Monday 16 July 2012

Cardiff and Swansea fans clash at racecourse.

And its not even Wrexham's ground. 


I must admit am not a big fan of football.  I much prefer Ruby and have only watched tow Welsh Football Internationals live.


The Second was the match in 2004 world cup qualifier when Wales lost 2-3  to Poland . What got me was the segregaton of fans . I did shake hand with a lone Polish supporter who was with the Home crowd and there was none of the sardonic humour you often get when Wales lose as the crowd left the ground . But I missed the fans mixing together before and after the match and it a great pity that this happened.


The first game i attended  was I believe in 1970 when I travelled down with a friend down to Swansea to watch Wales play Northern Ireland (Who had George Best in their side) where we won 1-0.


But the shock was arriving at the station to meet  Police force  who were there to keep the trains Cardiff fans from a group of Swansea fans  who were gathering to "greet them".


We were playing Northern Ireland and some were only interested in club rivalries! I understand this is still true of international matches.


Today the Western Mule reports the unbelievable story that 
Thirty football fans brought terror to an afternoon at the races when they fought running battles for 15 minutes.
Groups of Swansea and Cardiff City fans clashed at Newbury Racecourse on Saturday leading to the closure of bars around the circuit and police descending on the site.
Only three people were arrested – two for affray and one for a public order offence, Thames Valley Police said.
It was not clear why the sets of Welsh unleashed their violence at the ground in Berkshire marring the Newbury Summer Festival.
I know that the vast number of Football fans are well behaved and indeed Ruby supporters drunken behaviour on International days are tolerated much more than their football counterparts . But can anyone explain this?

This disease is spread throughout the World game and I'm at a loss to see a solution.

Strangely, I once had a positive experience of football fans from an unexpected quarter when travelling to London. A group of England fans got on on at Bristol and carried out the journey in good humour and one talked about meeting a bunch of rival supporters in a pub and having such a god time singing rival club songs.

There are often bitter rivalries between Ruby Clubs and there are often some appalling comments from supporters during the match  but there's nothing like the violence we see in football . Even though they are basically the same people attending .

Who would go to game if they can expect such behaviour?

It has been said that the growth in Italian Rugby is partially because fans realise that they can see a comparative match in safety.

It's time we end this behaviour and people realise what damage they are doing to their Club, Nation and the game in general.

Support your side. Even have a side you love to beat (indeed perhaps you should have); But let any rivalries be decided on the pitch.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Football fans?

Obviously you're not aware that the Swansea contingent were on a coach trip from Gorseinon RUGBY club?

glynbeddau said...

No I didn't know rhis and it does add another dimension the story. I was worried when I did this that I was responding to a press report that might be sensaltionlising and blaming football fans. If the fault is not with them I apologise but the basis of my post is still there.