Flares
I think I saw this young man being spoken to as I went into the terraces at about 2.40pm. I'd guess he was no more than 15 years old. Was being spoken to by a policeman and a steward. I was struggling to understand what could have been the issue: he was very young and callow-looking, clearly not intending any mischief.
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Comments
Did you read the article, he's been banned for breaking the club's pyrotechnics policy. Given how often the club have issued warnings he's only got himself to blame.
Yes, I read the article. Why?!
How can a supporter bringing a banned flair into the ground not be "intending any mischief"?
@HCblue then how can you be 'struggling to understand what could have been the issue?'
@floyd I think you have misread my original post and, in particular, the tense I used in the last two sentences.
@mooneyman Depends on your understanding of "intending" and "mischief", I suppose.
Seems a perfectly proportionate response by the club to me
Don't necessarily disagree, @bookertease .
@HCblue - It doesn't take a lot of grey matter to understand that if you take a banned item into the stadium you are intending to make mischief.
@mooneyman That presupposes that one knows the item to be banned and that one's ability to distinguish between fun and mischief is well-formed at a young age.
@HCblue ah was struggling i didn't read closely enough. Apologies.
He clearly had mischief on his mind tho!
I've got no sympathy. The club has been very clear on this and they only seem popular with a v small number of people.
I'm aware there's been an issue with flares at away games and understand why the club thought fit to publicise this event. I shared the story here for information purposes more than anything, and partly because I'd witnessed the lad being spoken to outside the ticket gate.
Truthfully, unless someone is able to point me in the direction of information to show a lot of flare-induced injury over the years and without prejudice to the nuisance I am aware some commenters here have experienced at away games, I think flares, like going on the pitch, are viewed differently now to how they once may have been and that the popular view has changed as a result of the criminalisation of the acts rather than, necessarily, the mischief effected by them.
I well remember running onto the ground at the end of a one-dayer at Headingley many years ago, along with the majority of the crowd, or so it seemed to me at the time. Entering the playing area at the end of a game was normal, even at Lord's, until not that long ago, though it was best done sedately and with proper reverence to the ground and the players, of course. I dare say many of you will remember that cups were often presented on the balconies at Lord's with the crowds gathered on the pitch below.
Thus, it seems to me that the act of entering the playing area is not, of itself, automatically one deserving of censure, to my mind. Similarly, I am able to read this story about the flares, see the young man involved and not immediately be angry with him.
Entering the playing area is fine, flares are for dicks with no consideration for those around them.
Possibly so, @Chris . Yet to experience it and I intuitively agree with you.
Assuming the lad is not a known knobhead (or an associate of known knobheads), wouldn't surprise me at all if the sentence is quietly reduced to a suspended one if he asks nicely and promises to learn his lesson from now on.
The next idiot bringing flares to the ground has no excuse whatsoever.
I don't think you can conflate running on the pitch and letting off a flare.
Running on the pitch should be acceptable, even commendable in certain circumstances, last minute winners, huge turnaround results or a promotion for example. But above all, running on the pitch is a spontaneous response to what's just happened.
Flares on the other hand along with being stupid, selfish and dangerous are also pre-meditated and therefore completely different to spur of the moment pitch invasions.
Whilst I agree with you Floyd, even pitch invasions are now pre-meditated.
Everyone knows fans are going on the pitch for certain wins (securing day at Wembley, promotion, securing survival), so everyone is queueing up at the edges from 80 minutes onwards.
Especially streakers, I imagine. (I have quite a vivid imagination and can still see in my mind's eye a certain Erica Rowe at Twickenham all those years ago. I fear she'd probably trip over if she ran on the pitch these days.)
TVP posted this on saturday, he was 14.
Im in agreement with @bookertease. I think the clubs handled it in the best possible way they could. At 14 easily influenced/mislead, I think 2 year ban is probably fair. A life time ban at 14 seems a bit heavy handed. However there is no place for flairs at football given than some in the crowd might have breathing issue's, not to mention other accidents that could occur via a flair.
Let's face it, if the lad isn't bright enough to heed the warnings then he clearly shouldn't be trusted to be allowed out on his own. Tough doggies doo doos I'm afraid!
Tough for the lad to miss our back to back promotion seasons, but he'll still only be 16 when we start our inaugural season in the Championship...
@floyd that made me laugh out loud! Hope you recover soon
@micra now I feel, old, nostalgic and sexist all at once
Should have been for life. How many times have the club said they will come down hard on arseholes who put other fans at risk? I have no sympathy for the twat no matter how old he is.
In the interests of research (obviously) there is a lovely line in wiki: "Roe, who later attributed the inspiration to alcohol, ran ..."
Ah. The inspiration of alcohol
Yet more mindlessness from that stupid small minority! Ban them all for life!
Make your mind up, @robin . Is he an arsehole or a twat? Or is he a twat who has fallen foul of a rule for arseholes, in which case is that why the club has been lenient on him this time? You don't know him from Adam, but don't let that inhibit your judgement for even a moment.
Hopefully this is the same person who let off the flare at Slough at the start of the game. If not it may make his mates think twice before they do the same.