Shocking footage shows Wanderers fans in fights with police

A video showing shocking scenes of violence between Bolton Wanderers fans and police has been posted on social media.

The footage, which shows a large number of fans surrounding officers, came during Wanderers 5-2 defeat to local rivals Wigan Athletics today.

In the video scuffles can be seen between supporters and police in high-visibility jackets, during which some fans appear to punch and grab officers who are stood on the stairs.

#BWFC fans attacking the police after losing 5-2 to local rivals #WAFC  

Absolutely shocking, no place for it in football! pic.twitter.com/JLgJAI3I8R

— Bookie Basher (@Bookie_basher10) March 16, 2019

During the incident at least one officer was knocked to the ground.

Inspector Tariq Butt, from GMP's Tactical Aid Unit, said the problems had increased after the game.

Replying to the video, he tweeted: "This is the level of violence my officer had to face today...which only got worse post match."

The game was held at Wigan's DW Stadium, with an attendance of 13,664 people, including 3,776 visiting Wanderers fans.

Source

Yes there's no place for this in football and yes those involved are idiots, but shocking? Not really. It looked like a total handbags job. If a dozen people had been stabbed or shot or someone had set off a bomb that would have been shocking. This is a scuffle that doesn't even compare to clubs emptying all round the country every weekend. The only thing shocking about this is that someone entitled the thread "shocking". Mind you everything is "shocking" or "horrendous" these days apparently - it's a way of getting the attention of an increasingly self-righteous public.

wanderlust wrote:Yes there's no place for this in football and yes those involved are idiots, but shocking? Not really. It looked like a total handbags job. If a dozen people had been stabbed or shot or someone had set off a bomb that would have been shocking. This is a scuffle that doesn't even compare to clubs emptying all round the country every weekend. The only thing shocking about this is that someone entitled the thread "shocking". Mind you everything is "shocking" or "horrendous" these days apparently - it's a way of getting the attention of an increasingly self-righteous public.

Eh???

Of course it's shocking.

You don't go to a football game to get attacked in this day and age.

You certainly don't see the police being attacked unless there is civil rioting on the street.

As for talking about others being self-righteous...

Sad. I've been a wanderer for 60 years, and not once have I ever felt the need to fight someone because my team is shit.
This type of supporter can be seen around every club in the land. Knuckle draggers in the main.

boltonbonce wrote:Sad. I've been a wanderer for 60 years, and not once have I ever felt the need to fight someone because my team is shit.
This type of supporter can be seen around every club in the land. Knuckle draggers in the main.

Me too Dave, but I do remember our fans in the 70s when they murdered that Blackpool fan, sprayed ammonia in people's faces and stabbed people regularly, and used to mass around Trinity Street Station waiting for the away trains to arrive so they could kick off all down the Manny Rd. Every week there were running battles and people got seriously hurt. I appreciate this lot at Wigan are idiots, but everything is relative and compared to murder, this was not shocking by any stretch of the imagination.

Hooliganism does seem to be on the rise, especially with teenage boys. You can see them after the match wandering round in groups looking for trouble.