Times Article Today

[tonyt]

Good article by Henry Winter in today's Times here.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/brighton-hove-albion-will-be-a-force-for-good-t8r620lx2

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Behind a subscribewall so can't read. Help us out?

 

[tonyt]

Img_1022.jpg

 

[tonyt]

Sorry ...., don't know how to do this!
Ignore this thread.....

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Cut and paste is your friend

 

[brighton_girl87]

Sorry ...., don't know how to do this!
Ignore this thread.....

Have you tried to copy and paste?

 

[HCxUK]

When the Spanish police confiscated the first beach ball at Estadi Palamós Costa Brava last week, Brighton & Hove Albion fans sang defiantly, “We’ve got another one”. Duly inflated, this was joyfully chucked around the away section, providing entertainment during a low-key scoreless meeting between Brighton and Girona, who had moved the friendly to the tourist resort and homely arena of fourth-tier side Palamós.

When the second ball disappeared over the railings, landing near the apron of the pitch, the poor ballboy was again instructed not to return it. Maybe the Palamós police weren’t expecting beach balls to come through; after all, their last ground, Camp de Cervantes, had a row of trees between terraces and touchline on one side.

Brighton fans just laughed, chorused, “We’ve got another one”, quickly blew up a third inflatable and knocked that around. At which point seven Guarda Civil manhandled four bemused Brighton fans out. “I was just throwing a beach ball about,” one shouted plaintively as he was led away. #Justice4TheBeachballFour soon appeared on Twitter.

Spain certainly owes Sussex an apology. The visiting fans were good-humoured and particularly patient given the ticket chaos before kick-off, meaning that hundreds missed the start and some Brighton fans queued for almost two hours. The operators of the only two ticket windows open were diligent enough but became distressed as their printer ran out of paper.

Eventually, the stadium head of security emerged and, comically, made matters worse by ordering the two lines queueing into one free-for-all. The organisation was more Heath Robinson than Michael Robinson. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” came the chant from the hundreds of Brighton fans eager to get in.

The printer crisis was solved by staff ripping up bits of scrap paper, scribbling “VIS” (for “visitante”) on them, taking the €10 (£9) entry fee and directing fans to the small away area, on the other side of the ground, where the beach-ball party was under way. The whole experience was a reminder of the intelligence of policing and match organisation elsewhere (Germany/England on the whole) and also the need for clubs to take stewards away with them.

Because this was all harmless; the inflatables were even branded with a skin cream, another sign of “the game’s gone soft” as one spectator pointed out. When the real ball was skied into the crowd by a player, a Spanish lady launched it back to Brighton cries of “lock her up”. The whole game was a throwback. Denied the promised satellite link-up for fans back home, Brighton filmed the game using Periscope on an iPad streamed via a mobile phone. The ingenuity of English clubs’ social media teams knows few boundaries (and is why they are sought after by leading overseas clubs).

The evening reminded older Brighton fans how far they have come — and they are loving the ride. They updated their Premier League promotion chant to, “We’re on our way, to Stoke away; we’re on our way, to Stoke away; How we get there we don’t know; How we get there, we don’t care; All we know is we’re on our way to Stoke away.” “M6”, muttered a man behind me.

Brighton are on their way around Premier League grounds now, and should be greeted as a force for good given the club’s work from the fight against homophobia and the chairman Tony Bloom’s involvement in confronting the scourge of antisemitism, to the Albion In The Community scheme that has 40 full-time workers, 20 part-time and 307 volunteers.

More than 11,000 pupils in local schools benefit from Brighton coaching. Lewis Dunk was the star of a literacy and numeracy session with kids. Bruno challenges youngsters to “swap sugary drinks for water”. Brighton fund and run many disability sides, including cerebral palsy — “a CPFC it’s OK to support” — reads the exhortation, playing on old rivalry.

From lively fans to skilful players such as Anthony Knockaert and Izzy Brown to a principled manager in Chris Hughton, executives such as Paul Barber and a chairman in Bloom, Brighton are so self-evidently a boon to the Premier League that those without conflicting affiliations will fervently hope they stay up. Brighton are a timely tonic for a division that risks losing its soul. Consider this: points of debate among supporters range from the pride that will be bestowed on the club if Dunk or Solly March force their way into the England squad to the fact that Saturday’s opponents, Manchester City, have spent more on full backs over the summer than Brighton did building their stadium and training ground. And consider this, too: in Palamós, Brighton fans chanted, “Watch the match, put your phones away”. Following games on social media, constantly checking Twitter, is a modern phenomenon but sometimes it is important simply to cherish the moment.

Brighton bring some passion and perspective back to the Premier League. The Amex heaves with atmosphere. So does the town. Brighton away will probably become a weekend away. And, finally, what of the Brighton Four? “We watched the rest of the game in a pub over the road,” comes the reply.

 

[tonyt]

Thanks!
I especially liked the bit about "we're on our way to Stoke away".
I was worried that we were going to lose that song forever.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Thanks to the OP and the cut and paste poster....interesting read

 

[Simster]

The Amex heaves with atmosphere. So does the town.

Correct, and I get tired of hearing otherwise on here. The Amex is nowhere near the morgue some on here like to portray. Apart from anything else, all four stands actually SING.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Sorry ...., don't know how to do this!
Ignore this thread.....

Hang in there. Sounds interesting so don't want to ignore it!

 

[Easy 10]

Other fans must be getting absolutely sick to DEATH of hearing about BHAFC and our "story". Seems like the entire media have been all over us like a tramp on chips as the big kickoff approaches, I've never known such a level of coverage.

Marvellous.

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

I never expected The Fonz to know that much about The Albion .....ayyyyyyyyyy!

 

[Hotchilidog]

Hnery Winter is one of the best football writers out there, a very nice piece indeed.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Here is link without subscribe block: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...2?shareToken=1b926a4ab74b9a00201f48889886750f.

 

[abc]

Love the photo! Any idea how one might go about getting a copy?

 

[Pavel Srníček's Haircut]

Nice piece, that.

 

[B-right-on]

Correct, and I get tired of hearing otherwise on here. The Amex is nowhere near the morgue some on here like to portray. Apart from anything else, all four stands actually SING.

Couldn't agree more. Ok so we aren't screaming our heads off for 90 mins, but we aren't deathly silent either. More singing goes on than not imo.

 

[Mellotron]

Correct, and I get tired of hearing otherwise on here. The Amex is nowhere near the morgue some on here like to portray. Apart from anything else, all four stands actually SING.

Spot on. Honestly, go to the "famous" St James' Park for one of their games. I did. Nowhere near as good an atmosphere. Far less singing, and got on their players backs much more quickly and more vociferously.

 

[portlock seagull]

Other fans must be getting absolutely sick to DEATH of hearing about BHAFC and our "story". Seems like the entire media have been all over us like a tramp on chips as the big kickoff approaches, I've never known such a level of coverage.

Marvellous.

Today's dilemma is...do I buy Times or Telegraph? Actually both, as the biggest selling QUALITY papers BOTH have features on us. Te he! We are the media's darling and rightly so. Marvellous scenes as you say.