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Alarm bells started to ring when it was decided that travelling fans for this game, and the return at Ashton Gate should only get in if they travel on official transport. However, I could see half a logic in that (only half mind) but then I started thinking about the other games this season and what seemed to be a lopsided police presence at those games.
And it got me thinking – are we to see some real big numbers in policing this time around and maybe that could lead to some heavy handed policing. The likes of which we haven’t seen since Bury.
Hear me out on this one. In the 2 weeks since the Barnsley game at the Rock we have seen 2 or 3 articles about policing at the ground. And yet they have only made 19 arrests during the first five football matches there – hardly justification of the numbers involved in policing the games.
In theory this is the biggest football match that has taken place at White Rock and the police I just have this awful feeling will be out to prove a point. Is there a chance that they could arrest people for seemingly next to nothing on Saturday just to get the arrest numbers up and to increase the horrendous bill that Stadco/Swans face game on game for the police presence.
And with the Nottingham Forest game being next up at home after this Saturday an increase in arrest numbers gives them ample chance to put out similar numbers and similar tactics at that game.
I do fear that innocent fans could this weekend become the victim of policing tactics and it is not just arrest from the game in question but potential banning orders that would hurt as well as the stigma that goes with it all. And some of these arrests could be over nothing. I know it sounds dramatic but people saw it happen at Bury and there is no reason not to believe that it couldn’t happen at White Rock.
And maybe it may not only be around the ground. I would hate to think of an increased police presence at the pubs before the game or even, in the event of a dry day, the movement of people enjoying a quiet pint outside the pubs.
I hope my gut feeling is wrong but I do feel as well that the police have a point to prove from the last time Bristol City played down here. On that day, opposition fans smashed the windows of the Potters Wheel in the afternoon and caught the police out with their early arrival.
Lets see on Saturday but I really do hope that we are not sitting here on Saturday evening discussing heavy handed policing rather than the performance on the pitch.
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