[Albion] Away fans in the home stands

[Wardy's twin]

I remember it well, late 70s at The Goldstone, Spurs trying to kick the shit out of everyone.

that did happen , but that would have happened anyway because they broke down all the barriers or just came over the walls.

I agree there are times when it might not be appropriate but most of the time there was not an issue.

I do remember a number of occasions when away fans were in the south stand they just ran across the pitch to fight.

I also remember the north stand housing opposition and home fans , separated by a gangway and a few police.

 

[TugWilson]

that did happen , but that would have happened anyway because they broke down all the barriers or just came over the walls.

I agree there are times when it might not be appropriate but most of the time there was not an issue.

I do remember a number of occasions when away fans were in the south stand they just ran across the pitch to fight.

I also remember the north stand housing opposition and home fans , separated by a gangway and a few police.

Do you remember the game against Millwall , one third of the North stand ( West side ) filled with them , separated as you say by a gangway and a few police . Halftime score 0-2 , Full time score 3-2 , that was err fun !

 

[LennyTee]

The main thing I would like to see the club have a zero tolerance with is away fans in the home ends that wear their own team colours. I heard stories of some being turned away at the turnstyle, but have heard other stories of fans brazenly wearing their team shirt in the home end. Seems some stewards are prepared to enforce it, and others not. If you're going to contact the club then this is something Paul Barber could easily fix with a message to whoever manages the stewarding.

I generally find that people in club colours are quite easy to chat to, don't go over the top with celebrating and can often be found to be normal human beings. I never feel that they are going to lamp me. Snatching the low hanging fruit won't solve anything.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Do you remember the game against Millwall , one third of the North stand ( West side ) filled with them , separated as you say by a gangway and a few police . Halftime score 0-2 , Full time score 3-2 , that was err fun !

 

[faoileán]

I generally find that people in club colours are quite easy to chat to, don't go over the top with celebrating and can often be found to be normal human beings. I never feel that they are going to lamp me. Snatching the low hanging fruit won't solve anything.

Completely right... I have never had a problem talking with opposition fans wearing colours home or away. It's the scrotes young and old without colours, particularly wearing Stone Island you want to watch out for...

 

[Wardy's twin]

I think the either side of the gangway was quite common when club brought a lot of fans with them. The gangway used to separate was also used to to enter the north stand so always meant 'contacts'. Not sure about the game you mention but when we playedthem in the playoff game there were lots of Millwall fans in the Chicken run and no trouble.

To me the whole debate about should away fans be in same area has two streams a) it leads to violence b) it upsets fans who see it as some form of insult. To me the latter argument has no depth , its great going into an away pub and mixing socially with their fans. In the case it leads to violence , yes it could as could walking past them at end of the game as could getting on a park and ride. Where do you draw the line.

 

[Vaughan Storm]

That might prevent about 1% of away fans (ironically, the 'true' fans who support their local club) but the other 99% with Sussex / Surrey / London postcodes will be unaffected.

The other thing I can think of is having a purchase history with a different team but then that could block anyone new from wanting to go unless it was a big 6 only rule

 

[WATFORD zero]

There were a couple of young lads who were a couple of rows down from us in the North (not even in consecutive seats, one behind the other offset). Don't know how they 'exposed' themselves (maybe not celebrating our goals) but I hadn't noticed them until after our third went in when they started getting serious shit from a couple of rows back. I think a few more mature fans stepped in, told the others to leave them alone and advised that maybe they left ?

Obviously, lairy little ****s deserve what they get but I really couldn't see what problem these kids were causing

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Group of 5 scourers in the East concourse before the game, not even hiding it but seemed respectful enough. Not sure where they ended up sitting.

Did they get all the saucepans clean?

 

[jackanada]

I've way more time for a genuine pool supporter sucking it up in the home end than any half and half twatfairy polluting the place.
I do have some time for the half half scarf wearing (presumably) wife of a grimacing local pool supporting man coming out of 1901. I didn't quite catch his complaint but her cheery "I thought we played quite well though" was marvellous. Both oblivious to his pain and having dragged a neutral along with him was leaving with a Brighton supporter.

 

[DanRedman]

Interested to know why rugby fans can act so differently to football fans supporting their local team. No home or away at the rugby (games I've been to anyway) and fans are able to either leave each other be or it's friendly banter. Is it because club rugby isn't as followed as football? I think it'd be impossible to get a ticket if you could just buy a ticket no matter if you supported home or away side

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Had a group of football tourists next to us yesterday - hope the normal old boys are ok.

Wasn’t clear who, if anyone they were backing but was f***ing annoying they kept getting up and going to the concourse - 3 times each half.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Do you remember the game against Millwall , one third of the North stand ( West side ) filled with them , separated as you say by a gangway and a few police . Halftime score 0-2 , Full time score 3-2 , that was err fun !

Remember it well, but in them days there was little to no segregation. There was no way to control it, You just turned up, paid your quid and went in where you liked. The Millwall and Spurs match in 77/78 season weren’t the only ones, notable matches that come to mind are West Ham (79) the Arsenal League Cup match (79) and of course Chelsea in 83. Also in the late 70s early 80s at Selhurst you’d always get some Palace walk through the turnstiles into the away end when we played there, it always kicked off inside the ground

 

[TugWilson]

Remember it well, but in them days there was little to no segregation. There was no way to control it, You just turned up, paid your quid and went in where you liked. The Millwall and Spurs match in 77/78 season weren’t the only ones, notable matches that come to mind are West Ham (79) the Arsenal League Cup match (79) and of course Chelsea in 83. Also in the late 70s early 80s at Selhurst you’d always get some Palace walk through the turnstiles into the away end when we played there, it always kicked off inside the ground

Arsenal cup game , shit that was brutal , saw some very disturbing things that afternoon . Selhurst was always a mare , remember standing in the rubble behind the goal one year , very surreal .

 

[BrightonCottager]

There are usually fans from the 'big' clubs in home areas at Fulham, especially now we don't have a neutral section and I hear this does lead to problems. That is what I think the answer must be - neutral sections where every ticket purchaser must expect to be sitting with fans from both sides and neutrals. I only ever saw trouble in the neutral section once (Birmingham).

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Interested to know why rugby fans can act so differently to football fans supporting their local team. No home or away at the rugby (games I've been to anyway) and fans are able to either leave each other be or it's friendly banter. Is it because club rugby isn't as followed as football? I think it'd be impossible to get a ticket if you could just buy a ticket no matter if you supported home or away side

my daughter took Mrs DiS and me to a rugby match on Christmas Eve 4 or 5 years ago - Wasps vs Bath in Coventry, where we were bored to tears.

but not only were the fans not segregated - when it finished the Bath fans in front of us turned round to us as Wasps fans to shake hands and say good luck for the rest of the season. I was amazed.

I’m not a Wasps (or any other rugby team) fan, but my daughter used to play for Wasps Ladies 2nd XV many moons ago.

 

[sully]

Had a group of football tourists next to us yesterday - hope the normal old boys are ok.

Wasn’t clear who, if anyone they were backing but was f***ing annoying they kept getting up and going to the concourse - 3 times each half.

The going to the concourse thing isn’t restricted to tourists.

We have a young(ish) lad in our row that’s been doing it for years. Goes out past us and back in the other end of the row. We now keep score of him v everyone else that we have to stand for. One game he won 5-2. He rarely loses. We now announce the score to him as he passes. Saturdays first exit was on 9 minutes.

His old man is a piece of work who shouted in my face (during covid mask wearing times) when I politely asked him to try limiting the number of times he disturbed us while the game is in play or just stay in the concourse area if he didn’t want to watch the game.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Interested to know why rugby fans can act so differently to football fans supporting their local team.

This old chestnut’s tiring. It seems to be a football league thing, I’ve been to plenty of Euro/WC matches across Europe as a neutral over the years, both sets of fans mixing in and outside of the stadium. I have no recollection of any bother at these matches.

 

[dazzer6666]

A few suspects

 

[um bongo molongo]

Have been in the home end loads when we’ve played away. Sometimes with mates who support the home side, sometimes with other Albion fans when we couldn’t get tickets in the away end. Other than nearly getting my head kicked in at Upton Park when we scored a late winner having been battered all game, I haven’t had a problem, and I don’t really see the problem the other way as long as people don’t behave like bellends. It’s not like it’s hard to buy home tickets as an Albion fan, so I don’t see how they’re stopping ‘real’ fans attending.