Atherstone match thread

[Reg]

To be fair to Reg I don't think he fully understood or was aware of the sheer scale of the trouble and the violence involved.

Correct. I thought it was nowhere near as bad as it now appears.

My initial reaction was to question why people didn't people try to fight back/help others.

However, now I know the full facts I can appreciate what happened and the actions of those who tried to defend themselves and others.

Every Barrow fan there comes out with great credit and I hope every single one of you is ok.

Agree with this completely.

[barrowaberdeen]

Reg, that's nae bother at all pal- apology happily accepted . It was more sitting on a supporters bus with no T-shirt and a black eye reading a fair bit of speculation on t'internet about what others from Barrow would or wouldn't have done was a bit annoying. However, thinking about it a bit, I would probably have wondered the same things.


Look forward to seeing you when we are all back at the games together again, whenever that will be .

[prague bluebird]

Important information from the Atherstone Town web site.


Thursday Oct 10

All people admitted to Sheepy Road Football ground on match days are subject to the following rules and regulations which conform to Football Association guidelines. The club reserves the right to eject from the ground any person who is deemed to be in contravention and take further action as appropriate.

It is an offence to :-

Enter the ground in any way other than through official turnstiles or gates

Encroach on the field of play at any time during or after a match

Use obscene, abusive or racist language and / or behaviour, persistent swearing, likely to cause offence

Be under the influence of drink or drugs

Carry any offensive objects or throw objects onto the field of play

Smoke in prohibited areas

Bring bottles/cans or other items into the ground

The club management also reserves the right to decline admission or eject from the ground anyone who refuses to be searched by a steward or other recognised security official

[The Chief]

Fair play reg, just pretty wound up, as you know from the supporters team days I'm not exactly a shy retiring type when it comes to sticking up for team mates/fellow supporters but when you're penned in being pelted by flares and attacked from two sides dishing out beatings wasn't realistic, even numbers it would have been different but seeing fans I've known through football for years and knowing that they are the polar opposite of trouble makers and seeing them subjected to outright cowardice and thuggery really gets my goat. If they were real men they would have fought like minded folk but they targeted the weak to act tough, I doubt they would be as keen to fight one on one and was full of admiration for how barrow fans stuck together and helped avert a tragedy, I'm not exaggerating it really could have been that bad! The way the police neglected to act shows why tragedies do happen, if those numbers had been larger we could be talking about serious injuries and possible deaths, when you hit someone in the head anything can happen, when the heads you are hitting are elderly and have fragile health that risk is magnified. I'm one of john mckays biggest critics but he and the rest of the club come out of yesterday with a huge amount of credit, I've seen some pretty dire stuff but that was disgusting behaviour and those lads if convicted will be abused in jail as not one of them really is a hard nut, nothing but bullying cowards. If we draw them again il be back but I feel for them as the real hard men of barrow will no doubt be out in force and it will be carnage.

[nuns]

Nuneaton fan here, we have our fair share of troublemakers but what I have read on here makes me sick to my stomach.

It looks as if some of our near neighbours were trying to make a name for themselves, I sincerely hope that all the information that has been posted on here is reported in the national press accurately so that they are shown to be nothing but BULLIES & COWARDS.

All teams / towns have an unsavoury element that appear for the 'big' games and if they want to knock 7 bells out of each other well away from normal fans I would leave them to it.

There is absolutely no excuse for attacking normal supporters, especially in front of their young children or attacking OAP's - FFS - that is quite frankly the domain of the very dregs of society.

There was an incident in the previous round I think whereby they took the flag off visiting fans but not sure exactly what went on.

With this in mind and being the biggest game in Atherstone for years you would have thought that the club & local police would have been better prepared - it seems they let you down very badly indeed.

I hope you are ok considering what you have been through, all the best from Nuneaton.

[spirit of 1990]

What I'm struggling to get my head around is this sort of thing seems to happen more than it should do at Atherstone & this (apparently) appears to more than accepted by those in a position to do something about it. When I say "those in a position" I mean their club officials, their stewards & more importantly - the police.

This game always had the potential for trouble with it being international weekend plus the fact that it was probably one of their biggest games for years, add to that the £7,500 in the bank if they'd have won & and throw in the possibility of an bigger draw in the next round - it's the perfect storm. You didn't have to be a detective to realise what could happen just by reading a few of their posts on here.
Add to that the lack of stewards, letting their supporters in without being searched, then top it all off with not allowing the police on site (however that works ) it's all edging it's way to at the least what happened & quite possibily a lot worse, thankfully not.
Some serious questions to be answered by quite afew people I think.

BTW, I don't think Reg needs me or anyone else to defend his corner as he's more than capable of doing that himself, but I very much doubt he intended his post to offend anyone at all.

[nuns]

For your info - Warwickshire police are appealing for any footage taken on phones etc. to help them identify the scumbags.

[boyliegladbach]

We're our club or our local police not concerned by this fixture.
Last season we had police and our stewards interfering at Guiseley, why not yesterday, you only have to look on the Internet at their conduct in previous games to see they are idiots.
In fact I think our police probably went bothered by this game in the hope our fans might have got beat up.

[leighwhite]

I doubt anything like this will ever happen again, been a few cup tie's watching Barrow over the years and never seen one hint of trouble. Been to Atherstone in the past and it was a sound place to visit, just cant understand it.

[Uncle Peter]

We're our club or our local police not concerned by this fixture.
Last season we had police and our stewards interfering at Guiseley, why not yesterday, you only have to look on the Internet at their conduct in previous games to see they are idiots.

The reason the club had stewards at Gainsborough is, i think, that they asked for them to be there.

As far as i am aware stewarding and policing is down to the home club, who in this instance had employed proffesional stewards from Coventry City.

[sempre contigo]

We're our club or our local police not concerned by this fixture.
Last season we had police and our stewards interfering at Guiseley, why not yesterday, you only have to look on the Internet at their conduct in previous games to see they are idiots.

Because they couldn't organise a [SwearFilter] up in a brewery that's why. Lot of explaining to do I think.

What happens yesterday goes beyond football disorder and a football banning order does not suffice. I urge anyone (especially the elders) to try and identify people and put legal pressure on them and persue a criminal conviction.

I hope also that criminal charges are put against the club and if possible BAFC pressing charges against them.

Not to sure about the possibility of all that but a slap on the hands and a few banning orders thrown out simply is just not enough.

[Holkerbird]

andrew birbeck
Posted: Sunday, October 13, 2013 11:28:20 AM
Title: Member
Groups: Member

Joined: 2/13/2011
Posts: 101
Location: Tamworth
So why not have a whip round next home game get a new one, what's left over goes to help the heros on his behalf. Decent Atherstone fans can post there donations, or have there own collection.

This was posted on the Tamworth fans forum regarding replacing the flag. Even if it doesn't materialise it does restore your faith in people.

[Uncle Peter]

http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=24158

good article

[The Chief]

Professional stewards? They were elderly or female and numbered 9, 9 for over 800 people is a joke. There needs to be pressure put on a high level inquiry as this was a balls up from the off, a police officer outside the ground told me to go round the other end to go in and quickly as "the idiots are on there way with a police escort" and when I said I'd seen wannabes before he told me "no these are serious nutters spoil it for everyone all the time" this was a known issue and was ALLOWED to happen it wasn't a random surprise thing and that's why it's so shambolic. Atherstone fc and the local police need to be held to account over this.

[boyliegladbach]

andrew birbeck
Posted: Sunday, October 13, 2013 11:28:20 AM
Title: Member
Groups: Member

Joined: 2/13/2011
Posts: 101
Location: Tamworth
So why not have a whip round next home game get a new one, what's left over goes to help the heros on his behalf. Decent Atherstone fans can post there donations, or have there own collection.

This was posted on the Tamworth fans forum regarding replacing the flag. Even if it doesn't materialise it does restore your faith in people.

Well done Tamworth good lads , and if someone starts an account for the buy Chris a new flag fund in will put a tenner in.