A FORMER professional footballer and coach at Egerton Youth Club has been ordered to carry out community service after admitting assault.

Former Republic of Ireland international Paul Butler, 38, from Pickmere, will have to do 120 hours’ unpaid work following a punch-up at a school charity event held at Mere Golf Club in 2010.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Chester Crown Court last week.

Knutsford Police had been called to an incident at a PTA fundraiser at the golf club on September 18, last year.

A fellow guest at the Knutsford Oktoberfest suffered a broken nose and a split lip in the attack.

Butler played for Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, before joining Leeds United, where he became captain.

He played once for Ireland, against the Czech Republic in 2000.