Ignoring current note, punish supporter (8)
I believe the answer is:
disciple
'supporter' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for disciple that I've seen before include "Follower of a religious leader" , "Pupil - follower" , "Mark, for example" , "I spliced to get a follower" , "James perhaps" .)