Lifetime ban for thugs at Showgrounds

From Sligo Weekender:

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Lifetime ban for thugs at Showgrounds
By Gerry McLaughlin

Sligo Rovers have decided to put the boot into thugs who tarnish the club’s good name.
Any individual caught getting into thuggish behaviour will be banned from the Showground for life.
That’s the firm message from the club following two particularly nasty incidents at the Showgrounds on Saturday, March 31.
In one incident a “golf ball type object” was thrown at the referee’s assistant from the main stand during the match against UCD which they won by 1-0 thanks to a last-gasp goal from ‘Faz’ Kuduzovic in injury time.
And two plastic bottles were hurled at a visiting fan from a section of the crowd in the Jinks Avenue stand on the same day.
The club have vowed not to allow “thugs” to tarnish the good name of Rovers who have made a splendid start to the season. They are also appealing for anybody who can identify the culprits to speak to the club in confidence.
“Sligo Rovers wishes to acknowledge the exceptional behaviour of the vast majority of its fans,” a statement said. “Unfortunately because of a tiny minority, we are forced to issue a final warning to those who throw objects of any description at other fans, players or officials.
“If anybody is caught or identified carrying out this type of hooliganism, they will be subject to a lifetime ban from the Showgrounds.
“We will not allow thugs to tarnish the club’s good name.
“We appeal to anybody who can identify the culprits to come forward to any official of the club. The information will be treated in the strictest confidence.”
The statement concludes with a stark message for the thugs: “The club will deal with the individuals as stated”.

While I welcome this, it sounds like a lot of hypocritical hot air, viz.

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Originally Posted by Redzer

... two plastic bottles were hurled at a visiting fan from a section of the crowd in the Jinks Avenue stand on the same day.
The club ... are also appealing for anybody who can identify the culprits to speak to the club in confidence.

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So when the guy who did this was pointed out to the stewards, that didn't count, right?

Fair dues.

Edit - sorry, just reading that again - no-one's actually been banned as yet?

Who's best to contact in the club to give info on yer man who threw the bottles?

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Who's best to contact in the club to give info on yer man who threw the bottles?

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Oliver Davey, event control officer.

Anyone who attacks away fans will be dealth with by Ollie :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

Anyone who attacks away fans will be dealth with by Ollie :rolleyes:

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Of course. Any fans who attempt to gain access to the pitch should also be banned;).

Are you not over-reacting a little.
County played Shels at Tolka in the first game of the season. There was TWO crowd invasions of the pitch, a pint glass was thrown onto the playing surface, our keeper was hit with a coin in the head and a Shels spectator went inside the pitch perimeter and violently threw the ball at a county player from within 3 to 4 feet away.
What was the reaction/punishment????? Absolutely fcuk all.
P.S Are flares allowed, if not then add it to the list.

Plastic bottles!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by sligoman

I know of him too. He's also on this forum, although hasn't posted much.

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So seeming as he is known, will he be reported?

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Originally Posted by sniffa

Are you not over-reacting a little.
County played Shels at Tolka in the first game of the season. There was TWO crowd invasions of the pitch, a pint glass was thrown onto the playing surface, our keeper was hit with a coin in the head and a Shels spectator went inside the pitch perimeter and violently threw the ball at a county player from within 3 to 4 feet away.
What was the reaction/punishment????? Absolutely fcuk all.
P.S Are flares allowed, if not then add it to the list.

Plastic bottles!!!!!!!!!!

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So because something more serious was punished everything less than that gravely serious thing should definitely not be punished? What has Shels lack of punishing their fans got to do with what Sligo choose to do?

Btw, I commend Sligo on doing something about this.

For the benefit of anyone not at the match it's worth pointing out that there was mis-behaviour on both sides but it should be kept in perspective. A UCD fan took off his shirt and a Sligo fan lobbed a plastic bottle at him from a few feet away.

Both clubs are right to dish out bans but someone not at the match might read this and think that the trouble was more than it was.

Poor Student, you're right. Sligo should be commended for trying to get their house in order. Its things like this that really turnoff a fan from travelling to a game.
My gripe is more at the match observer who obviously didn't put any of this in his match report.
I wonder is the lad in the Celtic jersey also the new owner of Dereks drumsticks?????

Can confirm it wasnae me either!

By the way is it just me or does this seem to be a huge overreaction. I mean the UCD lad is topless - so what. Don't the Geordies do it every week?

I remember when Shams and Bohs came to town and there used to be real bother. Actually anyone old enough to remember when Linfield came to town???

Thankfully those days of trouble are gone but let's cut out the witch hunt for guys to be banned from EL grounds!

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Originally Posted by Sligobhoy

Can confirm it wasnae me either!

By the way is it just me or does this seem to be a huge overreaction. I mean the UCD lad is topless - so what. Don't the Geordies do it every week?

I remember when Shams and Bohs came to town and there used to be real bother. Actually anyone old enough to remember when Linfield came to town???

Thankfully those days of trouble are gone but let's cut out the witch hunt for guys to be banned from EL grounds!

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Big overeation I assume the ban is for new offences from now onwards if they were to go back over past incidents there would be a lot of the older 40plus generation banned.

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Originally Posted by londonred

Big overeation I assume the ban is for new offences from now onwards if they were to go back over past incidents there would be a lot of the older 40plus generation banned.

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I'd imagine the potential 2K fine for throwing at the linesman is also a factor.
Would the person who threw it pay the fine?

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Originally Posted by Redzer

Would the person who threw it pay the fine?

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I hope the young lad gets good pocket money :o

lets not let this thread descend into an arguement over the number of UCD fans at that game please - the last thread on this descended into a pile of ****e.

Folks this thread has descended into handbags and name-calling.

Can we please not rehash the post match thread tit for tat about who did what? I'm not familiar with the incident at the game but I can understand people's genuine concern, but lads, the whodunnit was flogged to death after the match.

The issue, as far as I can see, is that Rovers have announced that people will get bans if caught behaving like 'thugs'. The topic for discussion therefore, is, will this be followed through in the future?

Discuss.

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Originally Posted by Paraic

The issue, as far as I can see, is that Rovers have announced that people will get bans if caught behaving like 'thugs'. The topic for discussion therefore, is, will this be followed through in the future?

Discuss.

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It won't, for reasons explained in posts you chose to delete. But then, they were "off topic".

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Originally Posted by John83

It won't, for reasons explained in posts you chose to delete. But then, they were "off topic".

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Getting a bit tetchy there John83?

In the case of balance, I deleted all the posts, most were irrelevant and the ones that made any sense, including in fairness your own, were essentially rehashing old ground. You obviously had a grievance about the apparent lack of action against a single individual, but that was flogged to death in the previous thread.

The posts that I've left behind, I think capture the fact that in your view there is a certain hypocracy around making an announcement about dealing with thuggish behaviour, when the standards outlined in the statement hadn't, from your perspective, been applied in the past.

Surely that's the point? The club are recognising that there is a problem and saying, look we need to do somehting and that means making it crystal clear to both fans and stewards that we're serious about this. Perhaps that's the crux of the issue, the people who should have applied such standards didn't and the only way we can truly establish whether the club is serious, is to see what happens next time (in saying that I'm hoping against hope, there won't be a next time).

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Originally Posted by Paraic

I think capture the fact that in your view there is a certain hypocracy around making an announcement about dealing with thuggish behaviour, when the standards outlined in the statement hadn't, from your perspective, been applied in the past.

Surely that's the point? The club are recognising that there is a problem and saying, look we need to do somehting and that means making it crystal clear to both fans and stewards that we're serious about this. Perhaps that's the crux of the issue, the people who should have applied such standards didn't and the only way we can truly establish whether the club is serious, is to see what happens next time (in saying that I'm hoping against hope, there won't be a next time).

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That's a positive development by the club that they have set out a procedure if anything happens in the future but as far as I could see the trouble could have been prevented if the stewarding wasn't so poor and clearly biased towards the home fans. The club themselves admitted that the standard of stewarding is poor so I think that the best thing they can do is to get rid of the lazy stewards that are just there to watch a game for free, even if it means having to pay for hired stewarding, but surely it would be worth it if it meant that scenes like what happened at the UCD game would be prevented.

Thank you, well put.