|
EYE WITNESS REPORTS FROM BORO FANS
Since last Thursday's match report was written, some shocking stories of Police brutality and incompetence have emerged. We start with a truly harrowing version of events from Geoff Stuttard who attended the match with his son Chris.
Flew out with my son Chris on Dave Robert's flight. Our coach from Castellon arrives at the stadium just over an hour and a half before kickoff but we are directed up a road where all the coaches are parked and there must be 50 of them there already. Takes a good 15 minutes to pass them all and drive up to where we can turn around and drive back to the end coach and take up position behind it. Saw Geoff Vickers in town earlier and his colleague Roy had been to an official club shop near the ground and Chris wants something from it so we tour the ground searching for it. I cannot believe how many Boro fans are here - its more like Cardiff than a normal away game - must be more like 10000. Cant find shop and so we head for our entrance. Meet the lads who sit next to me at Riverside and there is the shop right next to us and a sign for Boro entrance right opposite so we reckon we have plenty of time and go in the shop.
By the time we get out the shop its about 40 minutes to kick off and the entrance opposite is entrance 18 - ours from the club are 25 so we follow the ground round looking for ours - and around and around. By the time we locate it it is about 30 minutes to kick off and our entrance is about the size of a pair of doorways at Ayresome Park with 2 enormous queues snaking away from it in opposite directions. We join the nearer of the 2 which is already almost completely blocking this roadway past the ground and spreading out sideways. 15 minutes later we have made it about half way down this queue which is now being joined by the rest of those who have to have one last drink. Our queue is barely moving and is now over a dozen people wide funnelling down to just 1 entrance point which is shared with the parallel queue which appears to be moving better than ours, which barely moves at all. The newcomers get agitated and several moves become sideways lurches and things are looking scary. My son Chris had started out alongside me but is now a good 5 people behind and 2 to my right. There is no way I can back out to rejoin him. There are a lot of women in this queue and many are looking distinctly scared.
5 minutes to kickoff and I reckon I am getting close enough to think I may just make it inside in time but the situation is now seriously scary. Look around for Chris - he is twice as far away from the front now as me. I am about level with the start of a huge pillar holding up the stand and there are just 2 between me and those who will be crushed against that pillar. Suddenly the Spanish police arrive - 3 of them on horseback and they barge into the back of our queue and start forcing it to split left and right. They attack those who pushed out the sides with their batons to drive them back down the queue - their colleagues are doing that too on the left side. They work steadily through wheeling their batons at anyone who doesn't move aside but by the time they reach the pillar there is nowhere for those on the right to go. When the righthand side white horse starts nudging my ear there is noone between me and the pillar and I have no options. I am trapped front and back - and to the side - by the horse. I am still 2 people away from the front of the pillar where I can escape to the right where the policeman on this horse is driving people with his baton. Even though I cannot move he strikes me on the back of the head by my left ear and I am down beneath the horse still pinned against the pillar. The next step that horse takes could finish me but I cannot move. The 3 police are still lashing at anyone and everyone and trying to force their horses forward. The 4 legged animal is clearly brighter than the 2 legged one on his back as instead of stepping on me I feel it nudging me in the left kidney and pushing me forward. I manage to get my right hand to the front of the pillar and pull myself forward enough to roll off to the right around the pillar where 5 or 6 more police are herding everyone pushed off to that side towards the back of the queue, usually by whacking them with their batons. One catches me on the right shoulder and I am down again but manage to crawl away in the direction we are being driven.
I turn and look along the queue for Chris. He has just about reached the point where I was first hit and is screaming at the policeman that he has nowhere to go. Women in the queue are hysterically screaming at the policemen but they take no notice. I tap the nearest person in the queue and try to get a message to Chris - God knows what I can suggest he do and they try to pass it along but its hopeless. Now the riot squad have come round to the side of the pillar nearest me and are forming a line straight across driving me and the rest of us further back. I manage to rejoin the queue now at the back but can see no sign of Chris. The queue has been split by the police horses and is now a narrow line which moves far quicker towards the entrance so I take my turn.
When I get to the entrance there are just 2 turnstile points which have been jammed open but not fully so there are jagged edges to both sides. 1 steward is grabbing everyone and pulling them through into the arms of 2 more who do the usual search but at the end I feel more like I have been mugged than searched and the turnstile edges have grazed my side too I discover later. They shove each one away to a further set of half a dozen security staff who bounce you off each other towards the foot of the steps like being a ball on a pinball machine. 12 minutes into the game I emerge onto the stands. I have not seen Chris now for at least 10 minutes and have no idea if he is inside or laid out somewhere outside the ground. My ticket has row and seat number but there are no stewards inside and no sign of any row numbers even. I am at the foot of this stand and look up. It is absolutely jam packed - not a sign of a seat anywhere and standing all the way up all the stairwells. Surely there are more fans inside here than there were seats to print tickets for. I realise then that when I was dragged through the entrance by the security staff they paid not the slightest attention to the ticket in my hand. I spot Chris about one third of the way up the main stairwell and by telling people I am trying to join my son I am allowed to work passage through them to work my way up to join him. Its 30 minutes since he last caught sight of me.
We are on the main stairs and I doubt there is a seat in this end and everyone looks to be standing in any case even on the seats. There must surely be more in here than there were tickets. This is supposed to be the official Boro ticket section. Its as scary in here as it was outside. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone from the back just barges everyone aside as they try to make for the toilet or more of the non-alcoholic lager on sale and 3 times I am almost knocked horizontal in under 5 minutes. If the Boro score there will be an almighty surge down these steps - someone is going to die here today if that happens and we are not well positioned to survive a surge and crush. I know there are many people trying to get standing areas back at grounds - they must be mental if they still think so after being in here. A security guard has opened a gate and is letting people from the bottom out into the end behind the goal which is all ours too. I pull Chris along so we get through and into a safer area just before the first goal goes in.
Soon it is half time and I get chance to look around the ground. Boro fans are everywhere - our official allocation is the corner I have just left and the next section along the side. We have also the entire goal end next to it where I am now and the 2 end sections of the main stand opposite our side. Its incredible - we surely outnumber Villareal as I see pockets of red and white in all parts of the 2 main stands - only the opposite goal is 100% Villareal fans. Wherever the 2 sets of fans are mixed I see no signs of trouble at all.
I am still shaky and the second half passes me by almost completely. Just before the end there are 2 announcements that we will be held in for 30 minutes after the game. The final whistle and the home fans start streaming out but our ends remain pretty stationary. The home fans are out pretty quickly - less than 5 minutes after the final whistle only a handful remain and they are often alongside the fences with our sections and much exchanging of scarves is going on. Somewhat earlier than expected there is suddenly large movements of Boro fans all round the ground down their respective exits. We do not join them immediately in case trouble is happening once away from the pitchside but soon it is clear that the entrances must be open as the flow continues way past the point when congestion would have stopped it.
Halfway down our steps it becomes clear that the main exit behind the goal is still closed and Spanish police are massed in numbers. It looks very very nasty and ready to start any second, yet over to the right is another flight of steps leading to an open exit with just a handful of fans leaving and friendly gestures between them and unarmed security staff so Chris and I leave that way. Back on the coach we hear stories of the riot police opening those other gates and just laying into the Boro fans coming out that way. I am just glad to be still alive.
18 hours later at home and able to locate my wounds I have major swellings around my left kidney where the horse propelled me out to safety with its hooves, a very painful bottom half of my right leg where the horse first found me by standing on it, a lump on the back of my head just behind the left ear where the first blow was taken. I think I am lucky to be still here to type this. The game? Who cares.
************
This next one is from 'The Gatekeeper'
We were with the hundreds of Boro fans waiting to get into the official away end of the ground. It was all peaceful enough until we realised the match had kicked off. Obviously people started grumbling and asking to be let in - suddenly we were being charged by police on horeseback - lashing out indiscriminately with batons! It was terrifying. We were being pushed against a wall - we had nowhere to go. There was absolutely no need for it and it was very dangerous. It felt as though the police were deliberately trying to provoke a reaction from the supporters. Even people who tried to stroke the horses were whacked with batons!
Eventally we were let through the turnstiles - nobody looked at our tickets by the way! - and we found we did not have anywhere to sit when we got in! It was disgraceful and potentially very dangerous.
*****************
Another similar account from Stu
Before the game we were waiting outside and the game had just kicked off when the horses came and forced us all side ways into a tight corner.There was no pushing or effort to enter the ground quickly, everyone stayed calm and this was unnecessary over the top tactics and resulted in children crying and being scared.
However on entering the turnstile with my wife I was told to step to the right and was searched. I then took a step to the right, out of the way to wait for my wife to be searched on the left. As i did this an officer shouted at me to go up the steps. "I'm waiting for my wife" I said. Then he came and roughly pushed me towards the steps.
"Woman, lady" I said, hoping he would understand. He came again and pushed me even harder towards the steps. I'm not a retaliation person so I waited halfway up and went into the ground when my wife eventually came up. If he had arrested me for this, I could lose my red book and as a Boro supporter from 6 I feel this is an unnecessary cloud hanging over a supporters head when the police seem to incite supporters.
I would like to know why our police are not around the areas of major concern like entrances or fire exits as we're Boro supporters not english hooligans (not one arrest at cardiff).
The police should do their homework.
Its easy to be the big hard police guy with the power and a gun so I think we deserve a bit more protection from our people over there because i've waited a long time for cups and Europe and deserve better.
*****************************
And another, this time from a Mr O'Sullivan-Hassell
I saw a couple of notable incidents at the game.. I got to the ground at 20:30 having driven there from Valencia.... and started queuing at my turnstile (25-27) at 20:40... all the Boro fans were singing in the queues.. it was a real upbeat atmosphere.... there were all ages in the queue as well as woman and kids.....
After about 10 minutes the queues just got bigger and bigger and no one seemed to be gaining admission.. more fans and more fans were turning up... everyone was singing and chanting.
At 20:55 the police started pulling people out of the queue.. and then police arrived on 2 possibly 3 horses.. the horses got right in-between the people in the queues.. the Boro fans were shouting for the horses to get out of the way.. but there was nowhere to go and people started getting crushed and squashed.. the only place with a space in it was the turnstiles.. but no one could get in..
The crowd surged and people were pushed through the turnstile, the Spanish police and security forces rushed in.. I was now 3 from the front and it was 6 people wide.. and the batons were drawn.. indiscriminately fans were struck with the batons, on the upper body, shoulders and the top of the skull... some fans were putting their hands on their heads, but it didn't stop the batons flying in and hitting them..
Most of mine and others whom I didn't know energy was spent trying to hold a space for the women and kids around us and to make sure I wasn't "pushed" through the turnstile area....
I had a flag with me, which I folded on to my head.. I put my arms up in the air (don't shoot style) and held my ticket out...... I was pulled through the turnstile by a security man (dressed in brown).. batons were still being used around me.... I was pushed between 2 security men and searched.. then told "up the stairs".. this I did and after a short while I came in to the stadium.. there were no lights in the access area and the toilets were pitch black....
For the next 30 minutes there were angry people and police and security staff.. the Boro fans were complaining about the use of the batons, the police were angry, scowling and physically pushing and pulling people.....
My experience of the police in Valencia and Villarreal until then had been pleasant and courteous.. but they lost control and I just don't know why the turnstiles stopped letting people in at around 20:45.. i got into the ground at 21:05.. there were still hundreds outside.
***********************
I will be detailing the action that will be taken about the tactics employed by the Spanish Police in The Steve Goldby Column later this week. If you have an eye witness account from last Thursday, then please feel free to send it in for inclusion in this article.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed do far.
BACK TO 2004/05 REPORTS INDEX
|
|
|
|
