Atherstone match thread

[boyliegladbach]

I am happy to say I collected the flag from the ground this morning and it is back in the hands of it's owner, Chris. As we unfurled and inspected it on Schneider Rd it was a sorry looking sight and we agreed it was unrepairable but it can be hung showing it's battle scars in all it's glory.
Thanks to Uncle Peter for transporting it back to Barrow and to whoever rescued/retrieved it from the Atherstone ground.
Happily no ransom was demanded for said return.

Rest in pieces.
Not cheap them flags, I will donate £10 to get Chris a new flag.

[Holkerbird]

You missed the 5 out inbetween the 1 and the 0 Al. Very generous of you too.

[The Chief]

Reg that is the worst post ever, if you had been there you would realise what a ridiculous statement that is. The people there were mainly youngsters, families and the elderly, not many people went who you would expect to defend themselves, and in the face of burning missiles, and a hugely larger force what you say has got my back up pretty badly if im honest, it was a case of barrow fans doing what they could to protect themselves and others where possible, I was half rugby tackled to the floor and wish i hadnt managed to stay upright as was hit on the head by a flare in doing so, the barrow fans can be proud of the actions they took, they fought back on the defensive to protect themselves and others and in alll honesty the fact that we only have a varied amounts of cuts and bruises and one damaged flag is down to great fortune rather than any help the stewards or police helped. i had many arguments with stewards and police over how much of a mess they made of it and as ste story will atest, i wasnt quiet at my articulate best in talking to one particular steward. how this was allowed to happen is beyond me, im of the mind if lads want to fight hand to hand let them, if there had been more lads in the 20-30 bracket then it may have been different but this was families, women, oaps, kids in the majority being attacked by men with weapons capable of maiming and used with such intent, to ask why we didnt just smash there heads in is pathetic, at one point i was faced with around 8 lads charging in my direction throwing stuff and one lad near me took a huge punch then it descended into a melee where anything could of happened, pray tell how were we meant to stop that????

pretty disgusted to read that reg, especially as i know you, and a number of those there yesterday you would class as friends.

[Holkerbird]

Chief, maybe that's what counts as half time entertainment in Atherstone. It certainly made the Wrexham's Got Talent from a few season's ago look tame and on the day that was pretty painful.
You all did well in the circumstances of defending yourselves and those who were there know that.

[urswick blue]

Disgusted by the actions of the hooligns. I want call them Atherstone fans because they are just interested in causing trouble. Hope all the Barrow supporters players and staff are ok?

[barrowfan]

BBC RC coverage between 5 and 6 last night including interview with Chris. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hs9yr

[Holkerender]

As I said fella, I'm not judging anyone as I wasn't there.

It was more a hypothetical question.

Is it, or would it be ok to fight back in that spot and would any fighting back in the act of defending yourself/friends result in bans?

I was there and did throw some punches to protect some fans eg pensioners and women and kids and have a sore head with bumps and a black eye so shut the [SwearFilter] up Reg we all did what we could and some got a right kicking in and it was a very serious and terrifying situation. This was not 2 firms fighting each other it was them just beating anyone they saw

[Rumourman]

I believe that the atherstone chairman handed the Barrow flag back and an official club statement is now on the Atherstone town official club site ! Hope this helps !

[barrowaberdeen]

I would have had much more respect forthe statement if there wasn't a paragraph totally designed to mount a defence against the F.A fining your club for massively messing up the organisation of this.

But cheers for the flag.

[boyliegladbach]

I believe that the atherstone chairman handed the Barrow flag back and an official club statement is now on the Atherstone town official club site ! Hope this helps !

Hope you go bust with the fine. You've got previous and your club did nothing about it.

[barralou]

Paddy Laced'em


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[footballfan74]

Been following Atherstone a number of years and long enough to remember some Barrow fans causing aggro about 20 odd years ago in a cup game at Sheepy Road with objects thrown at the keeper!

I did not attend yesterday, although I was contemplating taking my 7 yr old son to his first ever game.

As the news filtered through it did at first seem hard to believe, I've lived in Atherstone for over 30 years and I recognise one or two faces and they are widely available on Facebook etc., I sincerely hope they get life bans.

I feel embarrassed to be associated with these clowns, the club is in poor shape financially and will be on it's knees now thanks to these utter [swearfilter]

Sorry for your travelling fans, good luck in the next round.

[Mr Staffordshire]

Tamworth fan here,

I can barely believe what happened at Sheepy Road yesterday. I can only apologise for our near neighbours and hope Barrow fans escaped any injuries.

All the best for next round

[Reg]

A lot of the Barrow spilled into the car park behind the stand when the fans started to run across the pitch - you don't know what these people are capable of - it was very frightening

It wasn't the case of us standing there any letting people throw punches

- I really thought at the time that 100s of fans would have followed suit and run across I feared someone would be killed - the stewards were out of control and police weren't even in the ground

The stand was dark enough with a flare in it you couldn't see anything

No disrespect to you Reg but you would have been in the car park with many of us

If I was there with Dawn and the kids you're absolutely right Charlie.

I don't know how I would have reacted if I was there on a bus trip without family present but as I said earlier. I'm not judging anyone and if I have offended or upset anyone, I genuinely apologise.

Steve/Chief/Holkerender

Apologies to you too.

As I wasn't there, I should probably have said nothing until hearing more details.

I certainly didn't mean to cast any slurs on those that were there. My post was badly worded as I have already conceded.

If it came across that I was suggesting anyone was cowardly, or could/should have done more then that 100% was not my intention.

I have apologised to Sand-Devil and he has accepted it, I hope that anyone else offended can do the same.

[spongebobsquarepants]

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.

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.