There is no denying that as a club we seem to have a few more than our fair share of these scum. It's really damaging our reputation and I wish to god that we could identify them all and ban them for life. Whether it is the club's responsibility, or the Police's, or the courts, or a combination of all of them, somewhere along the line, not enough is being done about it. It really puts me off away games these days. I only do a very few and target the "friendly" away days. I would cross the road to avoid scum like this from Sunday to Friday so why do I want to be in any way associated with them on a Saturday.
I saw the incident described above largely due to being nearly wiped out by a steward ploughing into the melee. Look, I thought the stewards were good yesterday, quite relaxed and let people just get on with enjoying the game. But during this incident they were very very happy to punch anything that moved. I'm not excusing troublemakers and we all know after a few drinks some of our fans like to act up, but having witnessed it first hand I just want to give a bit of balance. There was no need for people to get wacked left right and centre. I agree with the above that again it adds negatively to our reputation. The way we were treated by the police yesterday showed the contempt in which we are held. But before 100% of the blame is once again placed on our fans, it's only fair to point out the inappropriate actions of the stewards too. No problem with fans being ejected if necessary, but punching random people can't ever be right.
Agreed about the stewards. Their job isn't to punch people, regardless of provocation. I noticed they were very relaxed and friendly before the game. As we entered the ground, a few younger fans were patted down but they just waved us through and said "enjoy the game".
How do you actually go about banning someone from a football match? Surely its impossible to enforce?
I think you had to sign in to police stations at one point at kick off time but not sure if that still happens. I'm sure you can get around a ban occasionally but the penalty for being caught would probably be harsh enough to not bother. It's a massive hassle though cos whenever England play you have to hand your passport in regardless of any intention of going.
The clubs will not knowingly sell them tickets. I believe they have the banned supporters name and photograph that staff try to learn. Of course you can't really do anything about payon the day fans but clubs do have spotters in the crowd looking out for known trouble makers. For the most serious offenders they can even insist that they have to report to police stations on matchdays
Yeah they were really good, just the right amount of checking and authority whilst maintaining a relaxed approach. Then a few turned into Lennox Lewis when the incident occurred.
And if the stewards suddenly turned into a bunch of Lennox Lewis’s then that certainly shows that they have taken a job there because they are looking for a fight. I hate to see any Barnsley fan being hit.
I hate to see any innocent person being hit. Whether they happen to like the same football team as me or not is irrelevant
No it doesn't. It could just as easily be interpreted that they rushed to help one of their own after he was lamped for no reason by a piece of scum. And if said piece of scum was knocked into next week by them it would have made my day, whether he was a Barnsley fan or not, just as long as no innocent bystanders were targeted.
Clearly you are a much nicer person than I am. And I would say that you are the winner of this threads competition to find who is the most civilised and nicest person.
Going back to the original point, you don't go to do a job (more or less volunteering) to be hit or have abuse given to you. The person (can't call them a fan) should be banned for life. It makes me sick what people think of my club, and fans because of lovely people like that. The staff I dealt with at Charlton were absolutely wonderful, especially the turnstile lady who had a smile and a little chat with everyone
I used to work with a Wednesday fan who had a season ticket. Wednesday played Newcastle at Hillsborough, and a Geordie ended up next to this guy. Newcastle scored, the Geordie celebrated and my colleague gave him a crack. He ended up in court, fined, and banned for three years or whatever. Next time Wednesday were at home, he cunningly disguised himself with a baseball cap and went to sit in his usual seat. Nothing ever happened and he carried on supporting them as normal.
I rather suspected that might be the case. You can't expect a turnstile operator to have tens of photos of people not to let in. On another note though, I bet in your situation, the Geordie bloke got the blame for sitting in the wrong stand, just as its becoming the norm that it's your fault if your burgled for not locking your door. NO ITS EFFING NOT
It’s not just at away games his happens. I took someone to the Luton game and sat in the Ponty end. Behind us there were 4 or 5 blokes who spent the entire match shouting foul language and making lewd and racist remarks. The racism included chants of ‘EDL, EDL’ making monkey noises towards a Luton player and when Cavare slipped in 2nd half said he’d ‘slipped on his banana’. They were going to the Charlton game as well so I was glad I wasn’t. Personally I think it’s not as ‘minority’ as some people make out, especially at away games when all the village idiots turn up.
Its definitely a minority but a larger minority than I would like. I have encountered it at away games though usually only when we take a larger following. They dont seem to be there when we are poor and only taking 300 fans to games down south. I was at the Charlton game and didn't see any trouble found the stewards and the police polite and helpful - shame we have some dickheads who cant behave
I never know what to think about this, really. In a reasonable world, opposing fans should be able to sit together. It isn't, however, something I would want. I like to be able to chunter about the opposing team/manager/fans being a set of cvnts. I'm not really interested in having that viewpoint challenged by an opposing supporter. I'm a bit... uhh... stubborn, and having that view challenged would only entrench it further and *possibly* get me a good hiding. I think if you are in the wrong part of the ground you should behave. It's wrong that someone should be attacked for supporting the other team but a football match is not competitive flower-arranging. Twice in my life I have ended up in with the home fans. Both were matches of huge significance and both were won. I wanted to stand up and scream my head off when we scored. I didn't - somehow - because I was aware of the likely consequences. To not be beaten up as an away fan in the wrong part of the ground, I am relying on either myself or x thousand home fans behaving like sensible adults. I can't guarantee the latter, and so I need to be responsible for my own actions.
Ive been in the wrong end several times at games at QPR and less often Watford and never had a problem with the home supporters - been with friends who were supporting the home side though - never seen us do anything other than lose when doing that so never had the problem of having to avoid jumping up etc. used to go to Rugby Union a couple of times a season and there fans are all mixed together, and you can take your beer to the seat and never seen a sniff of trouble - just a bit of friendly banter with opposing fans, bit harder when getting trounced but its swings and roundabouts