FOOTBALL fans are missing out again after it was announced Euro 2012 matches will not be shown on Swindon’s Big Screen.

The news is set to enrage fans who were disappointed when World Cup 2010 matches weren’t shown at the Wharf Green venue.

Concerns about crime and the effect on town centre traders are the main reasons for the decision.

A Swindon Council spokesman said it was hoped the decision would lead to more people filling out the local pubs and bars.

“We have decided not to show Euro 2012 football matches following a number of concerns raised by our partners Forward Swindon, inSwindon and Wiltshire Police,” he said.

“The police said they would be opposed to the idea as they prefer local bars to show live matches as they are very good at managing this type of event.

“As a designated Live Site for the Olympics, Wharf Green already has an extremely busy calendar of events and putting in additional barriers and security for the football would be extremely costly.

“The possibility of large numbers of football fans congregating in Wharf Green would also affect the trade of pubs and bars screening the matches and have an adverse impact on other businesses in the town centre.

“It should also be noted that other cities in the UK who showed matches from the last football World Cup on Big Screens experienced disturbances even though they were well organised events with additional security and were held in designated parks.”

Tom Vowles, from the management team at nearby Bushwackers, said screening the matches could lead to trouble in the town centre.

He said: “If the games were shown on the Big Screen it would bring more people into town and less people into the pubs and bars. But you might get a lot of people trying to drink there and, as it is right in the town centre, it doesn’t make Swindon look the best that it can be.”

Town centre inspector Keith Ewart said he supported the decision.

“There are more appropriate venues in the town for the football to be shown,” he said.

“There are pubs and clubs which will be showing the games so it is not causing people to miss out, it is just that in that open space and that environment it could potentially lead to crime and disorder.”

Simon Jackson, chief executive of inSwindon, said the schedule for the Big Screen was already brimming with events over the summer months, despite the Euros not appearing on the list.

He said: “Between May and July we have an extensive list of wonderful events taking place in the town centre including the Royal Opera, Swindon Talent, Jubilee Lunch, the annual Armed Forces activities, Wimbledon, the Royal Ballet and an entire suite of activity happening around the Olympics.

“Many of these activities are exclusive to Big Screens across the country, so the event calendar for when the Euro 2012 competition takes place is on is already very full.”

But the news was not so popular with football fans.

IT worker Dan Horridge, 31, of Farnsby Street, said: “They show every other sporting event on the Big Screen so it is unfair to punish football fans.

“I was behind the screen initially, but now it seems like a waste.”

A spokeswoman for Forward Swindon said the decision was nothing to do with them so could not comment.