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Away End Crush Today
- Thread starter Red the Paper
- Start date
bflockha
Active member
away end if safety cannot be guaranteed
Having had my usual couple of Tribute's in the Spot, I took my space on the BB around 2.15. i was astonished as to how empty the away end was and my heart sank knowing what was going to happen. As a club, we know every time there is a big away following, we have problems with congestion around the turnstile end of the away terrace for all the reasons mentioned. The people already in can't see the problem 30 or 40m to their right, and certainly aren't minded to move when already ensconced in what they feel is a decent spot.
It is the nature of football fans, that many will turn up off their own backs near to kick off so who on earth took the decision to hold the coaches with the majority of fans on to such a late time knowing 1) we only have 1 turnstile and 2) we have the overcrowding problem needs to explain themselves - whether it be the club, D&C plod or both.
Finally, as ex-Mascot said much earlier in this thread - the morons in the centre of the BB who chanted "let 'em die" are an absolute disgrace to the football club and I hope the trust uses CCTV to try and identify them.
What was a wonderful City performance and major day for the club, slightly tarnished by these events.
It is the nature of football fans, that many will turn up off their own backs near to kick off so who on earth took the decision to hold the coaches with the majority of fans on to such a late time knowing 1) we only have 1 turnstile and 2) we have the overcrowding problem needs to explain themselves - whether it be the club, D&C plod or both.
Finally, as ex-Mascot said much earlier in this thread - the morons in the centre of the BB who chanted "let 'em die" are an absolute disgrace to the football club and I hope the trust uses CCTV to try and identify them.
What was a wonderful City performance and major day for the club, slightly tarnished by these events.
OfficialECFC
Member
StroudGrecian
Very well known Exeweb poster
As my esteemed compadre AU has said it is regularly inspected and is safe, BUT our away end's peculiar combination of a shallow terrace and only one access point means that it MUST be stewarded effectively behind the goal to prevent congestion.
This was clear to me when I stood there against Morecambe end of last season. There is nothing wrong with fans arriving early to get in behind the goal, it is the duty of the club to ensure that the path behind is kept clear to allow latecomers access through to the tea stand and round the bend, particularly when it is known to be a sell out. I guess with other large crowds that generally it has been, or that usually there's enough time for people to filter through the bottleneck before kick off for this not to have been a problem.
I wasn't at yesterday's game but if you have inadequate stewarding and add the ludicrous decision to hold back the Leeds supporters coaches for far too long then you were almost guaranteed to get crushing when they eventually arrive. And if what someone said above is true, that the big red gates were opened at this time, well that was criminally stupid on a Hillsborough scale.
Asking 1000+ fans to simply 'move up' was never going to work, even if they could hear the request. Probably a good job they couldn't as IMO it would have made the situation worse.
citytillidie72
Well-known Exeweb poster
one of the main reasons. is the police in there infinite wisdom leaving it so late to let coaches in, hence so many fans trying to get in at the same time. thank god it wasnt serious
davidjenkin
Well-known Exeweb poster
We seem to have all reached some common ground. Those of us in the ECFC camp are seemingly all prepared to acknowledge that the club and our local police force are primarily at fault for 'causing' the problem, along with fans who brought home tickets. Sorry Rowley, but segregation was brought in for a very good reason - it is very hard to not unveil yourself as a rival supporter in the opposite end, and if you are unveiled then the likelihood is trouble flaring, at SJP at least. To be honest I care not one jot if ER has away fans in the home section often, or if LUFC buy home tickets at every away game, it doesnt make it right.
Once LUFC fans were identified on the bank the club were right to remove them. Those LUFC that stayed were obviously satisfied that they could remain reasonably anonymous and fair play to them. But the club, by the letter of the law, should have just ejected them and told them to do one - whether this was before the game or if they were discovered at any point during the game.
As for the away end, there were LUFC fans leaning on the back fence while the crush was taking place, or maybe just before I cant remember, but there were about 50, all in a row, standing on the walkway blocking it, that was what I meant by creating the plug, every surplus fan was crammed into that one section because moving to the left was impossible.
SOME leeds fans ARE partly responsible, but the club and the Police, our sh*t facilities and our even sh*tter tannoy system are more so. I would like to see a work party doing something down the away end to improve things, I'd volunteer my services if I were available
Once LUFC fans were identified on the bank the club were right to remove them. Those LUFC that stayed were obviously satisfied that they could remain reasonably anonymous and fair play to them. But the club, by the letter of the law, should have just ejected them and told them to do one - whether this was before the game or if they were discovered at any point during the game.
As for the away end, there were LUFC fans leaning on the back fence while the crush was taking place, or maybe just before I cant remember, but there were about 50, all in a row, standing on the walkway blocking it, that was what I meant by creating the plug, every surplus fan was crammed into that one section because moving to the left was impossible.
SOME leeds fans ARE partly responsible, but the club and the Police, our sh*t facilities and our even sh*tter tannoy system are more so. I would like to see a work party doing something down the away end to improve things, I'd volunteer my services if I were available
davidjenkin
Well-known Exeweb poster
I'm quite reassured about this. Seems that the club used common-sense in anticipation of trouble
StroudGrecian
Very well known Exeweb poster
I'm not so sure David, to ask 1000+ fans to all budge up a bit at the same time is unrealistic, the path behind should have been kept clear. That is the responsibility of the club, not the Leeds fans.
Edit: actually, fans standing on the path were also responsible.
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The key phrase in this statement being "a large number of travelling fans arrived close to kick off"
Why this was is the question that needs answering - and pronto, before Southampton turn up in 3 weeks.