I don't understand either. Seeing a smoke bomb in the Main Stand was one of the highlights of the season at Anfield . They look ****ing brilliant and when one goes off it improves the atmosphere massively.
Thank you for enlightening me regarding the danger of flares. Now I know why they are frowned upon by the authorities!
Its got nothing to do with the dangers of flares, seats are more dangerous than safe standing areas for away fans too, if they were concerned about the safety of supports don't you think they'd implement safe standing? The fact is they don't like flares/smoke bombs etc. because it spoils their HD camera shots and they aren't in control of them. Its the same with banners, they pose no danger to anyone but because someone complained their view was being blocked for a tiny amount of time the guy got banned from the ground for 3 years.
Wasnt as fashionable then, but like when Defoe bit Mascherano and it was shown as nothing more than a bit of playfulness.
Yes one rule for London. This is all fine but I get the impression nobody here has had one good off next to them or felt the heat of some of them.
Flares are great provided you are prepared for them. In Eastern Europe we have dedicated stands for hardcore ultras. Anyone in those stands needs to be ready to run from riot police if need be. Flares are expected. There aren't women or children or elderly people there, unless they're aware of what is in store. The neutrals and non ultra fans occupy the west and east stands beside the pitch and the ultras (home and away) get the north and south (or whatever direction) behind the goals. I mean yeah they're dangerous and yes they're risky in the hands of coked up thugs but as long as you're aware and able to get tickets to sit in other stands I don't see the problem. As long as there is effective crowd control and you have a firefighting unit at your disposal, you can have safe flare usage. Once they burn out you throw them on the athletic track (one possible issue where they don't have them) and the firefighters grab them and put them in buckets of water. I guess from a safety standpoint it's a liability but again, if you could give people the option to take that risk and ensure certain standards are met, then it should be fine.
They last for about 5 minutes, not all match. Often before or after. Sometimes at halftime. But yeah most people in the stands there are there for the support rather than the game, which is kind of dumb but also kind of impressive.
If you can't create an atmosphere without setting off flares then there's something wrong with you. They've got nothing to do with football.
