The bubble…

[Swanjaxs]

There’ll be plenty of aggro if Wrexham come down here. They’ve got one of the most active hooligan element about at the moment.

Absolutely, I wouldn't fuk with thier main man anyway...

 

[eteb]

Why would police want it changed? They'll be deployed everywhere/chasing god knows what. They got it cushty as things stand.
Will never happen.

Prob that lot spreading rumours that it's just us blocking it

Forever the victims see

 

[TerryPHELAN]

There’ll be plenty of aggro if Wrexham come down here. They’ve got one of the most active hooligan element about at the moment.

Wasn’t aware that they were still active. I suppose with the increase in attendances they’re having, a few of their old head cases are coming out the woodwork.

 

[sainthelens]

Anus must be skint. Pushing for it be lifted. He's got his pen and colouring book at the ready.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

I can't see it being lifted but I do think something can and should be done to stop the ridiculous situation where a tiny number of exiled Swans face a long trip back to Swansea to get on the bus to go to Cardiff to get back on the bus afterwards and then face another long drive home.

Surely in 2024, with technology, surveillance techniques etc it isn't too much to make exceptions for a small handful of people and just post them a fricking ticket or get them to collect it at a neutral venue near the ground. It's just silly and OTT.

 

[Neath_Jack]

I can't see it being lifted but I do think something can and should be done to stop the ridiculous situation where a tiny number of exiled Swans face a long trip back to Swansea to get on the bus to go to Cardiff to get back on the bus afterwards and then face another long drive home.

Surely in 2024, with technology, surveillance techniques etc it isn't too much to make exceptions for a small handful of people and just post them a fricking ticket or get them to collect it at a neutral venue near the ground. It's just silly and OTT.

That’s been in place for a couple of years.

 

[Ringwood]

I can't see it being lifted but I do think something can and should be done to stop the ridiculous situation where a tiny number of exiled Swans face a long trip back to Swansea to get on the bus to go to Cardiff to get back on the bus afterwards and then face another long drive home.

Surely in 2024, with technology, surveillance techniques etc it isn't too much to make exceptions for a small handful of people and just post them a fricking ticket or get them to collect it at a neutral venue near the ground. It's just silly and OTT.

There used to be coaches run from Gloucester for away games at Cardiff. Remember catching them. A lot more practical for England based Jacks

 

[Swansea93]

It would be carnage and not worth the risk imo for a game of football, BUT I do think the day itself and the length of time you spend waiting around should be changed.

 

[Swanjaxs]

Before Rangers took the decision to reduce the away allocation in the Broomfield stand (because they decided to capitalise on the Stevie G bounce by selling an extra 8k season ticket's), and only allowing 700 hundred tickets in the corner for the good guys it took away the best thing about the Glasgow Derby.
I've been to plenty of "Old Firm" over the years and when, not exactly mingling, both factions have walked the same road.
Swansea and Cardiff pffft

 

[JustJack]

I can't see it being lifted but I do think something can and should be done to stop the ridiculous situation where a tiny number of exiled Swans face a long trip back to Swansea to get on the bus to go to Cardiff to get back on the bus afterwards and then face another long drive home.

Surely in 2024, with technology, surveillance techniques etc it isn't too much to make exceptions for a small handful of people and just post them a fricking ticket or get them to collect it at a neutral venue near the ground. It's just silly and OTT.

I think you have a CF or NP postcode they'll let you travel to the away end by your own means

Someone posted here once that they parked near CCS, and walked to the away enclosure before and after the game

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

That’s been in place for a couple of years.

Think it only caters for a small number of postcodes though.

 

[Darran]

I went to the Swansea vs Cardiff 'bubble match' - it was completely bizarre

Daniel Storey travels to Swansea to attend the South Wales derby, where he discovers it’s probably time to cut supporters some slack

inews.co.uk

 

[Darran]

I went to the Swansea vs Cardiff 'bubble match' - it was completely bizarre

Daniel Storey travels to Swansea to attend the South Wales derby, where he discovers it’s probably time to cut supporters some slack

inews.co.uk

Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. The best way to follow his journey is by subscribing here

It is 11am on a Sunday morning and coaches are lined up in the car park of the Cardiff City Stadium. Most of them have tinted windows, because there’s no benefit to letting anyone see the gestures those seated inside may be making in two hours’ time. Supporters are beginning to gather in bunches.

The atmosphere is like a school playground on exam results day, all nervous laughter and helplessness. Nearby, McDonalds and Greggs have done an unusually roaring trade. An enterprising salesman has scarves draped over his shoulder with two messages: “We are your capital. You Jack bastards.” A child holds one proudly aloft while his dad takes a photo. A hundred yards away, a teenager has been sick. Let’s generously put it down to the tension.



Over the next 45 minutes, cars arrive, park up and the coaches are filled. Police vans and motorcycles move to the front and rear of the convoy. A chant goes up for Michael Chopra, who scored the winner for Cardiff against Swansea in 2010. It soon becomes clear why his name is being sung: Chopra has taken his place on one of the coaches.

The occasion is the 11th South Wales derby in five years, the longest sustained run of this fixture since the 1980s. It is famous as the only “bubble match” in British football, where away fans can only travel (barring the odd prearranged exception) on official supporters’ coaches from one stadium to the other. Supporters are given their match tickets as they climb onto their transport and can only return the same It creates vaguely farcical logistical issues. In the car park, i speaks to Cardiff fans who live in west Wales. They are forced to get up early, drive two hours to Cardiff (almost literally past the ground where they will spend the afternoon), pick up the coach, go to Swansea, come back to Cardiff after the game and then drive the two hours back home (again, past Swansea). The same applies to Swansea supporters living in Cardiff for the reverse fixture. To the uninitiated, it is bizarre.

The bubble started as an idea in response to crowd violence in the 1980s and early 1990s. Swansea and Cardiff didn’t meet between 1965 (when Swansea were still Swansea Town) and 1980, but that decade coincided with a rise in hooliganism in English (or in this case Welsh) football. In 1988, Swansea supporters infamously chased a group of Cardiff fans from the Vetch – their old ground – into the sea, where police finally managed to intervene.



Then, in 1993, the Battle of Ninian Park saw Swansea supporters rip out seats and throw them at Cardiff fans. Disorder broke out onto the pitch, described by then-Cardiff City supporter and then football intelligence officer Simon Chivers as “the worst violence I have ever seen anywhere in my entire life.” Away supporters were banned entirely for four years at both grounds. When they returned in 1997, it was in bubble conditions.

As the coaches depart Cardiff and head down the motorway, the police escort kicks into gear. When they reach a junction, it is closed to allow the convoy to pass through without stopping. At bridges over the roads, police stand at both ends, presumably to report upon their progress and stop anyone from gathering on the bridge and risk an incident. As they enter Swansea’s environs, home supporters gather at roundabouts to offer a special hand-gestured welcome.

The intricacies of the bubble means that Cardiff fans arrive at the Swansea.com Stadium – still the Liberty to you and I – two hours before kick off. There has been some relaxation on measures, opening up bars inside to allow them some precious nerve-settling pints, but the sea of metal fencing is also covered in opaque black netting. On a day like today, even allowing supporters to see each other is off the agenda. The sound of a ground empty bar away fans is a unique experience, the noise of Cardiff fans filling the Landore air unabated.

Outside the stadium, the Swansea mood is remarkably upbeat given the magnitude of the fixture. Supporters i speaks to are predicting a comfortable home win, and you get their point. Swansea beat Preston 3-0 here exactly a week ago and are playing fine football under Luke Williams following his move from Notts County last season. Swansea have won five of their last six South Wales derbies.

But Alex Thomas is our realist and reflects my own emotional self-preservation on derby days.

“It’s the first game you look for when they come out in June and it’s always in the back of your mind, but once it actually comes around it’s very rarely a pleasant experience in the buildup to the game,” he tells me.

“You could give us the best 11 players in world football and I’d still be nervous about Swansea playing against Cardiff. But that’s why, when you win them, it’s extra special versus a game against any other side.”

 

[Birchgrovejack]

With us, they stop at Cardiff gate, then ship the busses in a few at a time, so why cant these local away fans meet the buses there and get ferried in from there?

I'm not sure if the Cardiff buses go to a services first on whether they go straight in?

 

[ExpatJack]

I hope for everyone’s sake that the bubble isn’t lifted. The memories of that FAW cup game at ninian park in 2001 still haunt me. That was even a bubble trip! And believe me as an 11 year old then,seeing grown men beat the hell out of each other terrified me and innocent football fans always get caught up in it.

The trouble today is, you would have any idiot coming out for a bit of ‘Argo’ for the sake of it. We have seen this all too well with the recent riots in the UK. They won’t necessarily be football fans. Would I take my daughter up there if it was lifted, not a chance.

However, I do agree there needs to be changes to the bubble trip. The timings are ridiculous!.

Anyway, il gladly watch from the desert although i still work with two bluebirds!