Bah hooligans
25 August 2009 23:37![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enismirdalWhat is it about football that brings out the most base, revolting instincts in some human beings?
Crazy crazy violence at West Ham match this evening. People getting stabbed, beaten, stretchered away... Apparently it was absolutely insane in the region of the stadium, and not much better outside the Tube stations. :( I wish people would realise that no game is so important that it gives them a right to brutalise other people. If they'd stop seeing themselves as West Ham fans versus Millwall fans and start identifying simply as Football Fans, people who share a passion, it would be much more fun for all involved.
It meant that the police had to close East Ham and Upton Park Tube stations. Therefore in order for us - innocent bystanders who didn't even know there was a match on - to get to Chennai Dosa for our South Indian extravaganza, we had to go all the way to bleedin' Barking and get a bus back to East Ham. Which, predictably, was packed with other people who had similar ideas. Meant we didn't get served until about quarter past 9, when we'd originally hoped to eat around 8-ish.
Food was good, though. Gobi Manchurian is to die for. And Capsicum Oothapam likewise. Yay Chennai Dosa and their dubious décor, stainless steel plates and cups, and grubby loo!
I hope the people hurt in the clashes recover OK...
Crazy crazy violence at West Ham match this evening. People getting stabbed, beaten, stretchered away... Apparently it was absolutely insane in the region of the stadium, and not much better outside the Tube stations. :( I wish people would realise that no game is so important that it gives them a right to brutalise other people. If they'd stop seeing themselves as West Ham fans versus Millwall fans and start identifying simply as Football Fans, people who share a passion, it would be much more fun for all involved.
It meant that the police had to close East Ham and Upton Park Tube stations. Therefore in order for us - innocent bystanders who didn't even know there was a match on - to get to Chennai Dosa for our South Indian extravaganza, we had to go all the way to bleedin' Barking and get a bus back to East Ham. Which, predictably, was packed with other people who had similar ideas. Meant we didn't get served until about quarter past 9, when we'd originally hoped to eat around 8-ish.
Food was good, though. Gobi Manchurian is to die for. And Capsicum Oothapam likewise. Yay Chennai Dosa and their dubious décor, stainless steel plates and cups, and grubby loo!
I hope the people hurt in the clashes recover OK...
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Date: 25 Aug 2009 23:25 (UTC)Also wouldn't be surprised if the FA close both teams' grounds as a punishment for a while, mind.
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Date: 26 Aug 2009 03:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 Aug 2009 14:36 (UTC)It's tribal warfare. People tend to support their local team. Rivalries between fans are based on traditional conflicts between certain areas and/or social and religious groups, e.g. Celtic v Rangers, Man U v Liverpool.
I go to watch a lot of football matches - I'm a big Leeds United supporter, and our fans (like West Ham's and Millwall's) have a bad reputation. At our ground, though, we've largely managed to shut out the violence by strict policing, only selling tickets to members and season ticket holders for games thought to be potentially volatile, and (major snobbery coming up here) pricing the hooligans out of the game. I'm sure West Ham and Millwall have enforced similar measures; to me, it sounds like this violence was organised by people using the game as an excuse for a scrap. Real fans don't pay silly money for a ticket and then spend the ninety minutes fighting.
The only thing I think they could have done to help the situation was enforce a "dry area" around the ground - shut nearby pubs and off-licences in the vicinity of the stadium. It's harsh on the publicans and proprietors, and on those not there to make trouble, but if that's what it takes to stamp out hooliganism then surely it would have been worth it?
Looking on the bright side - it's a good sign that this case is so much in the public eye, and causing such a huge amount of outrage. Twenty years ago, this sort of behaviour was so commonplace at matches that it wasn't even newsworthy. Clearly we've made some progress - this is no longer typical of how British football fans behave.
Although saying that, I think a few hundred thugs may have managed to wreck our bid for the 2018 World Cup :(