Exeter - Pitch Invasion
I used to quite like Exeter as a club. Friendly lot, lower league club, very similar in many ways to ours.
My god in recent years they have let themselves down.
Constant moaning because WWFC have the temerity to beat them a few games in a row
the appalling treatment of their manager (again on the final day of the league season), a manager who has taken them to Wembley two years running
And last night the nadir - invading the pitch at the final whistle, goading the away fans and assaulting an opposition player, an opposition coach and worst of all the opposition kitman - who just happens to be 78 years old. Complete and utter scum.
End of season pitch invasions can be happy joyful things but there have been a few instances recently of a dark side creeping in. I fear a really serious incident could happen before too long - it could have happened last night. As always its the stupid actions of a minority spoiling it for the vast majority of decent people but I think the FA might have to ban pitch invasions with very punitive penalties.
Comments
Allegations at the moment @DevC but in a crowd of a few thousand you are always going to get a few idiots. I suspect even Wycombe have a few. Not sure that the efl would ban them or clubs would able to police them. Seeing as a lot of the idiots are often not real fans but booze up gloryhunters I doubt fining the club would bother them or stop them doing it. You're right though if players and officials were biffed they deserve nicking.
How do you ban them though?
It wasn't just our goons who were on the pitch at Chesterfield and our last home game, it was all sorts.
Fine the club? What could they do? Threaten to ban fans? Could we afford to ban 100s of fans? Or would all the threats put most right thinking fans off, leaving said goons.
The home game invasion started before the final whistle had even been blown.
That could have led to some sanctions, if the ref hadn't wisely decided it was close enough. Imagine if he'd been a pedantic ref who insisted we have the last 10seconds!
How can you stop a pitch invasion?
If a player gets seriously injured in a pitch invasion they will have to find a way.
first of all, lets nail the lie that you have to have a pitch invasion to express your passion and joy. Bollocks. Possibly the most emotional moment I have experienced at a football match came at Torquay. There was no pitch invasion (due to some fine stewarding), the post match celebrations were far better as a result.
Most pitch invasions are good natured, but sadly there is always the potential for a few numpties to spoil it for the goodnatured majority. Immediately running to confront the away supporters is one thing - stewards will almost certainly keep them apart, but opposition players and officials can very quickly get caught up in the chaos.
A young lad assaulting a 78 year old man could have very quickly developed into something much worse. A young lad carrying a knife and coming into contact with a controversial opposition player much worse.
God forbid if someone gets seriously injured (or worse) and the call for reintroduction of fences will be hard to resist.
New rule from next season, if there is a pitch invasion of more than 20 people, automatic 10 point penalty unless club can prove strong mitigating circumstances. if it happens in a play off, you are disqualified.
Tbis hascescakted a bit fast from over excited aggressive fans to tooled up gangsters. We should all have guns to offset the fans with knives who invade the pitch. That will learn them. Not sure what we do about the fan who gets the thermo nuclear device past the security men and through those very narrow turnstiles.
Damn spell check: this has escalated should be the first line!
Every one who carries a knife is a tooled up gangster, Wendover? Is that really your understanding of the real world? If a drunken fan is prepared to assault a 78 year old man, you don't see a risk that someone may use a knife? If so, you don't want to take action until someone does?
Did this "assault" of an old man actually happen?
Re your suggested penalty for a pitch invasion. Seeing as you are the champion of setting hypothetical cases, let me give you this one. Coming towards end of season and we are just below Luton in the relegation area. 25 of our goons led by Richie decide to attend one of Luton's home games with the intention of invading the pitch. Luton get 10 point penalty and we survive.
let's also ban driving
Most drivers are careful and safe, but sadly there is always the potential for a few drink drivers to spoil it for the majority
What else? I reckon by the end of the afternoon we can pretty much have banned everything
That's right @DevC that's how I see the world.
Worst thread of the year already?
I know nothing of the mindset of your average knife wielding league two football fan but I would have thought pulling one in an enclosed arena when fellow fans, stewards and coppers would be witnesses and probably intervene to ensure you went down might deter you. Outside mcdonalds at 2am less so.perhaps
That is a really stupid argument Eric.
Life is full of examples where the majority incur a minor inconvenience to protect society against the excesses of the minority.
Only yesterday gambling restriction were introduced inconveniencing the majority who want to use machines and can handle them responsibility to protect the minority who cant and incur severe consequences - rightly in my view.
I can judge for myself a safe speed to drive past a school - perhaps 15mph on a wet day at kicking out time, 20mph during the day time, might be safe to drive at 40 at 3am in the morning - but because some numpties cant be responsible there may be a legal limit 24/7 enforced by cameras.
etc etc etc.
For most a pitch invasion is relatively harmless. it is also as Torquay demonstrated entirely unnecessary to express emotion, passion and joy. the cost to the majority of banning them would be small. The potential cost of turning a blind eye of a handful of knobheads taking things too far is very high. The consequences for an individual but also for the majority if something terrible happened would be very high. it would appear we came fairly close to something very unpleasant happening last night.
Finally perhaps lets reflect on the lessons of history. Why were fences introduced at football grounds - to keep yobs off the pitch. Lives were lost as a result. We really don't want to go back to those days.
Hadn't realised you were at torquay
What a really strange rant? What has really happened to @DevC to provoke this all out attack?
Maybe he'll be moving closer to the Wycombe soon?
Who should face the fines/bans?. The club whose fans invade or the club/security/stewards where the invasion took place? Or both?
If we're 7 points from safety towards the end of the season probably worth a few getting along to the teams above and getting on the pitch
Nobody is turning a blind eye if someone gets assaulted or as you would have it -knifed - during a pitch invasion they will be/would be prosecuted and everyone would agree...but as you point out yourself they are a minority. Sometimes @DevC you are like Harry Enfield self-righteous brothers...getting irate about hypothetical situations. '...i enjoy watching your jolly pitch invasion to celebrate success...but if you were to pull out a samurai sword and set about those around you in a slashing manner I would say oi ! Fan! Noooooo!!!'
risk management is about identifying a dangerous situation and resolving it before someone gets hurt.
your approach is to wait until it happens and then no doubt blame someone else.
Would it be so bad to celebrate a triumph from your terrace? Was it so bad at Torquay?
One afternoon in Torquay (Reprise)
chortle
@DevC - I note you haven't responded to my hypothetical case set out at 12.25. You obviously have no answer which is very unusual for you!
A proper risk assessment would reveal that if we stopped everyone going out and taking strong drink then that would stop any alcohol related violence from ever occurring. Probably.
Would pitch invasions decrease if everyone moved to Devon and stopped going to matches?
In fairness, you have to show some fair commitment to repeatedly post so much about a team you never watch, live hundreds of miles from, and presumably never speak to anyone about.
Sort of strange in a way.
If we played all our home matches at St James Park, pitch invasions would probably decrease!
Sometimes Mooney, people make posts that are so remarkably stupid that it is kinder not to draw attention to them by responding.
I have to say it did amuse me that after Eric's even more stupid argument collapsed, he defaulted to yours too.
Ok if you insist.
First Richie would have to find 24 other complete thickos to join his pitch invasion despite knowing that in an invasion of that size, some if not all will be apprehended and served lengthy banning orders.
Then he would have to go into the opposition end and spend the game there without to any of the 25 drawing attention to themselves - somewhat unlikely I suspect.
And then of course once a number had been apprehended, it would pretty quickly become blindingly obvious what their little game was which would exempt the home club under the strong mitigating circumstances criteria anyway.
apologies for exposing the ridiculousness of your suggestion, but to be fair you did insist.
In this case I think 'assault' means 'barged' by some boisterous fans; not a malicious attack.