Here we go, the Press is set out to demonise football. According to some parts of the media it is a football problem and not a general social problem.
When Margaret Thatcher pulled in Ted Croker she asked him what he intended to do about his hooligans. His response was something akin to " with due respect Prime Minister, they are your hooligans not ours and we do not want them".
I am not trying to start another Thatcher thread as I guess the question would have been put to him by any leader. Having a quiet pint at the weekend or trying to, people were telling me that football in general is a disgrace and needs to put its house in order. Hence quiet pint ruined.
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It is and always has been and has never gone away so there is an elemant of truth in the statement from MT however it is also a social and government issue
Let's get things right though hooliganism at football moved away from terraces and into more organised and planned incidents mainly because the cameras that OB have made that the case since the 90s when the UK went CCTV mad it made it easier to pick up on it
Now the way I see it is that no matter where you do it you will get picked up on camera so people no longer see CCTV as a deterrent and are now not so conscious of them and will start to continue closer to grounds again
Much like the financial issues faced by football clubs it will take a club to be hit hard before any sort of decrease on incidents will be seen
Millwall v Wigan
Newcastle v Sunderland
Everton v QPR
Brentford v Portsmouth
Chesterfield v Bradford
As Chris says, Cardiff will give the PL prawn sandwich brigade a fright next season, not to mention adding another derby to the list.
An everton fan was stabbed
The stabbing appears to be true (local media coverage) but whether the circumstances are who knows.
I can imagine Cardiff will be getting a lot of lunchtime kick offs next season. Can't see police in London, Manchester or Merseyside having them at 3pm saturday.
Just goes to show that if the club is to be run by fans they better shape up quick
I have little sympathy for Pompey already and things like that make me wonder of the right decision was made allowing them to stay alive
Some real shocking windmill arms on show.
It is a society problem, these are the same dickheads you'd see starting trouble in a pub or club on a Friday night.
The English textbook of policing crowd violence/confrontational situations now says stand off, be armed to the nines with all the gear, batons, dogs etc. and get the video cameras out - let it escalate (within some reason), catch anyone and everyone on tape and then nail them afterwards. The idea is I suppose that if you baton charge in you inflame the situation and lead to further injuries.
Still do it the old fashioned way on the continent though!
Still, at least we can all stop giving Ollie Holt the time of day now.
You always get the odd time when it all blows up for a while and the press go mental.
Ultimately in the grand scheme of things next to nothing happens these days. It's always there but is so well contained by cctv and the threat of bans/prison. The fact it is so rare is why everyone gets excited when it does happen.
Also funny how the press are only interested when it's the prem league or big showpeice games. If they were that bothered they would report on the non-leage scene where its more rife.
Not everyone has Belmarsh's finest policing home crowds.