I like your comment on autism but your comment about why people get bullied I think is too catch-all.
100% agree In my post, I only referred to him as being labelled Harry potter and his Autism as he was regularly being bullied on those 2 points at games. As you say bullying can take many forms. being laughed at was a reason he'd given up on going to games. I was told last night as to why he wasnt and hadn't renewed his season ticket. Way b4 the said incident. I'm certainly not excusing his behaviour having hopefully made that clear. Hes a 35 yr old grown man. But in the next breath. Some need to realise that what may seem laughable at his expense. Was/is not funny in the least to him.
He's not being charged with arson or attempted murder is he? He's being charged with violent disorder, which seems absolutely fair for trying to boot a copper at a racist riot.
Does that stretch to any offence? If we are saying racist violent disorder isn’t grounds to ban, what if someone is convicted of serious assault? A convicted paedophile? Rape? Murder? I’d like to think the club would have the power to and do ban such individuals personally. And I include the hard of thinking that attended Manvers the other week to cause trouble and inflict harm.
Adam Hammill signed for us after being charged with assaulting an emergency worker. Punched her in the face (I think). Where's the line? Should we not have signed him? There are red lines but they're all completely subjective and ultimately ungovernable. This kid hasn't brought Barnsley Football Club into disrepute - ppl only recognise him because he's a distinctive face and has been laughed at on here. There'll be plenty of Reds fans in those pictures and maybe even charged but nobody will call for their banning because they're not recognised. It's a mad suggestion.
I want any reds fan convicted from this banning to be honest. I had no idea who this HP guy is until he was mentioned after the riot.
People have asked for anyone involved to be banned. It’s nowt to do with whether he looks like Harry Potter or not.
How we doing that? Asking people to own up to any involvement? Setting up an anonymous hot line for people to dob in fans who have season tickets & bang a picture up on every turnstile? I'll say it again. It's mad.
You make a great point. And I don't honestly know how to answer re to where to draw the line that's why we have courts and different sentences to try define the difference. But the scenes at manvers were not comparable to Hammills case. This was serious civil disorder on a high level. Where Hammils wasn't. (Guessing a drunken outburst gone horribly wrong) I wouldnt have been comfortable having Graham travel with us this season given what he did. 1. I'm totally against what he did. And 2. The impact it would have on the rest of our membership. So I see the predicament for the club. If its violent disorder. Difficult. If race hate is brought into the equation no question he'll be banned imo.
The club has a database of fans, if any of those names (once verified by address, dob etc) have been charged and found guilty the club should ban them for a period of time. I wouldn’t ban anyone indefinitely but for at least their original sentence. Will people break their bans? Probably. But it’s more about the stance the club should take to show that we won’t accept racism/Islamophobia at our club. That’s my view, whether you agree or not. It’s certainly not down to the specific character involved this time. Edit: I should have made clear in my previous post that by ‘being involved’ I meant found guilty by the courts, not just seen on some grainy twitter footage.
I don’t think we should have signed Hammill for exactly that reason. Anyone involved in violent racist attacks should be in prison so their ability to attend Oakwell is slightly moot.
The club also has a duty of care to its employees and if they can identify violent racists that have been convicted of race hate crimes it seems reasonable to protect their employees if they can.
If someone was filmed at a riot wearing a Barnsley FC shirt, are they bringing the club into disrepute?
It is, but as noted above, everyone seems to be getting between 2.5 and 3 years. So attending oakwell isn't something the club need act upon because they can't anyway. Then you are into rehabilitation arena. Will they be rehabilitated by then or not. Who knows. So it then becomes a judgement call by the club. Unless of course the courts apply certain licence conditions etc.
I thought football was trying to stamp out racism, by attending these riots they have shown that they are clearly racist and hold racist views. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, they have no comeback if they are banned by the club.
https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1823653512233754829?s=46&t=j20zR706pmXrBtdI_7p-NQ Interesting snippet here
Given the last time ORA sponsored us. I reckon he stopped going to games anyhow. But I get your point. Not so much disrepute but embarrassing. for me, not as a club but a community. Given the proximity of the incident. In the next breath if he was wearing a spurs shirt would we have assumed he was from london.