http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/news/article/club-statement-millwall-3111829.aspx Seems a fair enough statement to me, safety first then deal with the matter of pursuing members and any breaches of rules later. Hopefully the club will issue another statement at a later date of any actions taken.
Some sentiments of the statement are understandable, and in view of the events, no more or less than can be expected. The wording will give GFC as much sympathy as it can expect from anyone ( including me ). Having said that I can sympathise with the Club, stewards and Police, a question has to be asked ; Did none of the above think that, to allow any away supporter in a home section, wasn't going to provoke the more moronic home fans ? In an ideal world, people should be able to sit next to a stranger without the risk of either of them wanting to rip off each others head just because of the team they support - but we're talking football fans, in particular fans of a team not exactly loved by most of football - let alone by fans of a local rival. Whilst I can accept that the Millwall fans in the corporate spaces are decent people - and maybe so were quite a few other Millwall fans in the home section - what should have been obvious to the 'authorities', was that it was only going to take one idiot in their number - to inflame the more stupid of Gills' fans to cause the problems that unfolded. And it wasn't just one Millwall idiot that got so much Gillingham blood boiling - there were several - in fact, by the admission of the 'authorities', there were so many stupid Millwall fans that it was considered too volatile to eject them - leading to several of them to goad the home fans even more ! - which only increased the temperature a few degrees. ANY non-football supporting idiot could have foreseen the event. I do not condone the violence and the behaviour of some of Gills' fans, but I hope that, after the appropriate action is taken against them, the club can learn lessons and do NOT ever again permit the sale of any ticket to away fans in home sections - because that was the root cause of all the problems. If the fans had been kept totally apart all that would have occurred in the ground would have been an exchange of 'banter.'
Attempting to consider all the circumstances I try to keep a balanced view, it would go against my footballing beliefs and culture not too. Rivalry creates passion something that is sadly missing from very many grounds these days, I could recite Swindon of old as an example. I myself have entered home supporters ends but also have learned to sit on my hands and keep my mouth shut. However, would I freely enter the said two particular mentioned grounds of my own accord, very doubtful unless invited by a friend who could get me a ticket. So it's a catch 22 situation. What I find most frustrating about this whole event is the rules that GFC have in place, especially for ST holders, I'm sure I do not need to repeat those conditions but am happy to if members on here don't know them. On face value in my opinion it looks like the club could have done better, I can't prove either way what actually happened to enable Wall fans to get tickets but I do lay the blame for now, with the club, not only do I believe they messed up but the conditions leading up to the Wall game were ridiculous, Coventry! I accept the club cannot stop someone passing on tickets, I accept that some Wall fans will live in the Medway Towns or they are certainly close enough even from London to travel in. A member on here had said well before the game, there was a way in the online registering that would have enabled Wall supporters to obtain a membersip number and hence buy tickets, I've not tested the system so that I cannot verify but it seems a pretty viable logic, after all, I could be a Gills fan living in London or even Scotland come to that. As alwaysright has highlighted, I've absolutely no problem with Wall fans sitting with home supporters if common sense is used by those persons, in the same way I would sit down and shut up in a volatile environment or even in a non volatile one come to that. The question is would I sell or give a ticket to a Wall supporting friend if I knew they were going to make it obvious they supported the opposition, of course not. If that happened I would expect action against my account....so over to you Gillingham Football Club. Oh and before anyone mentions two team shirts, I think those type of supporters want shooting
Well - if you can't behave yourself in a cemetery, where are you going to do so ? - at a football match ? Like I've suggested - keep them apart - This is another testimony to a quote by Einstein - regarding the infinite stupidity of human beings (the ones that aren't mad). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36293547
Maybe is 'only' a British problem. Watched the CL final last night - couldn't help noticing that the two sets of fans were sat directly next to each other - No segregation - No line of police - no stewards. NO trouble. So if the rival fans from a major city, whilst in another country, can behave themselves - why can't the British ................... and I expect that the fans from Madrid probably spent much of the day having a few drinks - and not getting blotto on half a pint of lager. We shall see come 10th June - although the real 'fun' won't happen until England are eliminated -- yeah - that's going to go off peacefully !
alwaysright - not sure but I think you may find the traditions are different. A family member went to Atletico Madrid a few seasons back, and there was a noticeable absence of away support, my assumption would be due to vaster travelling distances, only home supporters are mainly catered for. Other differences were that tickets were readily available for touting from family member season ticket holders, so you could literally turn up to a game and be directed to an area where a family season ticket holder may have an available ticket for purchase next to them at face value, which is what happened during this event - albeit you will need a translator to hold any sort of general discussion. I expect in the UK because it is custom to travel to support your team, it is more of a logistical nightmare for the authorities than abroad. I'm not saying supporters don't travel abroad but not with such regular occurrence. I did do a write up on this but expect the thread as got lost in the midst of time, I will see if I can find it and if it has any mention of alcohol rules.
brb When I went to Barcelona -there was only a tiny section of the ground dedicated for away fans - literally about 500 places. This is common practise in the Spanish league - and it would appear to be a major problem for clubs with large support. --- however segregation still exists in these situations. BUT My point is that in the CL final, it appeared that rival fans ( of one city - let alone 'merely' rivals of different teams ), were able to sit next to each other without any trouble. From the obvious 'demarkation' of team colours as worn by the fans, I am certain that the allocation of tickets could not have considered the possibility of trouble. I may have been slightly unkind to suggest that this 'peaceful' situation couldn't exist in England -- I am aware that there are plenty of thugs in European leagues. I still stand by my suggestion that misbehaviour of fans is mainly British problem ---- or to be precise -- British football.
Difficult one, personally although UK football bears the forefront of blame, I believe it is a social problem and hence why the problems from the 70's though to today still exist even if on a smaller scale. Let's not forget the lower paid are less likely to attend regularly these days, in place of the slightly financially better off, which was inherited from the Thatcher regime, with understudies lies from Hillsborough as the aftermath of her issues with the miners. So why does the problem still exist you may ask for example at Gillingham v Millwall this season. Supporters now save their hard earned pennies and pick and choose what matches to attend, it was pretty obvious from the release of fixtures in 2015, that there was a high probability that the last game in 2016 was going to be tense. I never agreed with the principle of ID cards for STH and have been in the past very vocal on this, it is discrimination by nature in my opinion. We all knew the loose cannon was going to unfold, it appears the only ones that didn't see it was the club by the fact tickets were sold to Wall supporters in the Home ends, and by the authorities who according to a certain media outlet were surprised by the numbers (or words to that affect). What lessons have been learned, NONE, it's the same old, same old, pass blame from pillar to post. We got an id system and a data base and will still manage to make a muck up of it. I've not even seen any media reports yet about having identified and banned the supporters that passed on ticket allocations to the visitors. Do I care, not one bit, I'd buy away tickets in the hosts stands if I was faced with the same situation, our allocation to Wall was shocking to say the least, so rather than confining a problem you spread it around the ground. But no one is ever going to put their hands up and say we messed up, it's always easier to blame someone else. Still at least I expect it's kept the scum at the Daily Malice and the Sun entertained.
brb I agree with your sentiments. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't be 'stupid' if your ticket was in with 'opposing' fans. But I said before that it only takes one idiot in football to create problems. Our Club has a habit of rubbing its' own fans up the wrong way. The pre match restrictions on ticket purchase did nothing to endear itself to home fans - so - when you get, not one - but several Millwall fans who just couldn't help themselves but to taunt the Gills fans, I am sure that the 'emotion' of home fans was as much against our [mal]administration, as any animosity towards Millwall fans. The sad thing is that, next season, I suspect that many people will stay clear of this fixture - because they will have absolutely no trust that the stranger next to them won't be a stupid Millwall fan - who might decide to 'extend' their range of 'activity' on the strength of the total lack of intervention meted out to them by our police.
I certainly will only consider the Wall game reluctantly however it will be the families which will be the biggest loss. I suppose some will argue what are you even doing taking a young child to watch Millwall which has fair weight, but in this day and age we should have moved on from the hooliganism from the 80s. No I agree, I very much doubt many parents or grandparents will want to take young children to Priestfield against Wall purely for what happened last month.
