consigliere wrote:Right, I have not been avoiing this ~ I have been too busy working and this is my first chance to get on here.
Lets get one thing straight from the off, this was NOT a normal away game. By that I am talking about a very small group of five idiots that for some reason decided to come and cause trouble. They were booked onto the official coaches. I have known their names since Friday night and later today will be making the club aware so that they cannot book on again.
Although the fighting happened at the side of the coaches it could just as easily of been at the side of people's cars. These idiots did not mind who or where so long as they could pick on an individual.
As i walked back to one of my coaches I passed three ladies (of a certain age shall we say) who looked terrified. Thankfully there were plenty of people sorting the matter out.
Last year after murrayfield I banned a large group from coming with me. To be honest it was as a result of the actions of one individual and i banned a whole group because I was fed up dealing with endless little things. Whilst that ban stood with me they were there at every game so a ban hardly stops people going.
I was asked a few times about them coming back and decided they could have a last chance - at Bradford.
I want people to know that this group were absolutely nothing to do with the problems at Odsal.If anything they were part of the solution.
They all came forward providing names of the trouble makers.
One lad on my coach was out of oreder and he will not be travelling with me again.
White Elephant - It was good to put a face to the name by the way.
although not a pretty one eh
Dave - if they are there this friday we can have a quiet word with them
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
consigliere wrote:I'm not getting drawn in on that josie
If I was only 25 years younger :inlo:
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
Seriously though we do need to look at what went on.
All this problem needs nipping in the bud.
We know we have problems because you can't ban someone before the event, but once we know there is a trouble maker we need to work together and ban them off everyone.
I know the ring leaders name, I am making the club aware of it so he doesn't book with them. I'll get in touch with the other coach companies as well.
The problem is whats to say what name he books under next time?
I don't know the legalities of it but its a shame no one seemed to take any photo's last week.
I'm sure a few photo's of banned passengers on the coaches is one way to make things harder for them to travel.
Of course this doesn't stop them going by car or train.
consigliere wrote:Seriously though we do need to look at what went on.
All this problem needs nipping in the bud.
We know we have problems because you can't ban someone before the event, but once we know there is a trouble maker we need to work together and ban them off everyone.
I know the ring leaders name, I am making the club aware of it so he doesn't book with them. I'll get in touch with the other coach companies as well.
The problem is whats to say what name he books under next time?
I don't know the legalities of it but its a shame no one seemed to take any photo's last week.
I'm sure a few photo's of banned passengers on the coaches is one way to make things harder for them to travel.
Of course this doesn't stop them going by car or train.
If hes a season ticket holder the club should ban him, its not as if no-one saw it. Even Bradfords fans complaining about them on rlfans. Im sure he wont get on yours or Davids coach again.
The best way to deal with these mindless idiots is to remove their shoes / trainers and make them walk. We once did it with a couple of drunken loudmouths and guess what they never did it again. The coach driver just pulled up at the service area and we left them.
What do we do from here to stop these situations happening?
You will always have drink or people who have been drinking at these events. No matter what people might wish that is just a fact. But, lets not forget that the vast majority of people are not turned into monsters by a few scoops.
I did notice that the group I mentioned above drank a hell of a lot less than they used to, and that might just be down to growing up a bit.
The lads who caused the real problems the other night were apparently sat outside a pub with a large bottle of vodka abusing all and sundry before the game!
Drink is no doubt a large part of the problem. But I just think the solution needs to be aimed at the problem not at everybody.
The first thing I saw as I went into the ground was a young lad trying to break the world record for projectile vomiting. He was in a bad way, St Johns Ambulance workers had to help him.
Now i'll be honest, once I discovered that he was not on one of my coaches I breathed a sigh of relief.
There is no way that he'd just had the odd can - he was in a right state.
Once the rouble started inside the ground, just after half time, a young lady (with a pram) who was stood on top off the concrete block they base the screen on started shouting for a steward because there was a fight.
He took an eternity to arrive, pushed his way through to see ~ then ran off!
He was going for help.
Do they not have radios???
Once all the stewards arrived they quickly pulled out the trouble makers (yes the same five lads - what a shock)
But why were they not thrown out of the ground then and there? Why were the police not involved?
on a couple of occassions the main culprit walked back to the front of the screen claiming he was loking how long was left. On each trip a steward followed him. On each trip the lad was whistling to get people's attention then pointing and mouthing off threats but the steward didn't seem bothered.
Again why was he not then thrown out?
Following the final hooter as we were walking out i noticed the stewards trying to keep tabs on this group as they mingled i and out of our supporters.
This ring leader then threatened one lad off one of my coaches. The stewards were right on top of him so he did nothing, he instead told one of his mates "they're watching me so you hit him for me".
I just explained to this mate of his that he had better be really sure he wanted to do that and told this lad to stay close to me as we went back to the coach.
This ring leader then went and started a scuffle in the chippy before starting another at the coach.
Luckily the driver of his coach left them behind.
Sadly no doubt they found their way home.
A few years ago there were a couple of times when local youngsters were throwing stones at the coaches as they left. Not just our team but several others. The solution was that for the last few trips there were police to see the coaches away. Sadly they were not there the other night.
IMO we need a concerted effort to stamp this out now before it gets worse.
Everycoach firm needs a list of banned passengers and photo's if possible of who we do not want travelling with us. We also need the clubs to get involved and eject these trouble makers and record who they are and simply stop them coming back.
Our stewards need to be proactive and they need to deal with problems not just get paid for watching the match in a hi vis jacket.
On the photo thing Mike if you've got names it might be worth having a look on facebook. Most kids have it these days and there should be some photos on there? Would be worth a go I suppose.
Gareth Thomas before his first game: "You wanna spend 10 mins getting smashed up by these guys..Big dudes here.."
