Following Friday's events at Hillsborough, a thought came to me that perhaps in certain cases (leagues, teams etc.) it is time to implement the 2010 World Cup's policing model. At that tournament, each country that qualified for the finals brought a police contingency with them. At each game, in addition to the local stewards and law enforcement, there were two teams of police - one for each team. At the first sign of trouble, that whole contingent came out in riot gear etc. and dealt with the trouble. At one of the Germany games, I saw a large man being very disruptive. Within minutes a contingent of about 10 men dressed in black riot gear came down to where he was, picked him up and just carried him out without any fuss. This may not be easy in an away area of 5,000 fans but perhaps it needs to be considered. Away areas could also be broken up so you only have 500 or so fans in an area with a gap between them and the next 500. Something to think about?
No need for change JLA in my opinion. This was one incident and he has been caught. It worked. Balance to maintain freedom more important
We already send staff reps from the clubs to away games to check tickets etc. I think we do enough to be honest. If the away ticket system is being abused (we have only one high profile incident of this as of late) then maybe reverting back to a photo on the card maybe a solution. You cant second guess dickheads though. I am suprised just how easily he appeared to get on the pitch and then seem to disapear back in the crowd not to be arrested for a couple of days!
Who wou pay for this extra police presence JLA? Bearing in mind most teams in the lower leagues can barely afford the policing for their home games let alone away games too?
Its not a bad idea, and it wouldnt cost alot when most clubs like millwall, only ever take a min bus away.
Good article in the independent on how, any time isolated events like this occur, everyone takes a shift to the right. More police, a reduction in supporters' rights, tougher everything. We have to stop overreacting and take every incident in the context of all the times it doesn't happen. The vast majority of football fans shouldn't suffer because of the actions of the few- it's like things along the lines of the patriot act in the states, rolling back the rights of everyone on the off chance it might aid in terrorism prevention.
As I wrote in the article, this policy would only be implemented for certain leagues (say the Prem and Championship in England) and/or certain teams. Perhaps there would be a threshhold. When a team's fans take a ticket allocation greater than a set number, say 3,000. The cost would be shared by both clubs or perhaps there would be a 5 pound surcharge on each ticket.
No, the current system is working fine. There is no need to change it, admittedly there were a couple mistakes made in this one instance but it doesn't mean you need to override the whole system to ensure that it won't happen again and in doing so costing everyone more money, more time and more than likely it becoming an irritant for attending supporters. The clubs won't pay this money by the way, ticket prices will just go up I hold a lot of blame on Shef Weds for this and maybe they need to think just how easy it was for him to do this. I also like to believe that people's self discipline could improve some
Hey, an ideal world is an ideal world right? Still, I do wonder what people are thinking when things like this occur, I would hazard a guess that there not
Maybe they should make you do what WYP/Leeds make us do - pick up tickets from a service station where you have to show your membership etc - admittedly this has severely reduced the numbers we take to Elland Road, but no trouble at Leeds v Millwall games (apart from the locals getting excited with the OB).
Don't think the Sarth Efrican policing model would work. The bleeding heart liberal HR brigade would moan too much. Nice idea though. The WYP model for high profile/high expectation of trouble might be a pain, but it appears to work. Just how did a banned individual either become a member, get a ticket, or get into the ground? Someone somewhere needs a talking to about the basics of security.
First of all, I do want to say well done to Leeds for quickly indentifying the guy, and to the authorities for their swift justice (although some may say 4 months isn't long enough). Hopefully this will make people think again before doing anything similar in the future. Chants aside (they happen at all games), it is an isolated incident, and one that doesn't happen very often, so there doesn't need to be huge changes! One of the big problems are the stewards. Nothing against them personally at all. If you are surrounded by a number of fans, you don't want to get involved if you are in the minority. The steward you seen in the picture just standing there, he doesn't want to tackle the guy when there is very little support around, and who can really blame him! If you are surrounded by a few drunk guys and he steps in, he may get a knock himself! What I would suggest is needed is a bigger police presence at the more high-profile games. Would those handful of fans jumped onto the pitch if there was a line of police in front of them? I would say it is unlikely, but if they did, they could move in rather swiftly to stop any trouble (hopefully). Then I guess it comes down to cost! Who bears this! Maybe they should start doing proportionate costing for each game, based on percentages of fans - so if the away support is 5% of the attendance, they pay 5% of the cost! To be honest, not sure if there is a 'perfect' solution! There doesn't need to be huge changes, and there has been rather an over-reaction - I guess because it is Leeds.
Unfortunately Kev, Ken Bates has put the kybosh on that one by taking the police to court (and winning) over policing costs on matchdays - to ask for an extra police presence would also be asking the taxpayer to fund it
While not completely familiar with the details, I believe the case was regarding the police presence outside the ground, throughout the city. Perhaps Kev was suggesting more police inside the ground, around the perimeter of the pitch? On tv on Friday, it appeared there were clusters of people in yellow aropund the field, but not many in front of the Leeds section - not very effective stewarding/policing.
The stewards at the time I believe were trying to silence the Wendys from singing about Turkey/Istanbull when Tonge scored that cracker as it was starting to boil over between the two sets of fans as the vile wendy animals wouldnt stop. They were also singing about Jimmy Savile aimed at winding Leeds fans up. Ironic that Dave Jones only heard the pedeo chants directed at him though
Glad there are others who want to protect civil liberties from draconian, intrusive policing measures. Let football fans be football fans. If anyone attacks another fan without provocation, of course eject them and let them be punished. If there's mutual fisticuffs, make sure it's split up by the appropriate people (Leeds fans if it's us among ourselves; stewards if it's us on other fans). But no need for this focus on riot police dragging people out 'at the first sign of 'trouble''. That sort of thought worries me. If that makes me a bleeding heart liberal, I will wear that badge with pride. Freedom is better than oppression.
