I had a box seat in the main stand saw what actually happened. Something was said between Alty and Torkee bench which Torkee then mouthed of to, and Graham Barrow took exception. He then squared up to the small assistant manager bloke. At this point it was handbags at paces as each of the two groups held back their respective hot heads. I saw Mr Barrow walk away but as words continued to be being exchanged, he then walked back for a second argument but never got physical.
GH then had a row with an official who I believe to be the chairman of Torkeee and GH pointed out the their bench were 'mouthing off', he was then told by the chairman to 'grow up'. This continued for about 20 seconds but they slowly squared up and GH obvious upset with being told to 'grow up' wagged his finger in the face of the chairman. The chairman made no physical contact, but GH then grabbed him by the throat. A melay then began as the two teams tried to split up the fight; GH was dragged away and broke free of the crowd. He then turned heel to wade back in and managed to bulldoze three blokes to crack the Chairman with and I have to admit a pretty good right hand. Some person who I cant identify then flanked the crowd to lean across two people to yank the hair (and almost his head) off the chairman in a pintzer movement, Fights and pushing then began in about three places in small groups as the ref blew his whistle all the way through the trouble.
The SADDEST thing about today is a torkeee fan had an epileptic fit in the stand and was in a bad way. The stewards acted brilliantly and treated the guy on the spot and then after they stretched him away. He then wandered back at the end of the game just as the fighting began and I last saw him being treated again as I left. I hope he is ok as he had two fits in 20 mins which must be very bad. It puts things in prospective when you see some poor bloke collapse in front of you. I hope he is ok!
I like passion and Im not afraid to stand my ground if matters get physical but only if my family & friends are being threatened or I truely believe it is right to do so. But if I clocked every person I disagreed with AND especially at WORK!! I would be sacked in a heartbeat.
WHAT IS GOING ON???
I hope your wrong about the course of events I really do. There is NO excuse to be honest.
"Staying Up" is correct in his precis of events, except that it was not the Torquay Chairman that Heathcote had a go at, but the Chief Executive Colin Lee. I believe this all kicked off after comments between a Torquay director and Graham Barrow over the melee towards the end of the match when Torquay thought they should have had a penalty, and that Graham Barrow refused to shake hands at the end with the opposition managers. Then of course Heathcote and his son had to get involved and that was when Heathcote Senior squared up to Colin Lee, and all hell broke loose. Altogether, there must have been about 30 + people having a go at each other at the same time!!!!!
Director Graham Rowley was caught up in the middle of all this, and witnessed everything.
So, after another afternoon of Heathcote cursing and swearing his way through this match ( AND REMEMBER WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY CLUB TRYING TO ATTRACT FAMILIES) we then have these utterly disgraceful scenes at the end which will probably result in the club being fined substantially by the League.
Are the Board going to issue a statement of condemnation over the management team's actions, or is it going to be another example of no matter what Heathcote does or says,
HE IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB. This is yet another episode in the
long line of embarrassments that this man has brought upon our club, and irrespective of what point we have reached in the season and what our future might be, it is my view that the Board should now release him off his duties with immediate effect, and not make this club any more of a laughing stock than they already are.