DUNDEE United and Scotland footballer Duncan Ferguson was yesterday

found guilty of punching and kicking a 19-year-old postman who was on

crutches, as they waited in a taxi queue in Stirling.

Ferguson, 21, was fined #200 at the end of a one-day trial at Stirling

Sheriff Court and was told by Sheriff Richard McFarlane that, although

he had been goaded, it was clear that he had lost his temper and that

while he was possibly a target for people to make comment, he should

have risen above it.

The sheriff rejected a plea from the footballer's solicitor, Mr John

Bain, to admonish, saying that he would not do so because of a previous

analogous offence on his schedule of convictions.

Ferguson had denied that on August 23 last year in Murray Place,

Stirling, he assaulted Paul Robertson by punching and kicking him on the

head and body, and knocking him to the ground.

In evidence, Mr Robertson, a Hearts supporter, said he was on crutches

with one leg in plaster after a ligament operation on a knee.

He alleged he was struck on the back of the head and kicked several

times in the ribs as he lay on the ground unable to get up. He denied he

had been ''niggling away'' at the player, trying to provoke a response.

He also denied calling Mr Ferguson's girlfriend, Miss Jolene Boyle, a

slut and a tart, saying he might have used the word ''trollop''.

Woman Police Constable Donna Bryans, 19, said she and a colleague,

Police Constable Alan Monteith, 29, were about 25 yards from the taxi

queue. She saw Ferguson leaning over Mr Robertson punching and kicking

him. The victim was attempting to shield himself.

Constable Monteith added that when cautioned, Ferguson replied: ''I

done it, but he was mouthing off.''

In his summing-up, the sheriff said they had given graphic accounts of

the incident, and he preferred that evidence.

Ferguson, of Glasgow Road, Stirling, said he was a professional

footballer with Dundee United. He had been capped five times as an

under-21 player and had three full caps.

He said he feared for the safety of his girlfriend when Robertson

moved towards her.

Asked what happened then, he said: ''I punched him in the face because

I thought he was going to hit my girlfriend, and in turn, myself.

''I hit him and we both fell and after I got up, I booted him in the

rib cage.''

Questioned by fiscal-depute Andrew Laing on the reason for kicking the

man when he could simply have walked away, he replied: ''I kicked him to

keep him down. I have never walked away in my life.''

Mr Laing asked: ''Looking back, with hindsight, would you do the same

again?'' The player replied: ''I would do the same again.''