gibraltar side but as far as we can see, he has yet to play for the national team. However, the occasion of his first call up last year led to an unusual event in a local nightclub, and the subsequent court case that is currently ongoing.
Barnfather went out to his local haunt in Cheltenham, a place called Fever. There he met a man called Ashley Godsell and it is Godsell that is in court, accused of assaulting Barnfather in the club.
However, while giving testimony Godsell says that the two men started talking about the UFC. From there he says this is what happened.
“I asked Louie if he knew what a rear neck choke hold was and he said ‘No’. I said ‘Ahh, let me show you’ and he replied ‘Yeh.’
“I’d never done it on anyone before.
“He turned his back towards me. He was still holding his drink but I put mine on the bar. I said I was going to put an arm around his throat. I did so and I gripped it with my other hand to perform the choke.
“I said ‘I’m going to squeeze a little bit now.’ He didn’t say anything at all. It wasn’t a hard squeeze or anything. It wasn’t a strangle. There was not much force inflicted and it was literally just for two to three seconds.
“He wobbled. I immediately let go. He was going forward and I used my left arm to try to keep him upright. But he weighs more than me and my arm completely collapsed and he hit the floor.”
Godsell alleges that both men were ejected and that afterwards Barnfather became aggressive towards him, shouting ‘I’m going to kill you’.
Barnfather has a different version of events. He said the two men said hello and then: “He suddenly grabbed me around the neck. There was no warning – he didn’t say anything. I didn’t give him permission. We were facing each other when he did it. He grabbed me extremely hard and I just passed out . I think he held me for about 15-20 seconds.
“I was trying to turn my body to get out of his grip. Then I just remember waking up on the floor. I felt really cold with a bad headache and a bit confused.”
Not only did Barnfather require 21 stitches in a head wound after the incident, he was also late for the Gibraltar team meet up.
The trial continues.
