I gather there was some incident with the drummer lad. Did anyone see what happened? There's accusations of heavy-handedness by the Luton strewards flying around.
I didn't see much and I was right on the edge by the Luton fans, a few rows in front of him.
The stewards were a bunch of pretty gimpy 19 year olds who seemed pretty jovial and friendly to me.
They sort of just about held back the Wycombe fans during the celebrations for the first goal, even though nobody was making anything more than the most half hearted attempt to get past them to the Luton fans, who would have presumably eaten them alive.
Dangerous?! Maybe for OAPs or those with difficulty moving quickly, but then any busy place without a lift could count as dangerous. If there was an emergency we could easily have gone into the pitch, and they would have opened up the staircases either side and exits at the front
@StrongestTeam said:
Didn't see it all they seemed to be flinging him back into the stand at one point, so depending on how he got pitchside he might consider himself lucky not to be facing more trouble.
He was just leaning up on the hoardings and made no attempt whatsoever to get pitch side. The stewards tried to drag him over but thanks to a few WWFC fans he was pulled back into the away enclosure.
Then the stewards came into the away end and literally dragged him out.
A completely disproportionate and heavy handed reaction to someone enthusiastically celebrating a goal.
I hope the little drummer boy is ok. He gives heart and soul in to the club. From my point the Luton staff were top draw, polite and helpful. The tea bar staff were very apologetic for running out of hot food, stewards around the bar were courteous, the bar staff were great, a real sense of humour even put my drink I couldn't finish before the game in the fridge for me and gave it to me at half time.
I did notice the drummer kid was for some reason way over the hoardings, no idea what he was doing.
Can quite believe @Cyclops about being dangerously full, especially in the central areas.
On arriving fairly close to kick off (traffic!), we sort of formed an extra row at the back, seemingly at the stewards' instructions.
Then they decided that wasn't on, so actually asked us to stand in the aisles, which every other club ever are very against, being a massive safety issue.
Eventually settled in some seats at the front to the left, where there was perhaps room for another 50 or so spaced out. Not the easiest ground to tell easily where the free seats are coming in from the back with everyone standing!
Cannot believe we could have crammed another 300 or so in there. For starters, there were tonnes of people in the aisles!
It can be quite precarious when you score, as you're standing on a two tier flooring meaning it's very easy to lose your balance in such tight constrains.
Her Indoors said the incident with the drummer happened a few rows in front of where she was sitting/standing. He jumped backwards into the barrier but there was no sign of him trying to get over it or act aggressively towards anyone. She said he was leaning on the barrier, arms up, celebrating with his back to the pitch when security seized him and bent him painfully backwards over the hoarding, seemingly trying to drag him onto the pitch. Some supporters held on so in the end they shoved him back. They then came round and dragged him out in front of what she thought was his dad. Her comment was that he was terrified when seized from behind at the barrier and offering no resistance.
So at the end she sought out the steward in charge in that area and said as someone trained to manage behaviour in schools the first thing taught is that if the person isn’t being physical you don’t need to be either. De-escalate, not the opposite. Said steward apparently saw nothing.
I share @Fit2drop's hopes for LDB. I've talked to him a number of times at games, home and away. The first time was at Barnet last season. He was properly cross with those having a go at AP and came across as a lovely, straightforward, very mild and polite but extremely enthusiastic fan. If you looked up "supporter" in the dictionary, you might well see a photograph of him from my experience.
I couldn't make Tuesday - my stepson was very grateful for the ticket - but find it as close to impossible as makes no difference to believe he would have been likely to do anything malicious or even mischievous of the sort it seems the stewards suspected. I very much hope he is OK. Does anyone know what the eventual outcome was?
The drummer incident was about 2 rows directly in front of me so I had a perfect view. Obviously he was at the front when we scored the first goal, and the rush forward of people celebrating seemed to push him over the edge. I'm almost certain he didn't intend to go over the hoardings. The stewards had him, but he got dragged back into the stand. I didn't see what happened after that, but heard at half time that he'd been ejected.
Sounds just a little harsh if he's just been stampeded over the barriers by a bunch of uncontrolled goons!
Might be worth some sort of letter to either club, explaining his condition maybe and see if they'll do something for him.
No problem @HCblue. As I recall, Someone complained to the club (WW) about it on twitter (I didn't know what 'it' was at the time, hence my original question) and the club replied inviting him to email Mike Davies. I would copy a link but I'm just off to beddy-byes. It's out there though.
Agree on the drummer too (Tom?) I'm not a massive fan of the drum itself to be honest, but having spoken to him a couple of times he's a lovely lad who is deeply passionate about the club and (as far as I'm aware) always behaves himself.
Can certainly echo that bit @Jonny_King , a very loyal fan, as many claim to be, but without the arrogance that it entitles certain asbo behaviour. Nice guy.
Thirded. I don't know him well but have spoken to him a couple of times in passing. Always friendly and polite, very likeable and I love his enthusiasm for the club. I actually found it quite distressing watching the incident unfold on Tuesday evening, as the stewards were trying to pull him up over the barrier by his NECK. You could see from the expression on his face that he wasn't making trouble - he didn't look aggressive at all, just frightened. Gutted for him too that he ended up missing the best game of the season.
The very strange thing, is last year, i witnessed a very troubled young man called Lewis, spend 45mins doing some very asbo and abusive things, and the steward took an exceptionally calm and ridiculously lenient approach.
It took Lewis basically abusing his own fans, and being threatened with violence for the stewards to eventually remove him at half time for his own good!
However, when a goal goes in, and everyone goes a bit wild, it probably triggers the adrenaline and "worst case" worries in their minds.
They wouldn't know the drummer guy from anyone else, so have no idea if he's a dodgy punter or if he's just an innocent kid being swept along. That takes instant decision making, and all they probably saw was someone over the barriers.
@Malone said:
The very strange thing, is last year, i witnessed a very troubled young man called Lewis, spend 45mins doing some very asbo and abusive things, and the steward took an exceptionally calm and ridiculously lenient approach.
It took Lewis basically abusing his own fans, and being threatened with violence for the stewards to eventually remove him at half time for his own good!
However, when a goal goes in, and everyone goes a bit wild, it probably triggers the adrenaline and "worst case" worries in their minds.
They wouldn't know the drummer guy from anyone else, so have no idea if he's a dodgy punter or if he's just an innocent kid being swept along. That takes instant decision making, and all they probably saw was someone over the barriers.
Not that strange unless it was the same steward involved both times
. The Luton stewards won't all be the same personalities....
Comments
I gather there was some incident with the drummer lad. Did anyone see what happened? There's accusations of heavy-handedness by the Luton strewards flying around.
I didn't see much and I was right on the edge by the Luton fans, a few rows in front of him.
The stewards were a bunch of pretty gimpy 19 year olds who seemed pretty jovial and friendly to me.
They sort of just about held back the Wycombe fans during the celebrations for the first goal, even though nobody was making anything more than the most half hearted attempt to get past them to the Luton fans, who would have presumably eaten them alive.
Dangerous?! Maybe for OAPs or those with difficulty moving quickly, but then any busy place without a lift could count as dangerous. If there was an emergency we could easily have gone into the pitch, and they would have opened up the staircases either side and exits at the front
He was just leaning up on the hoardings and made no attempt whatsoever to get pitch side. The stewards tried to drag him over but thanks to a few WWFC fans he was pulled back into the away enclosure.
Then the stewards came into the away end and literally dragged him out.
A completely disproportionate and heavy handed reaction to someone enthusiastically celebrating a goal.
I hope the little drummer boy is ok. He gives heart and soul in to the club. From my point the Luton staff were top draw, polite and helpful. The tea bar staff were very apologetic for running out of hot food, stewards around the bar were courteous, the bar staff were great, a real sense of humour even put my drink I couldn't finish before the game in the fridge for me and gave it to me at half time.
I did notice the drummer kid was for some reason way over the hoardings, no idea what he was doing.
Can quite believe @Cyclops about being dangerously full, especially in the central areas.
On arriving fairly close to kick off (traffic!), we sort of formed an extra row at the back, seemingly at the stewards' instructions.
Then they decided that wasn't on, so actually asked us to stand in the aisles, which every other club ever are very against, being a massive safety issue.
Eventually settled in some seats at the front to the left, where there was perhaps room for another 50 or so spaced out. Not the easiest ground to tell easily where the free seats are coming in from the back with everyone standing!
Cannot believe we could have crammed another 300 or so in there. For starters, there were tonnes of people in the aisles!
It can be quite precarious when you score, as you're standing on a two tier flooring meaning it's very easy to lose your balance in such tight constrains.
Her Indoors said the incident with the drummer happened a few rows in front of where she was sitting/standing. He jumped backwards into the barrier but there was no sign of him trying to get over it or act aggressively towards anyone. She said he was leaning on the barrier, arms up, celebrating with his back to the pitch when security seized him and bent him painfully backwards over the hoarding, seemingly trying to drag him onto the pitch. Some supporters held on so in the end they shoved him back. They then came round and dragged him out in front of what she thought was his dad. Her comment was that he was terrified when seized from behind at the barrier and offering no resistance.
So at the end she sought out the steward in charge in that area and said as someone trained to manage behaviour in schools the first thing taught is that if the person isn’t being physical you don’t need to be either. De-escalate, not the opposite. Said steward apparently saw nothing.
I share @Fit2drop's hopes for LDB. I've talked to him a number of times at games, home and away. The first time was at Barnet last season. He was properly cross with those having a go at AP and came across as a lovely, straightforward, very mild and polite but extremely enthusiastic fan. If you looked up "supporter" in the dictionary, you might well see a photograph of him from my experience.
I couldn't make Tuesday - my stepson was very grateful for the ticket - but find it as close to impossible as makes no difference to believe he would have been likely to do anything malicious or even mischievous of the sort it seems the stewards suspected. I very much hope he is OK. Does anyone know what the eventual outcome was?
The drummer incident was about 2 rows directly in front of me so I had a perfect view. Obviously he was at the front when we scored the first goal, and the rush forward of people celebrating seemed to push him over the edge. I'm almost certain he didn't intend to go over the hoardings. The stewards had him, but he got dragged back into the stand. I didn't see what happened after that, but heard at half time that he'd been ejected.
Right. Thanks. I hope that's the end of it if that is what happened. I'll hope to see him and commiserate on Saturday.
Perhaps Luton security taking a look at cctv will confirm the situation and allow him to continue his support without any clouds.
Sounds just a little harsh if he's just been stampeded over the barriers by a bunch of uncontrolled goons!
Might be worth some sort of letter to either club, explaining his condition maybe and see if they'll do something for him.
@Malone I gather the club are aware of the incident and have invited him to get in touch if he wants.
Interesting, @Jonny_King. May I ask your source for that?
No problem @HCblue. As I recall, Someone complained to the club (WW) about it on twitter (I didn't know what 'it' was at the time, hence my original question) and the club replied inviting him to email Mike Davies. I would copy a link but I'm just off to beddy-byes. It's out there though.
Agree on the drummer too (Tom?) I'm not a massive fan of the drum itself to be honest, but having spoken to him a couple of times he's a lovely lad who is deeply passionate about the club and (as far as I'm aware) always behaves himself.
Can certainly echo that bit @Jonny_King , a very loyal fan, as many claim to be, but without the arrogance that it entitles certain asbo behaviour. Nice guy.
Thirded. I don't know him well but have spoken to him a couple of times in passing. Always friendly and polite, very likeable and I love his enthusiasm for the club. I actually found it quite distressing watching the incident unfold on Tuesday evening, as the stewards were trying to pull him up over the barrier by his NECK. You could see from the expression on his face that he wasn't making trouble - he didn't look aggressive at all, just frightened. Gutted for him too that he ended up missing the best game of the season.
We should demand that Luton produce a copy of the CCTV recording, and if they refuse, the club should make an official complaint to the League.
Strange we haven't heard from Richie the Hatter on this!
The very strange thing, is last year, i witnessed a very troubled young man called Lewis, spend 45mins doing some very asbo and abusive things, and the steward took an exceptionally calm and ridiculously lenient approach.
It took Lewis basically abusing his own fans, and being threatened with violence for the stewards to eventually remove him at half time for his own good!
However, when a goal goes in, and everyone goes a bit wild, it probably triggers the adrenaline and "worst case" worries in their minds.
They wouldn't know the drummer guy from anyone else, so have no idea if he's a dodgy punter or if he's just an innocent kid being swept along. That takes instant decision making, and all they probably saw was someone over the barriers.
Not that strange unless it was the same steward involved both times
. The Luton stewards won't all be the same personalities....