Presumed Guilty

Our run of games without a league win in 2003 is at an end, and we find ourselves in the LDV Trophy Final at The Millennium Stadium. Yet, at a time when I should be feeling optimistic, confident and filled with anticipation, my overriding emotions in the last couple of weeks have been anger and disappointment.

No, not with the team. Our first-half performance at Northampton was as good as I’ve seen all season, and despite a panicky second-half when our opponents came onto us a lot more, we held on for a vital and confidence-boosting win. Similarly our showing against Cambridge to clinch a place in the LDV final was competent and professional, and from the moment Carey hit the back of the net after ten minutes we could all relax and enjoy the evening (a rarely experienced feeling when following City). So why my anger and disappointment?

I have been to watch City eight times this season away from home, and will be at QPR on Saturday. And while I’m not sure if that is below or above the average number most people attend, I would say it is sufficient to gauge the atmosphere amongst our travelling support. In all those games I have not seen a single incident of hooliganism, violence or even any attempt by any individual to cause a disturbance. Yet regardless of this we are all made to feel like criminals when following our team.

The police mentality towards football supporters seems to be one of an assumption of guilt, which goes against everything we are told the justice system in this country stands for. In addition, the heavy-handed - not to say provocative - tactics of the police at Northampton and in particular Cambridge have badly soured my enjoyment, both of a vital league win and, more gallingly, my delight in seeing City win a place in a cup final. To come away from a game in which we had just secured a place at the Millennium Stadium feeling nothing but anger and disgust because of the actions of a few uniformed individuals made me wonder why I bother travelling at all.

At Northampton the City support was magnificent, singing from well before kick-off and continuing throughout the game. It was good-natured and enjoyable, and clearly this was frustrating the police. Seemingly unhappy at having nothing to do they came across in front of us and started filming us with a handheld camcorder, and their posture whilst doing so could best be described as deliberately intimidating. The result of their actions was to increase the volume of singing amongst the support, but where previously it had been light-hearted there was a resulting undercurrent of anger which had been generated by the actions of the police. Nothing transpired, but it was a needless act of incitement that could have been avoided.
The actions of the police that day, however, were nothing compared with what I witnessed at the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge the following Tuesday.

The game was fairly mundane, in all honesty. An early goal finished it as a contest and the vocal City support could, for once, relax and enjoy the occasion. The game went on in front of us as we stood and sang for the full 45 minutes of the second half, and when the final whistle sounded it should have been a great moment, when players and fans share in the joy of reaching a cup final. in the best traditions of these types of games, the fans went to the front of the stand to greet the players, and in turn the players came towards us with t-shirts and flags to hand out. Or so they thought.

This was the cue for the policing to become inappropriate and heavy-handed. Instead of allowing the players to come over to the fans, the police manhandled them away from us, which resulted not only in the supporters getting angry (not to mention the players), but also in the fans coming nearer to the front en masse because the players couldn’t reach any further back with the shirts and flags they were trying to give to the younger fans.

This ultimately resulted in one young supporter ending up on the pitch, and only people who witnessed his brutal treatment at the hands of the three policemen who attacked him will know the rage I felt at seeing their over-the-top reaction.

Now I know that football has a reputation for attracting trouble-makers, and I’m sure that if a set of opposition fans ran at us I’d be glad that there was a line of police there to protect me. But why do they feel it is so necessary to create a ‘them and us’ atmosphere between, well, them and us?

I have become more and more aware of this feeling of being thought of as an untrustworthy potential hooligan with each away game I have been to this season and I’m growing bored and aggravated by the fact that this assumption is being made. Where else in society are we treated as though we are the criminal minority in such an overt manner?

If I was to go to The Mall on a Saturday afternoon instead of to watch City play away, I wouldn’t expect to be frisked on my way in and to be eyed suspiciously by half a dozen P.C.s for the duration of my retail experience. Yet I’m damned sure the percentage of people looking to undertake a crime in The Mall at 3pm on a Saturday is far greater than the percentage looking to do so on the away terraces at the Sixfields or Abbey stadia. But you’d never guess it from the way you are treated.

All I ask is that the police treat us like civil human beings until such a time as we prove ourselves to be anything else. If the police are going to continue in their assumptions that we are all scum who need to be harangued for the entire time we are in or around a football ground, then the problem will never go away. I know the overtime is good and that people don’t go into the police force because they dislike exerting authority, but a little common sense and a realisation that their actions are just as liable to incite trouble as quell it are essential if we are to ever fully eradicate disorder from the terraces.

We as fans have a responsibility to act and behave in a manner that represents our club well, but by the same token we are still human beings when we enter a football ground. Just because we choose to spend our Saturday afternoons spending large amounts of money following our team around the country, it does not mean we should be treated any worse than when we are shopping, walking down the street or partaking of any other part of our daily lives.

While we are treated like criminals, there will always be a select few who choose to fulfil the role with which we are branded and so the cycle will continue. Just once this season can’t the police treat us like responsible adults? And who knows, they may actually find that is what we are.

edson

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in C:\www\theincider.com\backissues\9\regulars\edson.php on line 140

Warning: include(http://www.theincider.com/menu9.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in C:\www\theincider.com\backissues\9\regulars\edson.php on line 140

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.theincider.com/menu9.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php5\pear') in C:\www\theincider.com\backissues\9\regulars\edson.php on line 140