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[AltyTunnelSteward]

[

As previously stated I was sat in the main stand, so far away from the trouble. I would take issue with your second paragraph where you say 2 Altrincham fans ran over to trade punches with the Chester people, I hope they are not Alty fans as I would be ashamed to be associated with them. Hopefully we will have photograhic evidence of this incident and they can be charged and banned from our club for life.
[/quote]

Setting aside the other events of the day,  believing that the people involved were just trying to protect others and totally without prejudice

Sadly, the second incidence of aggro, following some verbal exchanges, WAS aggravated by two Home supporters who did run toward and push (not punch whilst I was observing) some Chester people.

[Timperley The Best]

A life ban for standing up to bullies ?

[AltyTunnelSteward]

The club let its supporters down big style today

And to think someone was telling me the club has never been run so well as at present

In decline on and off the pitch

Disgracefull

at last a real man : why shud we the fans be double victims yet again

How spectatcularly constructive these two posts are!!!

It happened!

It was dealt with!!

It will be learned from!!

Sadly we do not possess a time machine so we cannot rewind the afternoon.

Despite what you are saying the Stewarding staff on duty, IMHO did as good a job as their depleted numbers permitted. Incidentally Chester did not produce the number of Stewards agreed.

I believe that requests were made for more staff today ( we had to operate with one turnstile unmanned) but with little or no response.

Of course we could have said we didn't have enough staff to open the ground and postponed it??

[AltyTunnelSteward]

A life ban for standing up to bullies ?

I have quoted another post here - I did not advocate any sanction, in fact clearly stated so in my post

[Uncle Globnasty]

The club let its supporters down big style today

And to think someone was telling me the club has never been run so well as at present

In decline on and off the pitch

Disgracefull

at last a real man : why shud we the fans be double victims yet again

There's definitely a spark there, perhaps you should get a room?

[safe95]

Weren't there massive problems at Chorley v Chester last season? To expect this game given the circs to pass off with no problems seems like a dereliction of duty - and not for the first time at Alty.

[Is this it?]

The morning after the.........etc.  Still find it unfathomable that someone can even consider stamping on someone else's head.  Utterly sickening.  I do think, however, that no blame should be directed towards the stewards who cannot be expected to deal with morons such as those that we're in the GRE yesterday.

I read a few summaries of what went on yesterday and why, both on this site and the Chester one and, regardless of who was to blame at the outset, it was very clear from what I saw that the young 'crew' were intent on having a fight.  That said, I was surprised at the ferocity of the attack - handbags is one thing, stamping on someone's head quite another.

I will also add my voice to others here and say that i think that there needs to be some serious questions asked about the decisions made regarding policing.  There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Chester were going to have a small quota of retards with them......Chrley, Colwyn Bay, Wrexham etc.  Yesterday's fixture was a gift to those intent on causing trouble.   I was chatting to one of the police officers who said that he was not in the least surprised about what had happened.  Plenty of expressions of despair on the Chester forum as well. 

Thoroughly disgusted by what I saw yesterday, nothing to take as a positive however you look at it.

[RedhillAlty]

[

As previously stated I was sat in the main stand, so far away from the trouble. I would take issue with your second paragraph where you say 2 Altrincham fans ran over to trade punches with the Chester people, I hope they are not Alty fans as I would be ashamed to be associated with them. Hopefully we will have photograhic evidence of this incident and they can be charged and banned from our club for life.

Setting aside the other events of the day,  believing that the people involved were just trying to protect others and totally without prejudice

Sadly, the second incidence of aggro, following some verbal exchanges, WAS aggravated by two Home supporters who did run toward and push (not punch whilst I was observing) some Chester people.


[/quote]

So as a steward you say you were sat in the main stand, when the problems were in the Golf Road End?
You then witness further problems instead of moving the away fans out of OUR end?
I appreciate that you are a volunteer but I suggest that you would be of more use patrolling the Golf Road turnstiles than hanging around the main stand.
As usual you have a pop at Alty fans(the two pushing) when the problem was away fans being where they should not have been allowed to be.

[ArmchairAlty]

Woke up this morning just feeling so desperately sad about it all - this is not what Alty is about. In fact it is the opposite of everything Alty is and stands for... a safe, family-friendly club that we are all proud to support.

I've never felt frightened before at ML and just hoping that lessons can be learnt from what happened to prevent it ever happening again.

[AltyTunnelSteward]

[

As previously stated I was sat in the main stand, so far away from the trouble. I would take issue with your second paragraph where you say 2 Altrincham fans ran over to trade punches with the Chester people, I hope they are not Alty fans as I would be ashamed to be associated with them. Hopefully we will have photograhic evidence of this incident and they can be charged and banned from our club for life.

Setting aside the other events of the day,  believing that the people involved were just trying to protect others and totally without prejudice

Sadly, the second incidence of aggro, following some verbal exchanges, WAS aggravated by two Home supporters who did run toward and push (not punch whilst I was observing) some Chester people.

So as a steward you say you were sat in the main stand, when the problems were in the Golf Road End?
You then witness further problems instead of moving the away fans out of OUR end?
I appreciate that you are a volunteer but I suggest that you would be of more use patrolling the Golf Road turnstiles than hanging around the main stand.
As usual you have a pop at Alty fans(the two pushing) when the problem was away fans being where they should not have been allowed to be.
[/quote]

Firstly I am NOT a Steward. The poster who was sat in the main stand is a fan. I was reading the turnstiles at the time but did offer to assist the Stewards, as did another former Safety Officer

Secondly the whole ground needs to be stewarded and in fact when events did take a turn for the worst a number of stewards left their posts in other areas to help

Thirdly, whilst admitting that the incidents would not have happened had the Chester fans not been there in the first place, it would be short sighted in the extreme not to concede that the Alty fans pushing aggravated things and reignited the trouble

[markecky]

Reading between the lines of the chairmans statement, the police were consulted and the club were told there was no intelligence to suggest there would be any trouble.

Granted mistakes were made in that the away fans should have been moved on before anything could have happened.  However would they have moved if asked?  I doubt it, not until told by a copper.

That said, I am still astounded that both GMP and Cheshire Police were not travelling on the trains, walking rounds the pubs checking things or insisting that they were there.

There were two police officers at the FC Utd friendly.  These apparently came off their own back to see who was there and keep an eye on things.

You don't have to be Danny Dyer to know that clubs like Chester have a small minority who do this kind of thing.  And a bank holiday game with easy train links to a town with 10 pubs is a superb day out for them.

People like that don't listen to stewards, they react to the threat of arrest or ejection.  

Therefore whilst there are lessons to be learned from this there are questions to answer from the police as to why the intelligence was so poor.

[CB]

[

As previously stated I was sat in the main stand, so far away from the trouble. I would take issue with your second paragraph where you say 2 Altrincham fans ran over to trade punches with the Chester people, I hope they are not Alty fans as I would be ashamed to be associated with them. Hopefully we will have photograhic evidence of this incident and they can be charged and banned from our club for life.

Setting aside the other events of the day,  believing that the people involved were just trying to protect others and totally without prejudice

Sadly, the second incidence of aggro, following some verbal exchanges, WAS aggravated by two Home supporters who did run toward and push (not punch whilst I was observing) some Chester people.

So as a steward you say you were sat in the main stand, when the problems were in the Golf Road End?
You then witness further problems instead of moving the away fans out of OUR end?
I appreciate that you are a volunteer but I suggest that you would be of more use patrolling the Golf Road turnstiles than hanging around the main stand.
As usual you have a pop at Alty fans(the two pushing) when the problem was away fans being where they should not have been allowed to be.
[/quote]

ATS was in the GRE, not in the main stand.

[bumble]

Weren't there massive problems at Chorley v Chester last season? To expect this game given the circs to pass off with no problems seems like a dereliction of duty - and not for the first time at Alty.

The lad offering it out in the chip queue was bragging he'd taken over FC main boozer and done over Chorley twice last season...

He did offer to buy me chips though

[bumble]

How Oxford police can think theres potential for trouble, and our local police to decide otherwise is a farce!

[RocketDan]

Whilst I understand it can be hard to spot away fans entering the home end in plain clothes, I saw at least 5 or 6 Chester fans wearing club colours (hats, scarves, shirts. etc.) it is beggars belief these people werent moved to the away end before kick off.

As for the fighting that is a matter for the police and I don't blame any stewards who refused to get involved. I wouldn't put myself on the line to protect fellow Alty fans so why should a volunteer steward? I do feel let down by the police for having no presence at the match or at the turnstiles before the games, it doesn't take a genius to see the hoards of drunken Chester fans in Alty before the match to realise there was a possibility of some trouble.

To make it worst, this was the first game I've brought the Mrs to - Doubt she will want to come back.

Finally, If (and when) this fixture is replayed next year, I hope it is all ticketed. That way the club will know numbers of away fans and they won't be able to get in the home end.