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After the Millwall v Birmingham game over 900 Millwall hooligans clashed with police after trying but failing to get at the Birmingham supporters. The Police suffered casualties, 47 officers and 26 police horses were injured. 9 police officers needed hospital treatment. This is a totally unacceptable situation in any true football supporter’s book. The police now plan to talk to the F.A and Millwall football club with a view to claiming cost for injuries and for the policing. After the Cardiff v Stoke match, Cardiff’s hooligan element rioted, yet again letting down their club. These so called loyal fans claim to love their club, but in my mind they let down not only the club but also the true Blue Cardiff supporters. What a sad state of affairs when you can’t go to watch a match without violence breaking out, a return to the dark but not so distance days of the football “hooligan”. What have the F.A.W done or intend to do? Well the answer is nothing; according to them they can’t see any action being taken as this was outside the ground and not the responsibility of Cardiff city football club even though the stewards did a good job of crowd control inside the ground. I’m sorry but I do not believe this is good enough. If you were the landlord of a pub and someone had too much to drink and gets punchy is it acceptable that you ask him to leave the pub to fight outside so it is no longer your responsibility, why couldn’t the stewards keep the Cardiff supporters in the ground until the away supporters got on their coaches? A strong stance has to be taken now to stop this reoccurring again and again. Maybe some of you might think of me as old-fashioned but I actually go to a match to watch the football and not the riots. I remember some twenty year ago I (for my sins) worked in Cardiff. Most of the guys were great but there were some Cardiff hooligans who, each Monday on going to work would boast of how they had beaten up rival supporters and their enthusiastic tails of how it was done. I found this disgusting just as much then as I do now, not by the level of violence, you can’t be in the military and not have seen violence but at football matches I feel it is totally unnecessary, old men are beaten up in the streets and women and children are terrorised. These so called Cardiff fans (you know who you are Kenny) enjoyed and indeed waited for the next game, not to watch the football but to instigate some violence. Now before anyone thinks that I am totally daft we’ve all travelled to away games and come across trouble in one form or another maybe you’ve just been chased down the street or witnessed a fight in a local pub, all because you were wearing your teams colours. I know we have had our idiots at Swansea, and if we are not careful they will be back, it won’t take much for their return. But it is up to us whenever we can to try and stop them, maybe not by physical restraints but we can report their names to the club. If any of you think this is grassing too bloody right it is this club can do without troublemakers and heavy fines off the F.A.W we are not named Cardiff so we would probably be fined. If they can fine us £ 20,000 for Cyril going onto the pitch any fine for a riot could destroy our club. The hooligans at Ninian Park were reported when the coin throwing started at the playoffs but that’s as far as it went. These people should have been left in the ground till after the match had finished and the away supporter had left. Such a simple answer could save a lot of trouble. What do you think of the violence? What can be done to stop it I don’t know but what we CAN do is report the hooligans and show that senseless violence is as Unacceptable in your eyes as it is in mine. DaveH Since writing this Article I have seen a photocopied poster (posted by local shops) calling on Swansea fans to attend Ninian Park on the 13th of May. The poster calls Cardiff scum and includes the words BE THERE, NO RUNNERS, JACK ARMY! So beware the hooligan element is about If you know them report them, they can only damage our club I for one don’t want a reputation like Cardiff (the most hated team in there Division) That is a reputation we can do without. |
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