Matthews critical of Rovers officials

[Éanna]

Longford Town boss Alan Matthews has launched an attack on the Shamrock Rovers “powers-that-be” who, he said, have not done enough to rid the club of the “disgraceful” element of the Hoops’ support.

A Shamrock Rovers supporter was caught on TV3 cameras throwing a missile onto the pitch onto the pitch during the Hoops’ meeting with Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds last weekend, and more projectiles were launched on the pitch during Longford’s scoreless clash with Rovers at Flancare Park on Saturday night.

Golf balls and beer cans were among the missiles directed at the home team’s dugout, and Matthews believes the club could be doing more to rid itself of its small faction of undesirable supporters.

Matthews said: “I was disgusted with the actions of some of their supporters. Their conduct was a disgrace and the people at the club should be held accountable. There were people there turning a blind eye to what was going on. The powers-that-be haven’t taken enough steps to eliminate them.”

Tony Maguire, the Shamrock Rovers Chairman, said his club were concentrating efforts on the problem, with a new head of security appointed to oversee efforts of confronting it.

“Once we move to Tallaght, we do not want this element in the new stadium. We won’t be found wanting in getting these people out.”

Maguire added that the club had requested and received a copy of the incident at the Bray match from TV3, and that the perpetrator would be banned from attending future games on positive identification. eleven-a-side.com

[Éanna]

Originally posted by Éanna
Tony Maguire, the Shamrock Rovers Chairman, said his club were concentrating efforts on the problem, with a new head of security appointed to oversee efforts of confronting it.

“Once we move to Tallaght, we do not want this element in the new stadium. We won’t be found wanting in getting these people out.”eleven-a-side.com

Not good enough to say they´ll sort it out when (if) they get to Tallaght. It needs to be done NOW.

BTW, Liam Murphy if you´re reading this: Look! A manager criticsing other fans, not his own

[pete]

Throwing a golf ball means it must have been planned in advance.

By shamrock rovers officials refusing or unable to single out these individuals they are doing their club or other fans no favours.

[Macy]

Originally posted by pete
Throwing a golf ball means it must have been planned in advance.

Probably went the pitch and putt pre match, and nicked a few balls - totally unlike Jackeen scum to go down the country stealing....

Originally posted by pete
By shamrock rovers officials refusing or unable to single out these individuals they are doing their club or other fans no favours

Or the fans, esp on the net by refusing to comment or condemn the other fans (and if you try and get them to you're accused of whinging)..... No one likes them and they don't care (as their song goes), but they're continually bringing bad publicity on the league.... IMO the fact that their board has never appeared to take any action in recent seasons, means they are as much to blame - a few examples being made would soon sort the others out....

[Schumi]

Originally posted by Éanna

“Once we move to Tallaght, we do not want this element in the new stadium. We won’t be found wanting in getting these people out.”

What about everybody else's stadiums? Get them out now!

[Éanna]

Originally posted by Schumi
What about everybody else's stadiums? Get them out now!

Exactly. We need all the scumbags (no matter who they "support") out of this league asap.

[fosterdollar]

yep, nip it in the bud or it will get out of hand

[Macy]

Originally posted by Magoo
yep, nip it in the bud or it will get out of hand

Too late with regard to Rovers........

[fosterdollar]

well get the shears out so and hack the sh1te outta them

[Éanna]

Originally posted by Magoo
well get the shears out so and hack the sh1te outta them

best solution yet

[TommyT]

In fairness Macy the one bringing bad publicity to the League is Mathews by spitting the dummy out. Though the first mention of this anywhere was an condemnation of it by me on the JW site. On that site you also wonder why we're so defensive about these things just think back to the reaction of Bohs fans to their casuals being attacked at the Semi-Final to get your answer.

[The Money Man]

Originally posted by Macy

Or the fans, esp on the net by refusing to comment or condemn the other fans

There is absolutely no excuse for the individual in question not being identified. The camera was pointed directly at the guy for about a minute! If it is claimed that they don't know who he his, it is the responsibility of real supporters to make his name known. The only way to eliminate this kind of behaviour is by making scum-bags aware that genuine punters are not prepared to have the game compromised by their contemptable carry-on.

[Éanna]

Originally posted by TommyT
In fairness Macy the one bringing bad publicity to the League is Mathews by spitting the dummy out.

No. This is not "spitting the dummy out" It was a manager of a progressive club pointing out unacceptable behaviour that established clubs are only too happy to ignore, when like rovers do they can rest easy on past glories- thats whats wrong, not Matthews

[TommyT]

I condemned it on the eL forum before it was even in the Star, my point is Mathews should have enough of a sense of perpective not to have it as his talking point after the game. 'No comment' and a letter to the Rovers board would have been far more effective and constructive.

This incident, though not major, actually puts the Bray scenario in perspective. Two beer cans(one at least half full) and a golf ball is miles, miles worse than and empty plastic bottle.

As the progressiveness of Longford as a club, what was responsible for the low crowd on Saturday; the fact the ground is in the arsehole of nowhere,the fact that the one stand with cover has a 19th Century design, the scheduling of Winter games at night when it's especially cold, the poxy standard of play or 3 muppets throwing stuff.

[Xlex]

Tommy, who's your club?, cos longford town will walk most into the ground... in terms of progression, in terms of devolpment, in terms of business acumen, we are doing well...

Who is anyone to critise longford on the basis of one stand, and a ground that is in the middle of nowhere??

[Macy]

Originally posted by Xlex
Who is anyone to critise longford on the basis of one stand, and a ground that is in the middle of nowhere??

Especially a Rovers fan - how the fook can they critise anyone's ground? Maybe if Rovers had gone for a 19th Century stand, and a basic all seater they would have been in Tallaght years ago....

The attendance was disappointing - but how would it compare to the average Rovers attendance? Very well I'd say, esp compared to the population of Dublin compared to Longford county (never mind town) even taking into account the 4 major clubs there....

Games at night a sign of not being progessive? You mean as opposed to you're current Friday night home fixtures? The only reason you'll be sunday afternoon if you ever get into Tallaght is because of the conditions of planning.....

Poxy standard of play? We played a hell of a lot better than you, so if we're poxy what the fook does that make you?

Muppets throwing stuff is quite likely to put people of from coming to matches - but that's okay cos they'll be banned when you move to tallaght....

[TommyT]

Well Macy you were the one going on about bad publicity for the League, presumably with the implication that it was holding us all back etc. My point was that there was a lot more wrong with the league than a few muppets throwing bottles. In fairness 8 poles in a stand of that length is fairly poor in this day and age even if it is a great improvement on what was there before (a puddle and a small grass bank if memory serves). The crowd on Sat was poxy and a lot worse than what we'd get at the moment, though our crowds were awful in July when we met you. The poxy entertainment on offer was the responsibility of both teams.

[Macy]

Originally posted by TommyT
In fairness 8 poles in a stand of that length is fairly poor in this day and age even if it is a great improvement on what was there before

I really don't want to resort to the homeless stuff, but I really don't think you can critise anyone else's ground when all you have is a building site.... I'll refer to the comment I made before - maybe a more basic stand, and Rovers would be in Tallaght by now..... btw the stand holds 1500, so it really isn't that small - deceptively big infact (hence it quite often looks like there's alot less in the ground than there really is....)

Originally posted by TommyT
The crowd on Sat was poxy and a lot worse than what we'd get at the moment, though our crowds were awful in July when we met you

We've been averaging around 2000 (according to the club) which isn't bad, esp considering the poxy weather that the last 3 home games have had..... going on what has been said on the eL and ultras mb's over the season, I'd be surprised if you're averaging much more - but you should be considering the population of the smoke.

Originally posted by TommyT
The poxy entertainment on offer was the responsibility of both teams.

I thought Town played well, and deserved to win by a couple of goals - that being the case, you're bound to think it was poxy entertainment.....

[The Money Man]

Originally posted by TommyT

In fairness 8 poles in a stand of that length is fairly poor in this day and age

Absolutely right. 8 poles is pathetic - there should be more poles and more russians too. In fact there should be lots more east europeans in general.

[TommyT]

That was the crowd listed in the Star for Sat so I wouldn't be too sure about that. Still you brought more to Tolka than we did to your place and there was still a bigger crowd at your home game so it's a fair cop in that respect. The point about that rant was that the league has a lot more problems than the minor bits of misbehavior that get over blown in the media.