Do police just use matchdays to have a bit of a scrap and abuse poeple?

I'm asking becasue as a regular at both away games and the Reebok, the police just come across as enjoying a bit of trouble to me - they seem to look for it and, at time ACTUALLY stir shit up and 'goad' fans in to reacting to them.

Is there only me who has an issue with the way innocent fans are chastised and on many occasions abused by cocky police officers getting 'a bit of overtime'?

have you ever been 'kettled' by officers when getting off a train/coach? I think this 'tactic' actually pisses fans off making them more likely to react - ive seen trouble when fans get led in a 'march' to the ground by police - surprise surprise, ALWAYS the kicking off is due to people getting pissed off with the police whacking them with batons and swearing at them (you just try swearing back) as opposed to with opposition supporters.

anyone who went to Munich a few seasons ago will be able to confirm there was NO trouble whatsoever - the reasons for this I feel, was becasue the police took a back seat and let the fans get on with it - and lo and behold - no trouble!

I think the methods the police use, and the fact that your 'guilty until proven innocent' simply riles fans up and creates more bother than it stops.

the football spectators act is also a load of bullshit - its there to rule out any form of investigation for an alleged 'crime' and designed to assist police with what they are generally there for now - handing out fines and creating revenue for the government...

see if you can be arsed reading these...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/22/football-hooliganism-policing-innocent-victims

http://www.urban75.org/football/cja_ns.html

http://www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/Watching-football-is-not-a-crime.php

thoughts?

Rebel, I think you must be a bellend who attracts the attention of the police. In 25 years of going to matches I've not once been involved with the police.

It's the stewards who are on a power trip - little men who are owned by their wives who like to spend Saturday afternoons spoiling other poeples fun.

Rebel, didn't you get thrown out of the West Brom match for lamping a special person?

HAT - Knew you would bring that up...

No I didn't, he wasnt a 'special' person, he was a gobshite. I know you enjoy a bit of winding me up with it, but seriously stop it now.

remember me also going on about that time when our poeple from our minibus ended up getting fines/arrested due to some cocky little twat with 'police' on his jacket...you said id never get it turned over.

well, I did. so did everybody else.

never even had to go to court - there was not sufficient 'evidence' to prosecute apparently - there was no evidence becasue no crime had been committed.

I don't remember saying you'd never get the drunken minibus thing turned over, I didn't really get involved in that one. Congratulations. Justice for the Horwich Parkway 11.

I think you might be mixing me up with Reebok Bricks. He is also the one who said the guy at the West Brom game has a carer and a son with spinabifida and that you would be in the Bolton News. You have to see the funny side of that.

looking back on it, I think you are correct.

I still stand by the fact that the person I hit was...

A) going to hit me and,
B) was a gobshite - even IF he did have a son with special needs, he wasn't with him at the game and it makes him no less of a gobshite.

If I hit you, or you felt that i was planning on doing - you would hit me, would it have stopped you from hitting me if I screamed 'I have a son with special needs at home'?

no...

I'm all for self defence Rebel lad.

Yes some of them do and some of them really enjoy it.

A few instances come to mind.....

At the old Victoria Ground Stoke it was chocker in the away end and some fans were stood on the steps of the gangway. One police officer took it upon himself to run up the steps swinging his truncheon (ooh err) wildly and hitting owt that moved (me included and I wasn't in the gangway). He was despatched back from where he had come from, rolling down the steps like a cartoon character.

The Hawthorns, a Union flag with Burnley FC on it was being confiscated for some strange reason and three coppers were virtually fighting over it. They had walked into the crowded away end and tried to arrest the flag owner and crack a few skulls at the same time, this was all happening in my vicinity. They ended up retreating minus the tits on their head.

Tranmere, we are all in the pub next to the away end of Prenton Park (can't remember its name) and it gets to 2.55pm 5 minutes before kick off. The police stormed the pub even coming out from behind the bar, there was no aggro just a bit of singing. They told everyone that if they had come to watch the footy then they had to leave instantly, fair enough, no problem. We start to leave and outside there was lines of coppers with dogs on both sides of the entrance and one of them let his very irritated dog lunge at me to try and tear my leg off. Luckily and unluckily for me my right foot connected with the dogs head, it wasn't my finest moment but whether it be just a dog on the street or a police dog it won't be attacking me without some sort of defence by moi.
I didn't get to see that game funnily enough.

Then there's Rochdale, Blackpool, Sunderland blah blah blah.

Police are very much needed at football games and the majority are 'law' abiding citizens but as with football fans a minority can spoil it.

The worst that I've come across are the West Midlands police, closely followed by our very own Lancashire big jobbies.

Copper Dragon wrote:Yes some of them do and some of them really enjoy it.

A few instances come to mind.....

At the old Victoria Ground Stoke it was chocker in the away end and some fans were stood on the steps of the gangway. One police officer took it upon himself to run up the steps swinging his truncheon (ooh err) wildly and hitting owt that moved (me included and I wasn't in the gangway). He was despatched back from where he had come from, rolling down the steps like a cartoon character.

The Hawthorns, a Union flag with Burnley FC on it was being confiscated for some strange reason and three coppers were virtually fighting over it. They had walked into the crowded away end and tried to arrest the flag owner and crack a few skulls at the same time, this was all happening in my vicinity. They ended up retreating minus the tits on their head.

Tranmere, we are all in the pub next to the away end of Prenton Park (can't remember its name) and it gets to 2.55pm 5 minutes before kick off. The police stormed the pub even coming out from behind the bar, there was no aggro just a bit of singing. They told everyone that if they had come to watch the footy then they had to leave instantly, fair enough, no problem. We start to leave and outside there was lines of coppers with dogs on both sides of the entrance and one of them let his very irritated dog lunge at me to try and tear my leg off. Luckily and unluckily for me my right foot connected with the dogs head, it wasn't my finest moment but whether it be just a dog on the street or a police dog it won't be attacking me without some sort of defence by moi.
I didn't get to see that game funnily enough.

Then there's Rochdale, Blackpool, Sunderland blah blah blah.

Police are very much needed at football games and the majority are 'law' abiding citizens but as with football fans a minority can spoil it.

The worst that I've come across are the West Midlands police, closely followed by our very own Lancashire big jobbies.

so its not just me then?

the worst recent ones for me were...

horwich parkway when we played Blackpool (post match drinking was halted for a few hours then unfortunately)

and the shit-storm that i walked in to on blackpool north train station pre game...


I see a trend forming here...

Police are members of society..

Some look for trouble, some don't.

Shit cops, good cops..

Shit Electricians, good electricians..

Shit Phone Sales Men, Tall Phone Sales Men..

Different jobs, mixed with all types...

Stewards are the exception....

largehat wrote:Rebel, didn't you get thrown out of the West Brom match for lamping a special person?

Bit harsh considering that was the game that a Bolton fan with learning difficulties collapsed before the match and died.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/9724305.Devoted_Whites_follower_Edward_dies__aged_23/?