Why you should care about the Watching Football Is Not A Crime campaign

<font size="3">Why you should care about the Watching Football Is Not A Crime campaign, by Ian Winwood</font>

From http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/02/06/why-you-should-care-about-the-watching-football-is-not-a-crime-campaign-by-ian-winwood-115875-21102000/

The Football Supporters&rsquo; Federation &ndash; a group that campaigns for the rights of fans &ndash; have just launched a campaign called Watching Football Is Not A Crime.
Here are just a handful of examples of why such a campaign is needed.

Earlier this season, Chelsea fans were travelling to see their team play against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on a train subsided by the Stamford Bridge club. After departing this train, away supporters were transported to the stadium and held behind one of the stands for more than two hours before the game started. The police did not allow any member of the group to leave the convoy as it travelled from train station to football ground.

Also this season, a number of Stoke City fans were drinking in the Railway Inn, a pub in Irlham, Greater Manchester. Despite no reported complaints of disorder, officers from Greater Manchester Police entered the pub and told the 80 fans that they would no longer be allowed to go to the game at Old Trafford, and would instead be forcibly returned to Stoke.

Want another one? Okay, try this, also from this season&hellip;

Fifteen Plymouth Argyle fans were on their way to the see their team play away against Doncaster Rovers. Club stewards directed the group to a nearby pub. Despite their being no trouble, the group, whose number included children, were confronted by the police and told that they too would not be attending that afternoon&rsquo;s game. Instead they were given a police escort through three counties back toward Plymouth.

The reason the police are legally able to harass British citizens in this way is because of something known as Section 27. A part of the 2006 Violent Crime Reduction Act, S27 allows Plod to move people from a certain area for a 48 hour period if there is a belief that an alcohol-related offence may be committed.

The law was originally passed so that two groups of drunken yahoos in a pub on a Friday night might both be sent 500 yards in the opposite direction. It was not intended to deprive peaceful Plymouth fans &ndash; fans that have travelled hundreds of miles to see their team &ndash; of watching live football.

&ldquo;What Section 27 does,&rdquo; says Malcolm Clarke of the Football Supporters&rsquo; Federation, &ldquo;is treat football fans in a way that no other section of society would be treated. The way it&rsquo;s being used certain police forces is to assume that all fans are gathering to get drunk and cause trouble.

&ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m not saying that the information the police are acting on is always incorrect,&rdquo; he continues. &ldquo;Maybe some of the fans in some situations are thinking of causing trouble. But does that mean that the police are right to round up everyone in the area and deny them access to the game?&rdquo;

Mr Clarke likens the situation to a supermarket locking down everyone on the premises because it suspects one of the people inside is planning to steal a frozen chicken.

But perhaps a more fitting comparison would be to London&rsquo;s Notting Hill Carnival. Each year Carnival is attended by hundreds of thousands of people, and some of these people cause bother. But the police wouldn&rsquo;t dare impose a Section 27 order on whole groups of people attending this event, and neither should they.

People are innocent until proven guilty. Except, it seems, football fans. The same football fans who, recent arrest figures show, boast one troublemaker for every 100,000 people who attend each weekend&rsquo;s games.

Senior officers are said to be dismayed at how S27 is being implemented. But reports from on the ground seem to show what history has already taught us: that if you give the police too much power, they will misuse it.

Watching Football Is Not A Crime is a campaign being run alongside the civil rights&rsquo; group Liberty. Yesterday, Stoke City FC publicly backed the campaign, and promised &pound;20,000 toward legal costs. If you want to find out more, then log on to www.fsf.org.uk.

I suggest you do, because what has happened to some fans already could soon happen to you.</p>

<font face="arial black,avant garde" color="#cc0000" size="4">Become part of the football supporters federation by </font><font face="arial black,avant garde" color="#cc0000" size="4">joiningdirectly</font><font face="arial black,avant garde" color="#cc0000" size="4"> or by becoming a member of </font><font face="arial black,avant garde" color="#cc0000" size="4">Barnsley FC Supporters Trust</font>

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bit of advice from a bobby

section 27 is a great power if used correctly ie on the idiots who do cause trouble and yes i have used it.

just a bit of advice section 27 has to be used on INDIVIDUALS not groups. this means if you are in a group ie 2 or more the boobies can section 27 the group it has to be done on an individual basis. this is something alot of people don't know.

this is where the problems arise because most people dont know its an individual thing not a group thing.

 

I would suggest a bit of police training is in order then nt

 

RE: I would suggest a bit of police training is in order then nt

couldn't agree more, problem is as with alot of new legislation if your a nw bobby at training school you get an input, generally if not its down to the individual whihc is ****....

my advice was aimed atfans tho really they need to be aware of this legislation and what it applies to

 

'Earlier this season, Chelsea fans were travelling to see their team play against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on a train subsided by the Stamford Bridge club. After departing this train, away supporters were transported to the stadium and held behind one of the stands for more than two hours before the game started. The police did not allow any member of the group to leave the convoy as it travelled from train station to football ground.'</p>

I'd say not being allowed to leave the convoy is fairly routine when the police are trying to maintain public order. The rest of the incidents are totally out of order though.</p>


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Sorry. Thanks for the advice

but I cant see it doing any good if I'm rounded up by police intent on using powers it seems they don't understand or choose to misuse.

 

agreed happens at grounds all over the country every week. sometimes it just a case of trying to stop bother and stoke and chelsea have some of the worstbehaved fans in the country, fact!!

 

would that be like section 60's where they demand your name adrss and a photo but fail to provide a stop and search slip?

 

I've been to stoke this season

and the holding areas for away fans are steel cages in the car park. So to be locked up in them for 2 hours with no facilities and the local yokels having as many free shots as they want is a bit harsh and not really the way to treat human beings in 2009.

 

RE: I've been to stoke this season

I was talking about the bit where they said no-one was allowed to leave the convoy en route to the ground. It didn't really go into detail about where they were kept at the ground, so didn't know that.

 

RE: I've been to stoke this season

I went with a rotherham supporting mate and his 3 sons for a cup game and we were let into the ground well before kick off, but the cages were there and we were told they were often used for holding fans prior too and after games.

 

too many bobbies...

think they are the law and regard the rules as an inconvenience to be ignored.</p>

That's what gives the rest of you a bad name.
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