Monday, December 04, 2006
The Sequel to the Story
In yesterday's piece I told the tale of a cynical beat-up in a Central Coast newspaper, spurred by a single piece of infantile bragging on a myspace page.
I regret to report that there was an unfortunate sequel to the story, which probably resulted in a far greater police presence than was necessary at the game. This will stray a little beyond the usual subject matter of this blog, but I feel there is sufficient reason.
A Covite friend of mine, with whom I regularly play football informally, was accosted by police on his way out of the ground. In an incident witnessed by several fans of both clubs, my acquaintance was twice slammed hard into a fence and then thrown to the ground...as the result of a typically harmless piece of terrace wit.
I can assure readers that the gentleman in question is not by any means a violent type, and merely a concerted and popular member of the Cove chorus. He is currently bruised and sore, but - happily - not injured.
The worst aspect of the event, from my point of view, was that the police who accosted him were members of a Counter-Terrorist Unit based in Sydney.
A Counter-Terrorist Unit!!
Clearly not all the blame should be laid at the door of Mr. Richard Noone, the journalist who produced the despicable article in question and fibbed so as to acquire a photo of stadium events management "in discussions" with police. The original myspace warrior needs to be made aware of the result of his antics, and the police would be well advised to react with a little more caution and intelligence to such reports in the future.
But I think the following questions deserve an answer:
Was the massive police presence at Bluetongue Stadium yesterday a result of the original investigation into the myspace prank, or was it increased as a result of the front-page article (and the inevitable chain of events such a piece of scaremongering can produce)?
Was it really necessary for the Cove to be escorted all the way around the ground, and for a bottleneck to be created thereby, when on five previous meetings between the two teams, there have been no problems with both groups exiting via the same gate at roughly the same time?
Central Coast Express Advocate, please learn your lesson.
I regret to report that there was an unfortunate sequel to the story, which probably resulted in a far greater police presence than was necessary at the game. This will stray a little beyond the usual subject matter of this blog, but I feel there is sufficient reason.
A Covite friend of mine, with whom I regularly play football informally, was accosted by police on his way out of the ground. In an incident witnessed by several fans of both clubs, my acquaintance was twice slammed hard into a fence and then thrown to the ground...as the result of a typically harmless piece of terrace wit.
I can assure readers that the gentleman in question is not by any means a violent type, and merely a concerted and popular member of the Cove chorus. He is currently bruised and sore, but - happily - not injured.
The worst aspect of the event, from my point of view, was that the police who accosted him were members of a Counter-Terrorist Unit based in Sydney.
A Counter-Terrorist Unit!!
Clearly not all the blame should be laid at the door of Mr. Richard Noone, the journalist who produced the despicable article in question and fibbed so as to acquire a photo of stadium events management "in discussions" with police. The original myspace warrior needs to be made aware of the result of his antics, and the police would be well advised to react with a little more caution and intelligence to such reports in the future.
But I think the following questions deserve an answer:
Was the massive police presence at Bluetongue Stadium yesterday a result of the original investigation into the myspace prank, or was it increased as a result of the front-page article (and the inevitable chain of events such a piece of scaremongering can produce)?
Was it really necessary for the Cove to be escorted all the way around the ground, and for a bottleneck to be created thereby, when on five previous meetings between the two teams, there have been no problems with both groups exiting via the same gate at roughly the same time?
Central Coast Express Advocate, please learn your lesson.
Comments:
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Unbelieveable mikey,
Unfortunately the only lesson learned at the paper will be to try it again.
The A-League may need a formalised fans group to represent all teams and try and add a voice of sanity.
Unfortunately the only lesson learned at the paper will be to try it again.
The A-League may need a formalised fans group to represent all teams and try and add a voice of sanity.
# posted by 
: December 4, 2006 at 7:00 PM
: December 4, 2006 at 7:00 PM
Why aren't I surprised?
You're lucky it wasn't filmed. We would be seeing it on Prime Time TV with a voiceover about "violent soccer hooligans." The media beat up the story and then in turn protect the police, who in turn are the media's best source of stories... etc.
The A-League may need a formalised fans group to represent all teams and try and add a voice of sanity.
This is a constructive idea Catchmeup. Has anything like this been tried in Europe to anyone's knowledge?
Thanks for this report Mike. It needs to be on the record.
You're lucky it wasn't filmed. We would be seeing it on Prime Time TV with a voiceover about "violent soccer hooligans." The media beat up the story and then in turn protect the police, who in turn are the media's best source of stories... etc.
The A-League may need a formalised fans group to represent all teams and try and add a voice of sanity.
This is a constructive idea Catchmeup. Has anything like this been tried in Europe to anyone's knowledge?
Thanks for this report Mike. It needs to be on the record.
...Mike, please send my condolences to your friend....
Will do Wayne, cheers.
...You're lucky it wasn't filmed. We would be seeing it on Prime Time TV with a voiceover about "violent soccer hooligans." The media beat up the story and then in turn protect the police, who in turn are the media's best source of stories... etc....
You're not wrong Hamish.
The Sydney media just LOOOOVED the Bonnyrigg v. Sydney United (read Serb v. Croat) contretemps in the state league season before last, and the rugby hacks had an absolute field day. Again, they were given completely free rein to put the knife in.
CMU - good idea. Sadly, I think there's still a bit of "feeling" between some of the groups, which might make things difficult in practice.
Will do Wayne, cheers.
...You're lucky it wasn't filmed. We would be seeing it on Prime Time TV with a voiceover about "violent soccer hooligans." The media beat up the story and then in turn protect the police, who in turn are the media's best source of stories... etc....
You're not wrong Hamish.
The Sydney media just LOOOOVED the Bonnyrigg v. Sydney United (read Serb v. Croat) contretemps in the state league season before last, and the rugby hacks had an absolute field day. Again, they were given completely free rein to put the knife in.
CMU - good idea. Sadly, I think there's still a bit of "feeling" between some of the groups, which might make things difficult in practice.
Italian groups have known to band together on policing issues in stadia. It shouldn't be beyond Australians' groups capacity either. It would be sad if in a two year old league manufactured plastic ultras aggro between the groups prevents them from envisaging this. Then again, manufactured plastic ultras aggro is sad full stop.
(I may be posting twice here...teh blogoweb is confusing for an old cob like meself).
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(I may be posting twice here...teh blogoweb is confusing for an old cob like meself).
# posted by : December 4, 2006 at 9:07 PM
: December 4, 2006 at 9:07 PM << Home
