There’s only one thing worth mentioning about Rams 1 Forest 1, and I don’t mean SS’s header over the bar from five yards out. Basically, 30 locals decided to charge into our section, at least one ambulance called, the police (eventually) arriving and once again the whole aspect of security at away games gets called into question.
Let’s get the rumour and conjecture out of the way first. Some of these are true, others may not be: a kid with a hernia got kicked in the, er, affected area. A kid got a fag stubbed out on his face. The perpetrators had blades and were fishing around in hedges after the game. They were Spurz fans. They were Herne Bay fans wanting revenge for being slapped in a pub at our game there. They tried to infiltrate the police frogmarch back to the station (Newcastle 88 revisited). Stewards laughing at racist abuse. Players trying to taunt our fans. Their fans trying to taunt our subs. There’s probably more, you’ll have some things you’ve heard as well. Suffice to say, I had to be very careful when putting it in the NLP report…
I am aware that a couple of our female support got threatened in the queue for the toilets (and I don’t mean the Bryan Robson way of acting around ladies toilets either). This is of course bravery on a scale with gang rape. I do know that three of their suppporters have been given life bans with immediate effect (though whether they’ll come again I have no idea). And I certainly do know that our team decided to get the fuck out of there ASAP.
So now what? Well, seems like many may give Margate a wide berth, which isn’t totally surprising. Although I believe Margate are quite well organised and would segregate us (but then, they’re an ex-Conference side so they should have a scooby what’s occuring). Read on a message board – second hand info at best, make of it what you will – that one of them were promising to “finish the job” at Margate. Hmm. Wonder if any of our lot will want a bit of revenge for yesterday? It’s these sorts of incidents that can mobilise people
And yes, that may be irresponsible to say that last sentence, but the longer these sort of incidents go on, the more some of our rowdier element will take matters into their own hands. We are not as immune from this sort of thing as some may think.
The game? They scored first, we scored 5 minutes later. And we got the replay. That really is all you need to know.
Anyway…
Plus points: Getting out of there. Getting the replay
Minus points: Guess.
The referee’s a…..: Must be thankful that he wasn’t the biggest twat in the area that day.
Them: Well, the area of Ramsgate was pretty picturesque. Typical Kent town though, there’s a moody air in the place that I also noticed at Herne Bay. Not particularly pleasant after the game, I was there on my own and too many little chavvy gangs milling about. Only place I’ve ever moved my car from a sidestreet to a far more lit area to do my NLP report. Their chairman and other assorted officials seemed very red faced over the incidents. Still, they’ll know better next time….
Point to ponder (1): Both AFCW and Ramsgate have been involved with incidents in the last month or so. Ramsgate have a bit of a reputation (or if they didn’t in the past they have now) and we’re not exactly squeaky clean. Medium-to-high risk game. Nobody can disagree with that. So, why did we see more security at Redbridge for 500 docile people? Incidentally, let’s see how many of their local hard men venture from outside their town walls on Tuesday.
Nee naw nee naw: So, the police were apparently waiting a couple of streets away, and only turned up when the horse had bolted and galloped away. Had to be “invited in”, which was the same reason I heard when Portsmouth stewards were doing their, ahem, duty. By that line of logic, coppers can’t break into a house and stop somebody chocking somebody else to death because they’ll be tresspassing. Right. And this organisation wanted to lock away people for 90 days without charge. It’s no wonder that many football fans hate the police.
Point to ponder (2): This thought occured to me this morning as I sat down to write this, and confirmed after researching about Margate. I know quite a few people are a bit pissed off that AFCW seems to be a bit hellbent on zooming up the divisions at the expense of “the fans”. Yesterday proved to me exactly why we need to do that. Would this sort of thing happen at Sutton, or Barnet, or Woking? No, there’d be proper co-ordination, less cost-cutting, proper security, that kind of thing. It was no surprise when the Coney Hall replay went off peacefully at GGL : Sutton are pretty well on top of that sort of thing. Too many clubs in the lower reaches seem to go for the cheap buck at our expense. I would happily sell the soul of AFCW if it meant that we don’t have to put up with these sort of setups anytime soon.
Truth is stranger than fiction: Walking in and thinking that although the setup was untidy, it was pretty friendly. Amazing how things can change in an instant.
Point to ponder (3): Wonder what would have happened had we lost? Or indeed, won?
Anything else? Not really. At least I can now say I’ve driven on the M2.
So, was it worth it? Cough
In a nutshell: Let’s ram it home on Tuesday.