Published Wednesday, 21 December 2011
The Football Banning Orders will be brought into effect from the New Year, after Mr Ford signed a Commencement Order to have them placed on the statute book.
"The measures I am now bringing into effect will make football grounds safer, will improve support for victims and witnesses in a court setting, and will reduce the number of people going to jail for not paying a fine," he said.
The new measures will allow the courts to ban people from going to football matches in Northern Ireland, with the banning order sent to the IFA and to Derry City Council.
Gary McAllister, from the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs, told UTV there had to be a distinction made between offences of differing degrees of seriousness.
"So we're not equating maybe someone running on the field of play to attack a player or referee to someone celebrating behind the goal posts after a team scores an important goal," he added.
"It's about what's right for local football - in England and Wales, we are dealing with a much larger problem and wider scale.
"Some people are very quick to demonise local football.
"It's important to bring in legislation to deal with people who merit punishment, but we have fought really hard to ensure only those people who really deserved to be are punished," he added.
Other powers are set to be implemented to help support witnesses who may have to testify in court, including new arrangements around summonses.
Supervised Activity Orders are also being introduced as a community-based alternative to imprisonment for defaulting on a fine.
A pilot scheme is being launched in the Newry Petty Sessions District, providing unpaid work placements as an alternative to custody if an individual defaults on a court-imposed fine.