You're kidding right? Under terrorism laws they can arrest you, hold you for 28 days, then release you without even telling you why you were there in the first place.
That's going a little far, I have been to well over 200 games, home and away and not once been spoken to by the police/stewards. If you're doing something that warrants the attention of the police/stewards then you're asking for it.
You have been lucky then. Do you resolutely sit down and keep quiet BTW? 200 games? About the amount of games since we first went up to the PL.
Depends on the copper to be fair. I've seen a kid (11 or 12 at most) pushed to the floor because 10 minutes before the end of a game he wanted to go and sit back with his parents before it was time to go (he'd been sat with his mate and his parents behind me during the game).
Sit down? Only at home games, I tend to follow the common courtesy of whatever the people around me are doing, if they're all sitting down then I don't want to get in the way and stand in front of them, being 6ft 3 I am not a very good window. Keep quiet? No. I like how when I stated how many games i've been to you automatically assume that's only since 2008. That's rather cynical don't you think? Not to mention incorrect. If I really must justify the amount, it's due to me living in Wakefield and not having the funds to travel approx. 110 miles round trip every home game.
I'd say you've been lucky. If you believe that you need to be doing something anti-social either at, or travelling to, a football match to warrant attention from the police then you're living in a very blinkered world. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/sep/25/fooball-policing-stoke-violent-rude http://www.the-wanderer.co.uk/boards/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18972 http://manchestermule.com/article/manchester-police-forced-to-apologise-to-stoke-fans http://www.urban75.org/football/rights.html
Do you see the running theme in those 3 articles/posts? The last 3 times I've been to Stoke (not just for City) has involved drunken people arguing with police, one guy tried to force himself on to an already packed bus, when he was told he had to get the one behind it he started effing and blinding and was very much being anti-social.
No. The 'Bubble' enforcements imposed on fans were unreasonable and draconian, there's no denying that, this stemmed from the ignorance and belligerence of some jobsworth higher up in the force. What I am saying is from my experience, the majority of times when people get arrested/ejected it's through their own actions.
Fair enough. I could give loads of examples of the overbearing attitudes of police and stewards towards fans. I am in my sixties and have thought in the past after seeing how the police act towards people of my age that you can understand the antipathy of younger ones at football matches towards them. You get the impression that after walking on eggshells all week and having to mind their Ps and Qs with obnoxious yobs some police see football matches as an opportunity to relieve their pent up feelings of frustration on the one section of society now viewed as having no rights and wh are always guilty. With a dozen arrests, only 1 for violence, out of over 400,000 people attending, the KC is the safest area on a match day in Hull. More arrests in 14,000 on so-called Ladies Dsy but no clampdowns and overwhelming police presence there.
Yes, the police apologising. Yes, the police apologising for inappropriate actions. These two incidents were local(ish) to me & therefore raised some local debate. There are many other events occurring each week. Think Huddersfield, WYP's decision to incorrectly "bubble" the match affected every individual City supporter that attended. It also resulted in an apology.
Easier to ban alcohol, just because a few can't act responsibly lets deprive all those who can. The law should be enforced on those who can't hold it and let the rest of us get pissed in peace.
The difference is that when you add in the fact that football is tribal you have a recipe for disaster
Since WW1 our licensing laws have been based on restricting everyone because of what a few may do. Why not do what they do in the rest of Europe? Hammer those who step out of line and leave the rest to be treated like adults. Instead our only remedies are restrictions and early closings.
Wow. Even for you, thats a really **** analogy. You can be stopped from travelling to European games when you've broken the law and are banned from doing so. I can't even be arsed to explain the bit about suspected terrorists to you because I know you wouldn't understand.
Possibly because people aren't allowed to sit drinking for the 90 minutes of a match. Last time I went by coach to a football match (not an official coach) there were a couple of lads (I say lads, but early 30's) who were drinking .... for the last 30 minutes of the outbound journey they started causing trouble, along with swearing & abusing others on the coach. The driver refused to allow them back onto the coach for the trip home......but they could easily have gone OTT on the way down...too easy for an accident to happen if the driver becomes distracted & then it's 40+ lives at risk
....... Bloody hell I get searched every game.....home and away.... When I went in the south stand ONCE the stewards even wanted to look in my pockets. The juniors think it's hilarious.
I've never been searched either. You must have a certain look about you TF. The juniors are right to think that!
