Originally Posted by
topia
What happened in Longford on Sat was a complete disgrace, a lot of people have waded in here giving their opinion but they weren't there. Way too many people in this country seem incapable of believing that the gardai can do any wrong. It reminds me of the denial of abuse in the Catholic church. This was not a case of 'Casuals' causing trouble, I don't know what your idea of a casual is because none of the lads there on Saturday were there to look for any sort of trouble, I for one cannot stand such behaviour and would never condone it. I have never been involved in any sort of violence in (or outside) a football ground ever, and I can honestly say that I cannot remember the last time I witnessed any sort of 'scumbag' as was described earlier cause any trouble during a match (no matter what is reported), What happens between green street wannabes between themselves outside of football grounds does not concern me at all.
I was hit by pepper spray as I walked by the gap in the stand from a distance of 20m or so, thankfully it did not really affect me from that distance but when I looked around me it was just small groups of 3/4/5 people standing to the side getting sprayed. There was no mass riot going on as has been suggested. I spoke with the local gardai, they admitted that they were embarrassed by what was happening. The young lads sprayed (repeatedly) were denied medical attention for half an hour. I spoke to the 2 stewards on the gate after the incident, they too said they couldnt believe what happened, neither of them were injured.
The guards were a disgrace on Saturday but as already stated they were not solely to blame, some of that comes from within our own club I dont know how many people were refused admission (it cant have been very many) but the only people who I know of who were refused admission were refused as a direct result of personal problems with certain board members, these are decent people who certainly do not fit the stereotypes in the heads of certain posters on here. And any aggression inside the stadium was verbal (towards said board member) and a shake of the gate, there was no mob!
Anyway it matters not, I have witnessed such abuses of power far too often and people can make out all they want that this was a case of Bohs 'soccer hooligans' causing trouble, it simply wasn't, believe what you want, you won't believe what is happening until it happens to your club, to be honest I may have reacted the same beforehand. The sensationalist media reporting has to be admired though... 2 buses of 'hooligans' were supposedly in Longford (cue hilarious attendance jokes!) but yet we struggle to bring 2 buses in total to some places (cue hilarious all bohs fans are hooligans jokes!), Where would we get 2 buses of hooligans from? We would have to import them or advertise for weeks! Something doesnt add up.
