"This is real football"

[AthleticoSpizz]

It makes me sad that there are still people around who think thuggery has a part in modern football. The very same people who get on their hight horse and condemn a footballer for (possibly, briefly) feigning injury as being the scum of the Earth.

What utter fools we have in our midst.

sadly the majority sit in the N stand B17

FFS

When a player from the opposition hits the deck (Kuqi esque) with red stuff pouring from his bonce, or a an oppostion player hits the deck with his shin 180 degrees from his thigh.........then maybe a bit of decorum and restraint is required whilst the referee stops the clock.


but no....we boo......just like the Italians



silly silly billies

lets boo Ronaldo (and gee him up) as he scores a scorcher

[Bath Hoops]

So because someone is stupid enough to wear an away shirt it gave these men the right to teach him a lesson and because he was 17 he was old enough to know better. How do you know he was 17 ? Maybe he was younger but dont worry its ok because he was stupid.

The reality is what they did was against the law and hopefully the club will identify them and turn them into the law. There is no excuse for this kind of violence and for those of you that think its ok, then I hope you never encounter a situation where you are attacked for wearing your teams colours regardless of the situation.

I think you'll find that most people who are posting on this thread are not condoning the alleged actions of the guys who beat this fella up. Maybe he was younger than 17, but then again he may have been a very young looking 24 yo. Either way, he should have known better than to flaunt an away shirt in a home end because there are people who will take physical exception to this regardless of whether we like it or not. It's an unaccepted part of the game!!!

Agree with all your 2nd paragraph, and can certainly identify with the it because I was the victim of unprovoked football violence at Crystal Palace last year, and have learnt my lesson despite me having absolutely no history of it in the past. And yes, I was wearing my colours because I didn't think Palace had a particularly bad support. there was no excuse for it, the only justification being that I and many others around me were wearing Reading shirts. It happens, and it happens every week. Football is not a pink and fluffy spectator sport, it's a sport for spectators who will have to put up with this sort of thing, not turn a blind eye, and do their bit to stamp it out. Unfortunately, too many people are prepared to turn a blind eye.

Maybe if people actually didnt turn a blind eye then it wouldnt be so common place, personally I'd like to see the people who hit the guy turned into the police. Hopefully if they were seen by people who didnt take part in the attack they will speak up.

[Larry_Parnell]

It makes me sad that there are still people around who think thuggery has a part in modern football. The very same people who get on their hight horse and condemn a footballer for (possibly, briefly) feigning injury as being the scum of the Earth.

What utter fools we have in our midst.

Of course we have some fools in our midst. Perhaps you could now tell us what a 'hight horse' is?

[Legend]

A football shirt is not sufficient provocation for a beating, end of.

In the wrong end, yes it is.

An interesting insight into your character.

Likewise.

It's no different to singing provocative songs, or provocative guestures to opponants.

He took liberties wearing their shirt in our end, he got battered, got what he deserved i say

[West Stand Man]

That is football, if someone is stupid enough to wear a United shirt in the Reading stand then they're inciting trouble and asking for it.

And you sir are a brain dead pratt

[West Stand Man]

In the wrong end, yes it is.

An interesting insight into your character.

Likewise.

It's no different to singing provocative songs, or provocative guestures to opponants.

He took liberties wearing their shirt in our end, he got battered, got what he deserved i say

And you too are a brain dead pratt

[Henleyensian]

I never once asserted that football has always been violent. Merely that, since the second world war, there has often been the potential for violence at football. Your lack of experience and lack of understanding of the history of football means that you are unaware of this.

Im afriad it is relevant, because your arguments are based around naivety (which when we start out, we all have). All Im saying is that we musnt be compalcent about football violence. We will never (in my view) be at a stage where we can sit fans together in an English league match, no matter how sad that is.

Dont get me wrong Id love to see it, I was at the 2004 England v Portugal qtr final and that was a special atmosphere...very special.

But in the reality of domestic football, Im afraid its not going to happen.

Surely things have changed since the '80s when football violence kept crowds away! When I first watched Reading I stood behind the goal at the town end and nobody worried whether our neighbours were from our opponents or not. We used to come to watch the football (and it was good football in those days, when Ted Drake was manager) and just for that. Maybe it was because it was soon after a war that everybody was glad to see the back of that nobody wanted anything more to do with violence.

I have always found it interesting that people have to use physical violence when they disagree with somebody. We call ourselves civilised, for goodness sake!

Do you ever come to the reserve matches? Only one stand is opened and we all sit together, whichever club we support. Perhaps it would do a lot of good if more people came and learned to mix with opponents and stop at banter.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Seconded WSM

I was sat (in my ST N stand seat) right next to a Manure fan wearing the #8 of Wooney shirt.

We engaged in some banter, leg pulling and some mutual appreciation.




We have some knob ends (and they aint all chavvy teenies either).......


There is a bloke older than I, who has a voice several octaves higher than Andy Wests' commentary on 107, who gives it large for 90 minutes (he normally is so hypoventilated by injury time. that he has to leave)

He actually spends more time slagging team and management than he does the opposition.


Row J or K btw is his roost


Shut the fjck up you stupid tw4t!

[Peter Kay - Top of the To]

Surely things have changed since the '80s when football violence kept crowds away! When I first watched Reading I stood behind the goal at the town end and nobody worried whether our neighbours were from our opponents or not. We used to come to watch the football (and it was good football in those days, when Ted Drake was manager) and just for that. Maybe it was because it was soon after a war that everybody was glad to see the back of that nobody wanted anything more to do with violence.

I have always found it interesting that people have to use physical violence when they disagree with somebody. We call ourselves civilised, for goodness sake!

Do you ever come to the reserve matches? Only one stand is opened and we all sit together, whichever club we support. Perhaps it would do a lot of good if more people came and learned to mix with opponents and stop at banter.

Henley, I dont challenge your assertion that the atmosphere can be very pleasant in that sort of environment, Im just saying that in the present Premiership, its not realistic to see this as an achievable situation - fans sitting together.

I dont condone violence, Im just concious that since the club has grown we now have people who have not experienced the unpleasant nature of it first hand, and are, therefore naive to the threat.

I watched 3 x WBA fans charge up the side of the South bank with a cosh in 1987, I didnt enjoy it at all, a really horrible feeling. But I would say that that experience taught me about the potential of crowds to erupt.

I am never complacent about football violence as a result, unlike some people on this thread who seem to think the lad was unlucky for getting attention. Unlucky, if I wear a Reading shirt in the home end at Upton Park next week, would that be unlucky.. or would it be totally stupid??

[LUX]

We do not know the background to what happened with this 17 yo, and if he was taking the piss/ being threatening he surely would deserve a smack. But if all he was doing was being there, then he should have been told to cover up (if his presence annoyed you) or even to move to the away end, where there were spaces (via the stewards).

To have 15 (15!) blokes beat him up is cowardly assault. Why not just one of you, ffs?

[zac naloen]

I am never complacent about football violence as a result, unlike some people on this thread who seem to think the lad was unlucky for getting attention. Unlucky, if I wear a Reading shirt in the home end at Upton Park next week, would that be unlucky.. or would it be totally stupid??

I'm not saying he was unlucky for getting attention, I'm saying he got the wrong attention and it was completely disproportionate to his perceived "crime". The heavier the crackdowns on football violence the oxf*rd better. Slaps on the wrist do not work, they need to implement policing in the leagues on the same level as they do to prevent violent England supporters from going to watch the Team. These people are a stain on the sport, whether they've been doing it for a long time is irrelevent. This is now and it needs to be cracked down on, hard, before people start thinking they can get away with worse, again.

[Kajagoogoo]

RL,who you calling scum?

[Peter Kay - Top of the To]

I am never complacent about football violence as a result, unlike some people on this thread who seem to think the lad was unlucky for getting attention. Unlucky, if I wear a Reading shirt in the home end at Upton Park next week, would that be unlucky.. or would it be totally stupid??

I'm not saying he was unlucky for getting attention, I'm saying he got the wrong attention and it was completely disproportionate to his perceived "crime". The heavier the crackdowns on football violence the oxf*rd better. Slaps on the wrist do not work, they need to implement policing in the leagues on the same level as they do to prevent violent England supporters from going to watch the Team. These people are a stain on the sport, whether they've been doing it for a long time is irrelevent. This is now and it needs to be cracked down on, hard, before people start thinking they can get away with worse, again.

I agree with almost all of this Zac. My view is we need more pro-active stewards, who are better trained and confident to take the initiative to stop something like this when we walks through the entrance of the East Stand.

That includes intervening to get the 15 x 'blokes' off him. Bottom line is that he should never have been allowed in, and when it was apparent he was being set on he should have been escorted out by stewards.

[Kajagoogoo]

Yet again,conclusive proof that this site is full of do-gooding,new age football fans! You do give me a good laugh..lol lol lol

[AthleticoSpizz]

Yet again,conclusive proof that this site is full of do-gooding,new age football fans! You do give me a good laugh..lol lol lol

go get some "treatment" Kaj do you have love/hate tattooed on your eyeballs?

no

[Royal Rother]

It makes me sad that there are still people around who think thuggery has a part in modern football. The very same people who get on their hight horse and condemn a footballer for (possibly, briefly) feigning injury as being the scum of the Earth.

What utter fools we have in our midst.

Of course we have some fools in our midst. Perhaps you could now tell us what a 'hight horse' is?

Christ, it doesn't get any better than that!

[Schards#2]

Obviously, any regular football fans knows that it's an act of lunacy to go into a home end wearing the away teams shirt but maybe, just maybe, this was the guy's first ever game.

Imagine the scenario, guy and his wife are away for the weekend, friend at work's son is a united "fan" but never been to see a game so he lends them the tickets. Father and son are completely oblivious to the folly of wearing the away shirt.

Does he deserve a kicking? OF COURSE HE F***ING DOESN'T.

The stewards need to explain why they let him in.

In any case, any people who gang up 15-1 on someone for any reason are just cowardly scum, how brave is that?

[handbags_harris]

I am never complacent about football violence as a result, unlike some people on this thread who seem to think the lad was unlucky for getting attention. Unlucky, if I wear a Reading shirt in the home end at Upton Park next week, would that be unlucky.. or would it be totally stupid??

I'm not saying he was unlucky for getting attention, I'm saying he got the wrong attention and it was completely disproportionate to his perceived "crime". The heavier the crackdowns on football violence the oxf*rd better. Slaps on the wrist do not work, they need to implement policing in the leagues on the same level as they do to prevent violent England supporters from going to watch the Team. These people are a stain on the sport, whether they've been doing it for a long time is irrelevent. This is now and it needs to be cracked down on, hard, before people start thinking they can get away with worse, again.

I agree with almost all of this Zac. My view is we need more pro-active stewards, who are better trained and confident to take the initiative to stop something like this when we walks through the entrance of the East Stand.

That includes intervening to get the 15 x 'blokes' off him. Bottom line is that he should never have been allowed in, and when it was apparent he was being set on he should have been escorted out by stewards.

Seconded on most points although it is my view that the guy in question shouldn't have been daft enough to try to enter a home end with a Reading shirt on in the first place, although as I said in a previous post IMO the guy was looking for what he got judging by his verbal barrage and face pulling to the East Stand on his way out. There could also be the point of how the hell did he get a ticket in the first place...IMO a fan of this guy's ilk wouldn't have a season ticket just to cause trouble when his team comes along.

[Legend]

Yet again,conclusive proof that this site is full of do-gooding,new age football fans! You do give me a good laugh..lol lol lol

You still won't win HNA's fan of the year award.

[Kajagoogoo]