Pre-Match Police Issues - Bit of an Update

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HighfieldBlade said:
Sorry for the basic question...why were stewards preventing fans from entering the sty when the turnstiles are presumably bar code operated?
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The outer doors were locked. When one was opened you had to hand your ticket over and they ran the barcode over the reader and gave you the ticket back.
 
Danny04
You only write sports reports then? This is an article that is associated to sport and it's big (certainly given the history of policing in SY). I appreciate that you can only follow the stories as directed from above but this is one that could finally score The Star some kudos with United fans and it's not just about United fans, it's for all football supporters. Now if The Star turns a blind eye to this then their reputation shall be maintained as being, at best indifferent toward Sheffield United. It's an opportunity, no other paper is covering it and you are right at the heart of this, maybe journalists don't want to upset the police these days or maybe shoddy grass cutting sells more papers. It's an opportunity.
 
Foody said:
I'm not defending the actions of the police here, as I was caught up after the game and the lack of public transport and the insistence that every one got on a tram was majorly inconvenient. But, as harsh as it may sound, I only have so much sympathy for those who missed kick off. Like most other blades (and many of a pork persuasion) I had a few beer in town before making my way up to the ground. But we realised that given the volume of people, and huge police presence that getting to the ground would take an age. So at 11 am we set off on foot, and as a consequence were in the away end with around 50 minutes to spare. Sure I wanted another beer and would've loved another hour in the boozer but by setting off early we saw no trouble, had a leisurely stroll and had nothing but pleasant encounters with the police. It comes down to priorities; beer or football? Football always wins for me. I'm sure many of you will criticise me and claim you 'left with plenty of time to spare', but it was derby day (with a 10k thrown in for good measure), you have to expect major traffic and transport issues. Sure there were some major failings, but as football fans we always put added pressure onto the infrastructure by all aiming to get to the stadium 10 or 15 minutes before kick off. I'm sure some who missed it were unfortunate to get caught up, but I guarantee that some will be those same fans who don't appear at home games until a few minutes gone.
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Too ridiculous to bother arguing with. :rolleyes:
 
8lade said:
Danny04
You only write sports reports then? This is an article that is associated to sport and it's big (certainly given the history of policing in SY). I appreciate that you can only follow the stories as directed from above but this is one that could finally score The Star some kudos with United fans and it's not just about United fans, it's for all football supporters. Now if The Star turns a blind eye to this then their reputation shall be maintained as being, at best indifferent toward Sheffield United. It's an opportunity, no other paper is covering it and you are right at the heart of this, maybe journalists don't want to upset the police these days or maybe shoddy grass cutting sells more papers. It's an opportunity.
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It's being taken care of by one of our news writers, relax :)
 
Hamburg Blade said:
Too ridiculous to bother arguing with. :rolleyes:
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Absolutely; You won't read a more ridiculous statement this season than allow plenty of time for transport during the biggest match of the season. Bare in mind that 80% of us got there on time , no issues.

Perhaps I'm missing something; but surely people forsaw such events and adjusted plans accordingly..
 
In 2012 I got the last possible tram to Hillsborough after drinking in the Bankers Draught. It got me there in the nick of time for kick off, despite the tram getting bricked en route. These people should have arrived in good time.
 
I wasn't there. But seeing it unfolding on twitter (like SwissBlade ) and the subsequent videos, pictures and first hand reports above, it really does seem as though SYP wanted something to kick off. Its not like they've not got previous form or owt... In the Shoreham view vid, the response to a perfectly reasonable question, civily asked is silence and drawn batons.
Well done blades for NOT kicking off and playing into the pigs' (in both senses of the word) hand.
For SYP to then come out and claim it as a sucess shows that the only thing they've learnt in all those years is to try harder to cover their incompetent tracks. It would appear they are no more competent.
As for 600 on a tram, might be worth asking HSE for comment. http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/contact.htm
 
GodricBlade said:
Had a call from SWFC's Safety/Security bloke this morning as I e-mailed them to find out what happened with the turnstiles. He's claiming the club had no communication from SYP that trams had been stopped & 500+ Blades would be arriving late & all together. So they'd gone to normal post kick-off routine to close all but 2 turnstiles. Poor decision to do that as counting people in they knew that 500+ people hadn't arrived yet but again claimed they had "no idea where they were". Says they opened 2 more turnstiles as soon as they could get operators back to man them as they were watching the match! Apologised for the experience & says he would be taking the matter up with SYP as they're meeting to discuss in light of dirty weeds turning up on Sunday.
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The coppers next to the turnstiles were aware, I mentioned it to the steward whilst being searched and to the turnstile operator whilst going through. The safety/security officers job is to know, but those on the ground immediately outside the turnstiles were aware :)
 
Foody said:
I'm not defending the actions of the police here, as I was caught up after the game and the lack of public transport and the insistence that every one got on a tram was majorly inconvenient. But, as harsh as it may sound, I only have so much sympathy for those who missed kick off. Like most other blades (and many of a pork persuasion) I had a few beer in town before making my way up to the ground. But we realised that given the volume of people, and huge police presence that getting to the ground would take an age. So at 11 am we set off on foot, and as a consequence were in the away end with around 50 minutes to spare. Sure I wanted another beer and would've loved another hour in the boozer but by setting off early we saw no trouble, had a leisurely stroll and had nothing but pleasant encounters with the police. It comes down to priorities; beer or football? Football always wins for me. I'm sure many of you will criticise me and claim you 'left with plenty of time to spare', but it was derby day (with a 10k thrown in for good measure), you have to expect major traffic and transport issues. Sure there were some major failings, but as football fans we always put added pressure onto the infrastructure by all aiming to get to the stadium 10 or 15 minutes before kick off. I'm sure some who missed it were unfortunate to get caught up, but I guarantee that some will be those same fans who don't appear at home games until a few minutes gone.
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Utter rubbish, we set off from town at Midday, it has never taken me 1hour and 15minutes to travel from town to Hillsborough on a Derby Day because we've never once been held at Hillsborough Interchange for 45minutes before. It's our smallest away allocation at Hillsborough for years so those travelling from town to Hillsborough were a much smaller number than the previous years. I've never missed the kick-off to a match until Sunday.

This is solely down to SYP and to suggest it's the fans' fault for prioritising beer over football is fucking ridiculous.
 
Claude Makelele said:
Utter rubbish, we set off from town at Midday, it has never taken me 1hour and 15minutes to travel from town to Hillsborough on a Derby Day because we've never once been held at Hillsborough Interchange for 45minutes before. It's our smallest away allocation at Hillsborough for years so those travelling from town to Hillsborough were a much smaller number than the previous years. I've never missed the kick-off to a match until Sunday.

This is solely down to SYP and to suggest it's the fans' fault for prioritising beer over football is fucking ridiculous.
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Wasn't that the first SYP excuse in 1989 ? Like fuckin groundhog day, as you say Utter rubbish.
 
Glyn Hodges left foot said:
Does anybody on here have any video whilst on a tram to the game ? The cctv is not for public viewing until a formal complaint to ipc has been logged.So the more video the better. This needs taking further but i simply do not have,the time to pursue this.
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I didn't feel the need to, ours was hot and annoying but fairly non-eventful other than taking forever and getting stopped (we were the second in line, in the front carriage).

The Durham police on our carriage were sensible, friendly and got the driver to open the doors, allowing at least some of us to escape and beat the restriction of movement.

Though one did get fairly aggressive (read assertive) with someone trying to make his way onto our tram before the doors opened.

Foody said:
Absolutely; You won't read a more ridiculous statement this season than allow plenty of time for transport during the biggest match of the season. Bare in mind that 80% of us got there on time , no issues.

Perhaps I'm missing something; but surely people forsaw such events and adjusted plans accordingly..
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I was on the second tram, I've visited many a Steel City Derby at Hillsborough, and have been in the car, bus, walked from town and been on the tram before.

I set off MUCH closer to kickoff the last time I went on the tram, with over three times as many Blades travelling to the game and got there much quicker.

We were actually going to skip the trams and walk/taxi, but the police at the stop explained that there were empty "non-stop" trams on hand to get us there quickly.

So we made a judgement call.

For clarity, the journey of 11mins quoted by Supertram timetables took well over an hour, without adding the time those unlucky enough to not escape being held and marched to the ground spent unhappily asking what was happening.
 
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Claude Makelele said:
Utter rubbish, we set off from town at Midday, it has never taken me 1hour and 15minutes to travel from town to Hillsborough on a Derby Day because we've never once been held at Hillsborough Interchange for 45minutes before. It's our smallest away allocation at Hillsborough for years so those travelling from town to Hillsborough were a much smaller number than the previous years. I've never missed the kick-off to a match until Sunday.

This is solely down to SYP and to suggest it's the fans' fault for prioritising beer over football is fucking ridiculous.
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It's not a personal dig at anyone on here, nor am I trying to justify the way in which the police handled the situation. My point was simply that we suspected something similar may happen and left super early. All I was saying was that as fans we do sometimes place extra strain on an already stretched infrastructure by all arriving at the same time. As a side point Sky deserve some criticism in all this, as: A. It was moved to the same day as the 10k and B. Sky would never allow kick off to be delayed. Personally my frustration would be at Wednesday and the lack of delayed kick off.


I missed kick off at Bolton away last season, partly due to a distinct lack of turnstiles, which initially I was furious at. But on reflection it was partly because I was enjoying beer in the sunshine a bit too much and timed things a little tighter than I normally would.
 

Davalon said:
Never ceases to amaze me how many people of a certain age don't know where to draw the line.

Have a drink and a sing, even spill out into the road, although out the back would have been better surely. But start harassing motorists minding their own business on a Sunday isn't high jinx, its just downright pathetic.

Couple of lads I know who were there said some of it was really unnecessary and a bit sickening.

It's alright trying to defend it but if it was our flesh and blood getting our car damaged we'd all be fuming. Likewise if this had happened at Hillsborough Corner, there would be a queue of posters as long as London Road on here calling them typical pig scumbags.
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I couldn't agree more....some of our so called fans are an absolute disgrace....Middlesbrough, Norwich at home, London Road on Sunday........is anyone really surprised when our fans get segregated and held back.....I mean really...???....as usual a minority spoiling it for the many.
 
coolhandluke said:
Sothall , try reading Phil Scratons " Hillsborough : The Truth " . I cannot recommend it highly enough .
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Thanks but you're barking up the wrong tree if you think that I don't already know that the SYP and Wednesday were to blame for the Hillsborough Disaster.

I was defending The Liverpool fans on here back when many others were keen to believe the police's version of events. Some still do.

That was another terrible example of the police and Wednesday and the Government being given license to treat all football fans like scum because of the criminal actions of a few scummy fans in the past.

We all get tarred with the same brush and suffer as a result. That's the only point I've being trying to make.
 
Strange how we don't seem to have these problems when we play much bigger games at Bramall Lane (south) you know we go in the same boozers as opposing fans for most of the day, get pissed, get on the same underground trains walk down Wembley way plenty of piss taking and banter but no real bother all with one or two friendly coppers keeping an eye on things in certain places. Riot Police in the background we all know it but not up in your face being twats, the Met must have a different approach to SYP 90,000 crowds don't seem to cause the problems that 30,000 do with 2000 away fans in Sheffield. Let's remember on a usual matchday SYP can have 3 games going in South Yorkshire, on Sunday they only had the one to police I really can't see a 10k fun run or the Britains Got Talent auditions needing many resources.
 
I should coco said:
You have to ask if it was actually a deliberate tactic by SYP to show who is 'boss'. By demonstrating their force to hold the fans back and then deliberately making them queue, they rubbed the Blades' noses in it.

They had all the radios and CCTV to avoid this, but chose not to. Ask yourself why this might be?

It really wouldn't surprise me to find out that this was actually planned in advance, then the same old diversion lies afterwards to mask it.
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This all has a '1989 deja vu stench' about it. SYP "We weren't aware...", SWFC "Not our fault guv." (nobody expected bollocks on the first derby in five years. :rolleyes:)

No doubt SYPD has highly-paid 'intelligence officers'. Didn't they think that a bunch of Wendy nobheads would congregate at Hillsborough Corner trying to look hard as the Blades fans arrived? Word should have reached the cops that a tramload of Blades were due, and cleared Hillsborough Corner before they arrived? Instead, that muppet too busy quoting 'Section 3' said they couldn't allow the Blades through until it was 'a sterile area'.

Policing at football is a sham. A few years ago, we were at home to Cardiff and I was walking down Pinstone Street. A private, unmarked car pulled up on double yellows and a couple of obese fuckers with 'Heddu' on the back of their jackets (Welsh cops) went into the pie shop. How much must that have cost? To let a couple of fat cunts have a days' jollies?
 
To lighten the mood slightly have you seen the state of the Wendys at Hillsborough corner:



The well-dressed lady looks "bovverred", Ronnie Kray's boyfriend looks upset in the white shirt and the guy behind him looks like one of the Hills have eyes brothers!
 
EddieColquhoun said:
To lighten the mood slightly have you seen the state of the Wendys at Hillsborough corner:



The well-dressed lady looks "bovverred", Ronnie Kray's boyfriend looks upset in the white shirt and the guy behind him looks like one of the Hills have eyes brothers!
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Isn't that xxPrincess ov Porkxx ?
 
Foody said:
I'm not defending the actions of the police here, as I was caught up after the game and the lack of public transport and the insistence that every one got on a tram was majorly inconvenient. But, as harsh as it may sound, I only have so much sympathy for those who missed kick off. Like most other blades (and many of a pork persuasion) I had a few beer in town before making my way up to the ground. But we realised that given the volume of people, and huge police presence that getting to the ground would take an age. So at 11 am we set off on foot, and as a consequence were in the away end with around 50 minutes to spare. Sure I wanted another beer and would've loved another hour in the boozer but by setting off early we saw no trouble, had a leisurely stroll and had nothing but pleasant encounters with the police. It comes down to priorities; beer or football? Football always wins for me. I'm sure many of you will criticise me and claim you 'left with plenty of time to spare', but it was derby day (with a 10k thrown in for good measure), you have to expect major traffic and transport issues. Sure there were some major failings, but as football fans we always put added pressure onto the infrastructure by all aiming to get to the stadium 10 or 15 minutes before kick off. I'm sure some who missed it were unfortunate to get caught up, but I guarantee that some will be those same fans who don't appear at home games until a few minutes gone.
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The problem was that large numbers of Wednesday fans were hanging around on Leppings Lane and if the police had marched those 500 Blades to the ground at that point then civil war would have broken out. It's unfortunate that the police had to hold them back but it would have been a disaster if they didn't. The root cause of this problem is Sheffield Wednesday FC, not the police. Because if they had give Sheffield United the upper and lower tiers on Leppings Lane end there would have been no large numbers of Wednesday fans hanging around in that area, the fans could have been easily segregated on the way to the ground, and it would have been quicker and safer for everyone.
 
Danny04 said:
Alternatively read what you like, you've clearly already made your mind up
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Danny, you've made some good strong arguments in support of the star in many threads on this board, but I don't think you're doing yourself any favours here. The disgraceful comment aimed at our players arriving at the ground and inept policing pre match simply should be reported. Comments linking the policing to the mistakes leading to the Liverpool tragedy should not be glossed over.
 
Cerberus Blade said:
The problem was that large numbers of Wednesday fans were hanging around on Leppings Lane and if the police had marched those 500 Blades to the ground at that point then civil war would have broken out. It's unfortunate that the police had to hold them back but it would have been a disaster if they didn't. The root cause of this problem is Sheffield Wednesday FC, not the police. Because if they had give Sheffield United the upper and lower tiers on Leppings Lane end there would have been no large numbers of Wednesday fans hanging around in that area, the fans could have been easily segregated on the way to the ground, and it would have been quicker and safer for everyone.
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The police were well aware we had only been given the upper tier. It wasn't decided on the day. How is that Wednesdays fault? The only criticism of them on the day was closing the turnstiles, which the match commander should have been aware of anyway.

That's without pointing out that both the North and South stands have entrances/exits both sides of Leppings Lane so there could be no 100% segregation at the ground.

When we were held up at the barracks, there was no sign of all those grunters. Oddly though, they seemed to be the agressive ones but we were treated like animals.

For someone who wasn't on the trams and subjected to everything that happened, yourctake from a distance is frankly a bullshit opinion.

The police planning was a shambles. Thanks to the Blades fans and officers on the ground mixed in, there was no trouble. If those officers had been as useless as the brass, there could have been loads.
 
Cerberus Blade said:
The problem was that large numbers of Wednesday fans were hanging around on Leppings Lane and if the police had marched those 500 Blades to the ground at that point then civil war would have broken out. It's unfortunate that the police had to hold them back but it would have been a disaster if they didn't. The root cause of this problem is Sheffield Wednesday FC, not the police. Because if they had give Sheffield United the upper and lower tiers on Leppings Lane end there would have been no large numbers of Wednesday fans hanging around in that area, the fans could have been easily segregated on the way to the ground, and it would have been quicker and safer for everyone.
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How about allowing all those police used to escort and pen fans in, to mingle with the fans, both sets, and let people make their way into the ground like normal, civilised human beings. Any twats who try to start anything get arrested, sent down and banned from football grounds for life. All police (should) have bodycams these days.
In one move you've a) treated law abiding people properly, b) dealt with the knobheads properly, c) done away with all this herding/kettling shit, d) moved the emphasis and blame from the police to the behaviour of the fans.
 
It does not really matter how anyone dresses it up SYP and SWFC have still not learned anything from 1989. When the Police held the trams up outside Hillsborough why was there all the baton waving and posturing all that achieves is to wind people up. Watching the video you can see some of SYP can't wait for it to kick of so they can crack a few skulls. What started off as a crowd of boisterous football fans was turned into a angry mob, for what ?
SWFC .............. I haven't been to the sty for many a year, watching the video I could hardly believe my eyes they still have the antiquated manned half turnstiles anyone without a ticket could jump them into the ground. It is like going back in time having to find a man to operate a turnstile in 2017 beggars belief, queues of more than a dozen or so people are a thing of the past at Bramall lane put your ticket in the slot and you are in it really is that simple. What an absolute shithole that Leppings lane end is it needs closing down for good.
 

Cerberus Blade said:
The problem was that large numbers of Wednesday fans were hanging around on Leppings Lane and if the police had marched those 500 Blades to the ground at that point then civil war would have broken out.
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On the videos I've seen of the group of Wendys were bouncing up and down singing "we all hate Leeds scum" for some reason. Most of them looked quite malnourished. Civil war seems to be pushing it. A stiff breeze would have cleared them.
 
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