PITCH INVASION

[Guest 1MORESEASONBLACK]

I would like to congratulate the Northern Constabulary's handling of the pitch invasion today. I think the players will be very grateful for them averting a major disturbance which could have put them and the referee at risk from the marauding hooligans.

Again the Northern Constabulary showed consistency again like they did when Dundee United fans invaded the pitch - arresting and charging all those who were guilty.

WHAT A FOOOLKING JOKE!

The boy did nothing wrong bar his over excuberant celebrations - for most at TCS we are subjected to dull miserable performances and for the best part of this game thats what we saw - until some inspirational substitutions. The lad just got carried away in the moment - I personally gave him the thumbs up when i left - he showed he was a true supporter who celebrated the best comeback i have seen since Liverpools Champions League Final victory. Infact it was better because we won over the 90mins.

Anyway a little more over excuberant celebrations @ TCS wouldnt go a miss so come on lads lets build on this for the next home game - one day we may even drown out the away fans.

[davieB]

It just goes to show, when the team start performing then the fans get right behind them. That last 20 minutes was the best home atmosphere for ages.

As for the fans on the pitch....good on them! They weren't threatening in any way, just there celebrating a fantastic comeback.

[Heilandee]

Eh mentioned this in my thread earlier,dinnae get me wrong true jaggy , you's were oot of order going on the pitch , but the polis handling of it was WAY over the top, i confronted the polis who were taking the wee guys details after the game,he justified it by the chief constable being in attendance and all people going on the pitch were to be dealt with severely.Dont let it dampen your enthusiasm , but stay aff the pitch

[Row S]

And the stewards missed all the action once again. :sleep01:

[A96]

When the Dundee United hoodlums invaded our pitch (last game, season before last), they came up to our end taunted us and invited us to 'have a go'. We all stayed put and didn't respond to them. After that game I asked a polisman how many of the United thugs were arrested. He said "none - just one ICT fan"!!! Where is the consistency from the polis and the stewards then?

[Guest 1MORESEASONBLACK]

Well if running on the pitch is a criminal offence - i hope all those who ran on the pitch @ the Dundee Utd game and did St Mirren fans run on the pitch well should all these people not be dealt with severely then! Or is it only young over excuberant lads that can be charged - obviously its safety in numbers then. I dont understand a criminal offence is a criminal offence whether it is one or many committing it simutaneaously.

The day was spoiled for the wee man by heavy handed policing - he was only celebrating his teams unlikely victory. If this leads to a banning order then the club to me will be a joke - we need passionate fans ... if i was the likes of Dargo, Black or Dodds i would not want to play in front of 3500 prawn sandwinch munchers ..... i would would the support and adulation I deserve from all in the crowd. That would make me think twice about leaving.

Wee man my only advice to you is get another hundred of like minded mates to the games and get right behind the team.  

WE ARE SUPPORTERS FAITHFUL THROUGH AND THROUGH

OVER AND OVER WE WILL FOLLOW YOU.

[true jaggy]

does anyone have a video or foto of the wee guy getin lifted by the police please ?? as hes getin charged by the police nd his parents are lookin for any evidence.

[RossP]

One of my pupils got lifted for running onto the pitch when Charlie Adam scored for Scotland Under 21s against France Under 21s; that made for a funny night and subsequent week  :clapping04:

[chris123]

i was at that game and afterwards we went down and asked the stewards wat was gonna happen to the boy and she says hed probably get charged and banned from pittodrie. feck sake the boy never even wnt near any of the players and there was only a few minutes left in the game you get tell he was just muckin about as all he did was punch the air with his fist and smile at his palls. do u know wat happend to him in the end

[davieB]

This is outrageous :008:

Fecks sake, we need more young supporters like this one. Ones who feel passionately about our club, ones who can't contain their joy when our team stage an incredible fightback, and ones who actually bother going along to support their local team.

All he did was hop over the wall momentarily and celebrate.

Who do I email to complain about this?

[Scotty]

Who do I email to complain about this?

I would suggest emailing the chief exec (mike.smith@ictfc.co.uk) but to be honest, if it was the police who arrested and charged the lad, then there is little he will be able to do and maybe even less he will be able to say.

[maimie]

isn't it funny - i've posted 2 threads about banning orders before and no one seemed to take me seriously.

well - guess it's starting here....

At the end of the day there should be no one running on to the pitch either home or away.  The club end up getting fined and we'll end up with some sort of restrictions to avoid it happening.

Also, these boys came from half way up the stand to jump the wall.  Personally I can't condone what they did but neither can i condone heavy handedness by the police.  But - they broke the rules...

And no more of they did it so why can't we.  It doesn't wash anymore.  We need to be responsible for our own actions...

[Scotty]

i've posted 2 threads about banning orders before and no one seemed to take me seriously.

Some of us did !!

Allowed to be applied unchecked, they are in danger of being used to suck all the enjoyment out of football (or the portions that are left anyway) by giving underqualified and over-officious matchday staff (stewards/police) the power to ruin your weekend hobby/passion for merely getting a little excited about your team's performance.

There is a place for these 'orders' in controlling truly bad behaviour (both physical and verbal), but I fear more 'minor infractions' will come under the umbrella of the FBO leading to more 'arrests', most of which will eventually be dropped by the PF but not before the 'offendor' has been slapped with one of these orders. Give it a year or two and you wont even be allowed to rustle sweetie papers !!!

At the end of the day there should be no one running on to the pitch either home or away.  The club end up getting fined and we'll end up with some sort of restrictions to avoid it happening.

Agree with you there. In actual fact, dont know if it has happened yet or not, but I believe at the away end, the height of the wall is to be increased to make it more difficult for supporters to invade the pitch. This comes after several away end encroachments onto the park.

Also, these boys came from half way up the stand to jump the wall.  Personally I can't condone what they did but neither can i condone heavy handedness by the police.  But - they broke the rules...

Common sense is what is required. They broke the rules and should maybe get a severe talking to about their over exuberance, made aware that it can hurt the club financially if the SPL choose to fine us, and then either kicked out or returned to a 'responsible' adult but the details that have been posted so far seem to suggest that the treatment was over the top.

And no more of they did it so why can't we.  It doesn't wash anymore.  We need to be responsible for our own actions...

Totally agree. two wrongs dont make a right.

[reefinweedallday]

Sounds like the local plod getting over-excited again!! Not like them to get an easy arrest by going for the youngsters who are just having a bit of fun!!!

Where were all the arrests when The Dundee Scum,Or St Mirren,Partick Thistle and others invaded our pitch,don't re,member seeing any arrests then!!

Agree,banning orders will be dished out like confetti to law-abiding fans for over celebrating,now everyone remember to stay seated and don't make a noise it's what the state want!!!

[Ritchie Sacramento]

The cops totally overreacted, since when was overexuberance a crime ? :017:

[Kingsmills]

When those involved run onto the field of play at any professional spoting event.

Make as much noise as you possibly can from the stands but stay behind the barrier.

[Alex MacLeod]

Lets get things into perspective guy's. If one lad holds up a bank should we all do it. It is, and has been for a number of years now, illegal to enter a field of play during a match. Not a football offence, nor a stadium offence, but an offence against the law of the land. When someone does it we all think its funny but if the police choose to take action then accept the consequences.

I have friends in the police and have spoken to them before about this very subject and they say that normally the perpretrator is given a talking to and ejected. An arrest is, usually, only made if there is a further breach of the peace during apprehension. i.e. being violent or lippy to the arresting officers.

What went on in this instance I dont know but it is wrong to blame the police for upholding the law.

[Guest 1MORESEASONBLACK]

Lets get things into perspective guy's. If one lad holds up a bank should we all do it. It is, and has been for a number of years now, illegal to enter a field of play during a match. Not a football offence, nor a stadium offence, but an offence against the law of the land. When someone does it we all think its funny but if the police choose to take action then accept the consequences.

I have friends in the police and have spoken to them before about this very subject and they say that normally the perpretrator is given a talking to and ejected. An arrest is, usually, only made if there is a further breach of the peace during apprehension. i.e. being violent or lippy to the arresting officers.

What went on in this instance I dont know but it is wrong to blame the police for upholding the law.

Is this fair - 4 people run behind the goals 1 gets arrested - hundreds run on when Dundee utd play noone gets arrested.

If the police were consistent then it would not bother me - maybe they could now retrospectively arrest everybody that has ran on to the pitch - after all it is an offence.

[Alex MacLeod]

What's the usual outcome if fifty police attempt to arrest 2500 people. Violence beyond control. Common sense must prevail. And as I ask, was the lad charged with going onto the pitch or is there more to it. Without the answer I cannot comment.

[Guest birdog]

Alex reading back through this thread I believe the boy was charged as someone is asking for evidence on his behalf.

I don't think that there is an offence of "running onto a football pitch" I may be wrong I think it is more likely that he will be charged with a breach of the peace.

Running onto pitches is something I have done previously in my youth but I was only ever thrown back into the crowd when caught once. In this day and age though it is very frowned upon, football is not the same as when I was young, it is no longer the place a working man goes to let off steam after a hard week at work. Nowadays clubs are more family orientated, there are more women attending kids are attending at younger ages. I miss the old days when you could swear at players and refs where you could go to the match half blootered and have an excellent craic but it has all gone now and minor incidents are being stamped on with the full force of the law.

The point is that everyone knows this now and if anyone breaks the rules they have only themselves to blame. You only have to read comments in other threads people now take offence at our announcer having a little dig at a rival team, it's pish but the ol' skool supporter is being outnumbered by the new breed of politically correct supporters :sleep01: and the policing of matches is reflecting this, pish but true.

It's progress, not the type I like but to follow the team we love and watch them play we have to adjust our behaviour or face a banning order :008:

[Alex MacLeod]

My point on the law is that, since the days of frequent pitch invasions, (remember the ten foot wire netting) an act of parliament was passed giving additional powers to cope with crowd control. One of the criteria was that it would be a public order offence in England and Wales and a breach of the peace in Scotland if a person, not part of the permitted group, enters the field of play during a match.

So, like it or not, it is an offence.

[Guest birdog]

My point on the law is that, since the days of frequent pitch invasions, (remember the ten foot wire netting) an act of parliament was passed giving additional powers to cope with crowd control. One of the criteria was that it would be a public order offence in England and Wales and a breach of the peace in Scotland if a person, not part of the permitted group, enters the field of play during a match.

So, like it or not, it is an offence.

I stand corrected, I never really took notice of that law since like I say it's been years since I had the inclanation run on a pitch.

But if what has been posted is true and the guy only jumped the wall then he has not entered the field of play. I am no lawyer, I've used their services once or twice though :004: but I think this poor guy will be hit with one of these banning orders unfortunately.

[Scotty]

breach of the peace in Scotland if a person, not part of the permitted group, enters the field of play during a match

Alex - you have a good point but does the "field of play" start at the wall or the white lines ? You could argue that it starts at the white lines as otherwise the subs would not be allowed to warm up between the lines and the perimeter wall.

If the person crossed into the actual playing field (or gave some form of physical or verbal abuse after being apprehended) then an arrest was possibly warranted but if they were merely overjoyed, got carried away, and ran onto the grass and not the field then your comment (from police officers) that "normally the perpretrator is given a talking to and ejected" might have been the more appropriate course of action ?  Was it wrong ? YES : Was it irresponsible ? YES: Was it a criminal act ? Maybe 'technically' but the law of common sense should be more powerful ... (where's the 'clip round the ear' when you need it !!!)

If we set aside this incident for a minute and agree that neither of us have both sides of the story which is required to form a balanced opinion, or a law degree to argue the legalities of it, my main concern isnt over the police doing their job or upholding the law - I wholeheartedly support them in that - my concern is with the possibility that more and more people will be arrested by police or worse still reported by Stewards who are unqualified in matters of law, only for these charges/reports to be dropped later. The upshot will be that these kinds of arrests/reports could routinely become used to obtain FBOs BEFORE any court case (or the dropping of charges) and that is not what they were designed for .... the word VICTIMISATION is going to be used a LOT if this starts to happen, especially if there are different standards in different games or for different sets of fans.

I am glad to see that Maimie has 'got her teeth' into the subject of FBOs as I believe it is something that Supporters Trusts NATIONALLY should definitely be looking at long and hard, and working with both the clubs and their fans to make sure their is a level playing field for all and that these new powers are used appropriately rather than abused or applied piecemeal.

[Harry Chibber]

No wonder crowds are at their lowest... there are far too many rules these days, it's like being back in school!  What's the point of being a supporting a team if you can't show your delight when your team does something amazing.  We don't have masses of supporters flooding the field it is only a couple of guys getting a bit over excited... if they were thrown out the stadium I'm sure they would not do it again.  I've ran on the pitch on plenty of occasions when we were in the lower divisions... 2 of my mates have even ran on the pitch at half time and taken a penalty into the bridge end goals, all harmless fun! Football is meant to be a break from reality and it just seems that they wont be happy until we are all super glued to our seats and only alowed to applaud at specific times.

It has been well publisiced that one of my mates is due in court to face a banning order for over celebrating a goal at Tynecastle.... if he is charged he is going to be branded a hooligan for life!!  It's all got a little too serious if you ask me...

[Guest calaiscasual]

The cops totally overreacted, since when was overexuberance a crime ? :017:

Says you who threw the scarf onto the pitch at half time