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The Worthington Cup 4th Round provided another trip for Evertonians to
St James Park but tell me what saint would treat away travellers like
they do, even though we are close enough to the Gods when we try to watch
from the incredible heights of the away section way up in those
stands. St Christopher needs to have a word with St James, me
thinks!
During and after the Worthington Cup game I had a lot of fans telling me
about unacceptable police conduct in the Northeast, yet again.
Sadly, I saw it for myself. There were five arrests that night and a
few ejections. Now I know not all of our fans are saints but if we
had the same amount of arrests at every away ground we would be worse than
Millwall or Cardiff in reputation; thankfully, we are not. Why do we
not have that reputation? Well our fans don't get arrested or
ejected in numbers at other away grounds like we do at Newcastle with
frightening regularity. Now, why is that? Well, all I can say
from my experience is that Newcastle police have a zero tolerance towards
away fans, an attitude that is unlike any other Premiership ground.
In the past, Sheffield has been nearly as bad and, to a lesser degree,
Villa thankfully, a lot better now. Those of you who were at St
James Park in the FA Cup
game in 1999 will remember the shocking treatment of our fans young
and old rather than the game or scoreline. Then, Inspector Peacock
of Northumbria Police admitted there was a policing /stewarding problem
and apologized via the Liverpool Echo and me.
He said at the time he was not present at the game but ,due to the amount
of letters he received of complaint, he knew something not quite right had
happened. He said when you receive one or two phone calls or letters
then it goes with the territory of football games but, when it went into
the hundreds and the amount of bad publicity it received, then there was a
problem. Ken Rogers of the Liverpool Echo was present at that
game with his son and was horrified by what he witnessed.
After that infamous FA Cup tie, we had a game at the same venue a few
weeks later in the league and the change was dramatic. The police
were opening doors, serving you tea and showing you family holiday
snaps.... well, nearly.
Now, don't get me wrong: not all the police or stewards are bad.
But, like any walk of life, you remember the bad more than the good
especially when it affects you like the Newcastle police /stewards
can. I've had a laugh and joke with some of the Newcastle police in
the past, some showing their Sunderland tops on underneath their uniforms
and telling you they hope Everton stuff the skunks!
Anyway I had a phone call over the weekend from radio Newcastle telling me
they had a lot of phone calls once again from irate Evertonians about the
bad police treatment yet again. They asked me to go the Mike Parr
morning program on Radio Merseyside along with Inspector Dave Jackson of
the Northumbria police, to discuss the claims of Evertonians.
Before the radio interview, I did a straw poll of fans around the country
from other Premiership teams. Not surprisingly our treatment is
echoed by them all. So it was not a persecution of just Scoucers in
the Northeast then. In fact, just for the record, police treatment
of football fans is not great at the other two Northeast Premiership
venues. So why is this? Is there a rogue band of police
allocated to Northeast games?
The morning of the interview, I started by saying that I was not just
another moaning scouser, I just wanted to resolve this situation as best
we can especially as we would be returning in a few weeks time.
I said there was a definite problem of policing at Newcastle.
It was the only place in the country were we experience this zero
tolerance type of policing. It is a football match after all were
tensions run high especially in a cup game as exciting and fluctuating
as the last one. It's not as if you are policing an opera. I
said, to be fair that if the police surrounded the Newcastle crowd in
sections like the away fans I suppose their treatment would be the
same. Geordies are like Scousers, they are passionate and love their
football but they would not tolerate the same treatment, I'm sure.
We don't reciprocate this type policing at Goodison. We don't stop
away fans' coaches, search them and delay them. We don't stop fans
jumping up or down during the game or having banter with the home fans, to
a degree anyway. If this kind of policing works on Merseyside, why
can't you treat us the same, Inspector Jackson? If you treat fans
like animals, some will react like animals.
Inspector Jackson defended their policy saying that the arrests were
justified and fans ejected / arrested warned first. "We have
video footage if you cared to view it? There was also some seats
broken." he added
.
I asked about the excessive arrest procedure were I have seen for myself
fans dragged down stairways arm locked and head locked. I told
Inspector Jackson the cruelest thing that happens to the arrested fans is
them being kept behind sometimes hours, until there is no possible way
of getting home other than a very expensive taxi ride. One member of
our coach was kept locked up until one in the morning last week and had to
get a hotel room for the night, followed by a train journey home next
day. His crime was drinking excess alcohol at a football
match. Now the lad was not that drunk but how many times have we
seen Geordies at Goodison who had had a few? Some of the other
Everton fans arrested were luckier and got out about midnight to be
greeted by waiting friends in cars. Our coach could not stop that
long we were in a convoy.
A local Newcastle fan came into the radio discussion and endorsed
everything I had said saying that when they travel the length and breadth
of the country they do not suffer the same kind of zero tolerance
treatment. He added that Newcastle policing was given a bad
reputation amongst football fans. He was almost apologetic to
us. I wished them luck against Feyenoord.
Mike Parr the radio presenter asked would I carry out my threat of having
neutral observer's at the next game between Everton and Newcastle.
I replied that I hope through this discussion we would not have to go to
that extreme.
I have liased with Sharpy through all this; Graeme is aware of the
Evertonians' experiences at this venue and is genuinely concerned.
Maybe we are wrong and play up to the waiting police audience now at St
James, but I think we as football fans are not that bad. I know of
many Evertonians who will no longer travel to St James Park because its
not worth the hassle they experience. We all have a drink, sometimes
too much on the long drive to a distant away game, I don't consider it a
major crime though unless violent or a nuisance with it. But why do
they sell any alcohol at the game if they don't want you drinking ?
There is a fine line in all this policing at football games; it's not
always easy. But disturbingly I find that some of the
Newcastle police enjoy all the confrontation, conjured up by themselves
sometimes.
Of course Inspector Jackson will stand by his men and women officers but I
hope deep down that he adjusts that fine line of policing more towards the
football fan mentality and not of the marauding opera fan. Some
arrests may well be justified but others I fear not. The football
arena can be a cauldron of emotions at times, that's why we love it.
A place to enjoy each-other's company, get behind your team, will them to
win and be entertained. Part of that entertainment is the banter
from away fans. Would we rather have no away fans? I for one
would not. Do the Newcastle police not want away fans there ?
If you have experienced the Newcastle policing policy at it's worse, then
you will know its worth doing something about all this. Even the
reds who travel to the North East will agree with us on this subject.!
I'd like to thank all those who posted / rang about their experiences last
week at Newcastle.
Ian Macdonald
Everton Independent Supporters Association
EVERTON ARE RISING
14 November 2002
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