Policing at London matches

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Just wondered, in these hard times, how it is that the Met police justify having HUNDREDS of officers at Brentford vs Brighton, when our friends at Sussex Police need perhaps a dozen for the reverse fixture with three times the crowd.

Overtime payments?

 

[pearl]

I've seen police horses at Leeds and Sunderland.

Bristol and Sheffield too

 

[happypig]

My only verbal interaction with the Met at a football match was at the old Wembley. Two knobs stood in the opening into the concourse, I had the audacity to say "excuse me please" and was politely responded to with "F..k off or you're nicked"

And I'm sure it was outside the Goldstone where I had an altogether too close an encounter with a horse's arse

 

[Wilko]

that's because it's smudged up with CCTV ,that way Balkham sits back and picks up the piece's
regards
DR

Well as long as you are not acting like a complete and utter tool then there is nowt to worry about then.

 

[The Kid Frankie]

that's because it's smudged up with CCTV ,that way Balkham sits back and picks up the piece's
regards
DR

100% bang on.

Norwich this season perfect example. Crowd of about 20 Norwich literally calling it on as they walked towards the ground. Sussex Police stood back with their camera trained on the Brighton lads in case they reacted. Fairly sickening in my opinion, the attitude from Sussex Police. If it had gone off then the blame would have been laid firmly at the feet of the BHA lads. FBO's, indefinite club bans even prison sentences and naturally the brave boys in blue hailed as the heroes of the situation for defusing it. The reality is if it had kicked off you would have had families including women and kids in the crossfire. Luckily our lot knew the score and managed to bite their tongues and not react in spite of some pretty severe provocation. Nice to know Sussex Police are happy to risk the safety of innocent fans including children so they can boost the arrest figures and secure a few more FBO's.

 

[Insel affe]

Pretty sure I am right in thinking the Ol' Bill did not like us at Orient games back in the mid/late 90s when we were building up a healthy rivalry and the Coach and Horses toilets came off second best to some Brighton nut job with tattoos on his forehead. So I think the next year the Ol' Bill would not let the pubs open, which in a way was worse because all the off licences were only to happy to sell to anyone and everyone was sat around drinking all along the high street. We took so many back then considering we were utter shite....

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

100% bang on.

Norwich this season perfect example. Crowd of about 20 Norwich literally calling it on as they walked towards the ground. Sussex Police stood back with their camera trained on the Brighton lads in case they reacted. Fairly sickening in my opinion, the attitude from Sussex Police. If it had gone off then the blame would have been laid firmly at the feet of the BHA lads. FBO's, indefinite club bans even prison sentences and naturally the brave boys in blue hailed as the heroes of the situation for defusing it. The reality is if it had kicked off you would have had families including women and kids in the crossfire. Luckily our lot knew the score and managed to bite their tongues and not react in spite of some pretty severe provocation. Nice to know Sussex Police are happy to risk the safety of innocent fans including children so they can boost the arrest figures and secure a few more FBO's.

same Norwich lot that were drinking in the Queens head after the game
regards
DR

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Well as long as you are not acting like a complete and utter tool then there is nowt to worry about then.

why would i, i don't go to the Amex
regards
DR

 

[BN9 BHA]

And I'm sure it was outside the Goldstone where I had an altogether too close an encounter with a horse's arse

Nothing new there.

 

[Wilko]

why would i, i don't go to the Amex
regards
DR

I did not mean you specifically.

 

[carlzeiss]

Vicarage Road 1984 , FA Cup 5th round . Approx 20mins from the end of the match OB march into the ground and stand in front of the Albion fans enclosure .
After a period of truncheon waving and come on gestures being totally ignored by the passive away following . A contingent then move onto the terraces and carry out seemingly random viscous assaults on unfortunate " suspects " followed by removal for resisting arrest . Assumed at the time that this was due to clubs only paying for Police officers within the stadium .
Hence the need to create a disturbance from an otherwise peaceful afternoon . Any one here recall these scenes or witness similar back in the day .?

 

[BN9 BHA]

Pretty sure I am right in thinking the Ol' Bill did not like us at Orient games back in the mid/late 90s when we were building up a healthy rivalry and the Coach and Horses toilets came off second best to some Brighton nut job with tattoos on his forehead. So I think the next year the Ol' Bill would not let the pubs open, which in a way was worse because all the off licences were only to happy to sell to anyone and everyone was sat around drinking all along the high street. We took so many back then considering we were utter shite....

Sounds about right, I remember trying to get into the Coach and Horses that day and it was rammed, I couldn't be bothered to wait for a pint so I went to the next pub. On the way to the match I noticed the Coach and Horses was closed, and loads of Albion fans were drinking cans in the street, think there was an off licence opposite the pub.
Someone said the pub toilet got smashed up and a urinal thrown through the window, not sure how true that was.

 

[Insel affe]

Sounds about right, I remember trying to get into the Coach and Horses that day and it was rammed, I couldn't be bothered to wait for a pint so I went to the next pub. On the way to the match I noticed the Coach and Horses was closed, and loads of Albion fans were drinking cans in the street, think there was an off licence opposite the pub.
Someone said the pub toilet got smashed up and a urinal thrown through the window, not sure how true that was.

Sounds about right, glad we had done our speed in the toilets just before...

 

[The Albion Roar]

Vicarage Road 1984 , FA Cup 5th round . Approx 20mins from the end of the match OB march into the ground and stand in front of the Albion fans enclosure .
After a period of truncheon waving and come on gestures being totally ignored by the passive away following . A contingent then move onto the terraces and carry out seemingly random viscous assaults on unfortunate " suspects " followed by removal for resisting arrest . Assumed at the time that this was due to clubs only paying for Police officers within the stadium .
Hence the need to create a disturbance from an otherwise peaceful afternoon . Any one here recall these scenes or witness similar back in the day .?

I was there for that.

They were being itchy anuses before the game kicked off, and seemed to be getting off on it.

 

[Driver8]

I was there for that.

They were being itchy anuses before the game kicked off, and seemed to be getting off on it.

They snapped all our flag sticks before the game. Twats.

 

[The Albion Roar]

But then I am equally baffled why Sussex Police had the horses out v Charlton last season and the attack dogs out on the platform against Fulham this season! Not as if we even have history with either club.

The Met still police football like it is 1979 anyway. Not a clue why that should be. Football and society have moved on over the years. The Met hasn't.

Probably because the previous season more than a few Charlton fans behaved like total bellends in the South Stand. A friend of mine is a Charlton fan, and she said they closed the kiosk and the away end as a whole after some of them tried to trash the place. She was pretty appalled by the behaviour of some of her fellow fans.

 

[The Albion Roar]

They snapped all our flag sticks before the game. Twats.

I was going to say that, but reading it back it sounded a bit... childish. That said, it was the children's flag sticks they were snapping.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Vicarage Road 1984 , FA Cup 5th round . Approx 20mins from the end of the match OB march into the ground and stand in front of the Albion fans enclosure .
After a period of truncheon waving and come on gestures being totally ignored by the passive away following . A contingent then move onto the terraces and carry out seemingly random viscous assaults on unfortunate " suspects " followed by removal for resisting arrest . Assumed at the time that this was due to clubs only paying for Police officers within the stadium .
Hence the need to create a disturbance from an otherwise peaceful afternoon . Any one here recall these scenes or witness similar back in the day .?

yep , I think you'll find Brighton were threatening to storm the pitch at which point it got a bit tasty to say the least , what didn't help was that the OB had let the dogs onto Brighton fans before the game resulting in a few getting bite injuries ,the Argus ran an article on it because of the number of complaints made , Watford OB also came onto the terraces in a league game in the 80'S for a bit of a rumble............ I MUST SAY I WAS A CASUAL OBSERVER ON BOTH OCCASIONS
regards
DR

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

We were in The Griffin pub garden for about an hour and a half pre match. During this time the same Police van/wagon must have gone round the ground about twenty times. What a way to earn a living and spend a Sunday.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

Vicarage Road 1984 , FA Cup 5th round . Approx 20mins from the end of the match OB march into the ground and stand in front of the Albion fans enclosure .
After a period of truncheon waving and come on gestures being totally ignored by the passive away following . A contingent then move onto the terraces and carry out seemingly random viscous assaults on unfortunate " suspects " followed by removal for resisting arrest . Assumed at the time that this was due to clubs only paying for Police officers within the stadium .
Hence the need to create a disturbance from an otherwise peaceful afternoon . Any one here recall these scenes or witness similar back in the day .?

I remember some OB getting a kicking down at the front before kick off