How much will Derry be fined?

[dublinred]

I went on that pitch years ago after Billy Hamiliton socred a last minute winner for us to seal promotion and nearly sank up to my knees in the mud , it would of been easy to identify the culprits on the way out of finn park , reckon there will be a few Derry fans claiming for new shoes this week.

[Hecko]

IMO the control of celebrations has been getting a bit out of hand for a while, wlthough it does present a few problems when there's a pitch invasion DURING a game

BTW, does anyone else thing its strange that the league has been clamping down on flares all season and Eircom League Weekly still uses about three different scens of flares on terraces in its intro? Maybe we should finr Trevor

[Peadar]

Seriously though, disrupting a game with a pitch invasion is unacceptable. It would take only one nasty incident to get games played behind closed doors, like they do at Longford. Or at least I think that's why they have no fans in Flancare!?

[joeSoap]

I don't see why Derry should be fined or even reprimanded over this. After all, the onus is 100% on the home stewards to control the crowd. If there was violence of any description I'd have a different hymnsheet, but jesus, they were only celebrating ffs.

[Jaime]

Then aagin how many stewards do you need to provide to stop 200 people invading the pitch?

You don't need to physically stop them. If there is a visible yet discreet security presence, people won't have the mindset to invade the pitch in the forst place. If you are two feet away from the pitch and there's no-one in the way, you're more likely to run on.

[A face]

Oh FFS. Its all about joy you see - either you express it or you don't (either you've reason to express it or you haven't )

Now I'll bet if the chokers win the championship (IF) down the cross in the last game of the season, there'll be the biggest pitch invasion of the year in the EL - and why not ???? (Ah, sure we might as well go home quietly and put on the kettle.)

What next - we won't be allowed to wave a flag ??? That'll be ten euro for waving that flag mister !!

OK ... a serious answer here .... pitch invasion during a game is not on ... but if City (Cork) win the league in the cross ... of course we'll be going nuts ... but that'll be after the game.

[Cosmo]

I don't see why Derry should be fined or even reprimanded over this. After all, the onus is 100% on the home stewards to control the crowd. If there was violence of any description I'd have a different hymnsheet, but jesus, they were only celebrating ffs.

The FAI are right to fine teams for their supporters behaviour even if theyre away from home.

Its getting to the stage now with some clubs whereby it might by worth while for these clubs to bring their own stewards to away matches to control their own supporters (in consultation with the home teams event controller)

However in this case harps did look light on the stewarding front so wouldnt be surprised to see them hit with a fine too

[Strabane_Harp]

Its not as much the pitch invasion that many harps fans are unhappy but

1) fireworks and missiles being thrown into the harps crowd and onto the pitch after the goal

2) derry fans breaking down a barrier to access the river end which is closed due to UEFA rules

3) flags being stolen by derry fans and one derry fan openly urinating on the pitch after the game in while taunting harps fans


A fine is in order and even if we had 100 stewards last nite it wouldnt have been enough to stop those actions


a few of our fans are alleged to have thrown missiles back at the derry fans as well all the same

[Patrick Dunne]

.. to prevent crowd incursions. If stewards are visible and are standing directly in front of the away supporters (practically all pitch invasions are by away supporters) then they more than likely won't occur.

Too many clubs have amateur, untrained stewards who are just using their role as a means to get into the ground for free.

[A face]

(practically all pitch invasions are by away supporters)

No ... most of the Dublin clubs home fans do it too !!

[coislaoi]

Remember one of your officials attacking Robert Forde the Kilkenny keeper a few years ago while the game was going on? Hilariously you lost as well

KOH

Sorry NY Hoop, I couldn't let that one go. To say he attacked the 'keeper is really stretching the truth. The keeper was timewasting at the end of a cup tie and the "official" retrieved the ball and returned it to the keeper (indavertently hitting him - in the leg if I remember correctly). Said official resigned from the club after the incident. The whole incident was very amusing tbh, but an attack it wasn't.

[superfrank]

That should have read "and after missing two penalties"!!

I'm half asleep today!

Join the club! And I've just been at school all day.

[Peadar]

I've just been at school all day.

Lucky bastad!

[Speranza]

Its not as much the pitch invasion that many harps fans are unhappy but

1) fireworks and missiles being thrown into the harps crowd and onto the pitch after the goal

2) derry fans breaking down a barrier to access the river end which is closed due to UEFA rules

3) flags being stolen by derry fans and one derry fan openly urinating on the pitch after the game in while taunting harps fans


A fine is in order and even if we had 100 stewards last nite it wouldnt have been enough to stop those actions


a few of our fans are alleged to have thrown missiles back at the derry fans as well all the same

No, it is alleged that it was Harp's fans who started the bottle throwing just like they did against Cork. One flag was stolen so the use of plural to sensationalise things is pointless. A missile was aimed at David Forde. My da was standing at the "barrier" and according to him there was NO security presence there at all.

I really don't want this thread to turn into gash because of tit for tat nonsense but Harp's fans seem intent on laying the blame at our door instead of noting that there were mistakes on both sides and it should be corrected rather than playing the blame game.

[harpskid]

there were mistakes on both sides and it should be corrected rather than playing the blame game.

Well said

[MariborKev]

Its not as much the pitch invasion that many harps fans are unhappy but

1) fireworks and missiles being thrown into the harps crowd and onto the pitch after the goal

2) derry fans breaking down a barrier to access the river end which is closed due to UEFA rules

3) flags being stolen by derry fans and one derry fan openly urinating on the pitch after the game in while taunting harps fans


A fine is in order and even if we had 100 stewards last nite it wouldnt have been enough to stop those actions


a few of our fans are alleged to have thrown missiles back at the derry fans as well all the same

To answer your points

1) Totally unacceptable, and I think you will struggle to find any Derry fan who condones these actions. Indeed many Derry fans are very angry at what has happened. We could indulge in a load of "whataboutery" but the FAI official was perfectly placed to observe all that went on, from both sides

2) There was no barrier broken at the River End. It was the type of fencing used to secure a site but was not properly installed. I was putting up flags at the River End well over 30 minutes prior to kick off and there was no security there.The fencing was positioned such that any reasonabled sized individual could pass from the TV Gantry to the River End without even touching the barrier. I pointed this out to one of you stewards

3) There was one flag stolen. We have a thread on our message board condemning the behaviour of whoever took it and asking that it be returned to the Harps lads asap. I din't see the urinating so I can't comment. If it happened then it is also totally unacceptable

To say that 100 stewards could not have prevented what happened is a load of balls.

If they had strategically placed stewards all along the TV gantry side and used the orange mesh fencing that is used at Lansdowne and other events there would have been no pitch invasion.

There was a minimal stewarding presence on the side the Derry fans were. Two of the stewards were girls under the age of eighteen. I understand the need for female stewards but where were their male counterparts?

The rest of stewards were on the far side of the pitch standing in groups, doing little or nothing. Or celebrating missed penalties

I fail to understand how alternatives such as the ones outlined above were not suggested at the stewards briefing and if they were, why were they not implemented?

Given that the stewards were on the North Terrace/East Wing at the France game I assume they will be stewarding Lansdowne tomorrow.

They managed to implement effective techniques for the prevention of pitch invasions in this area of Lansdowne last time I would propose that they would do the same tomorrow night. Did they not think of taking what they learned and implementing it on a local level?

[derrymac]

2 things i noticed watching the highlights on tv3 last night... one was the harps stewards celebrating the penalty misses which doesn't come across as very professional... and yes, i'm sure it will be pointed out that the Derry stewards celebrated when Derry scored against Shelbourne, but i think all stewards need to be more concerned with crowd safety than the game. And this is a major problem in the league in that we are relying on volunteers every week. Its a sad but true fact that no club can afford professional stewards but that is what is needed if the fai is serious about containing crowd trouble. They should be putting the money forward to the clubs to enable recruitment and proper training and pay for stewards so it isn't just people looking to get into the match for free who are the stewards.

Oh and the other thing was at the end of the Shelbourne game, there seemed to be a lot of children running on the pitch round Pat Fenlon... will Shelbourne be fined for the pitch invasion as well? or were they Pats fans????

[GavinZac]

Its a sad but true fact that no club can afford professional stewards

speak for yourselves

[Rovers1]

[QUOTE=Cop on] Van Diemens land.[QUOTE]

great song!!
nothing to do with this forum,i know

[mypost]

Oh, terrible, terrible scenes. In the name of Jay$i$, is it a crime now to express unconfined joy at an EL game ?? Should we sit quietly on our hands whilst our team scores an unexpected goal in the dying seconds of a game that might possibly make us league champions ??

WHAT HARM WAS DONE ??

Why oh why is it a crime to run on the pitch ???? This is ludicrous. There's far greater 'crimes' committed within and without the game & here's sensitivities about a pitch invasion.

p.s. If pitch invasions are such a massive problem, why not surround all pitches with barbed wire ??

Pot, Kettle, Black

This from the poster who was one of his chairman's biggest cheerleaders, for originally banning visiting fans from his club's ground v Rovers. Among the reasons suggested: "Rovers fans invading the pitch after goals". How ironic.