Hearts -v- ICT : Matchday Thread

[RichieKass]

Brewster and the Lothian and Borders Police can GTF.  Threw a very young Caley fan out today (yet ignored the 40+ adults who questioned them) and cornered a couple of young fans outside the ground to 'explain' the standing up rules to them.  Shocking behavior, away from the football itd be classed as police harassment and bullying, there would be a court case and the Officers involved conduct would be put infront of a judge..... but alas it was at a football game and it will either be ignored or the young fan will face some kind of ban.

Football really has to join the real world, where civil liberties are still respected!

Aye, quite agree with that. The Lothians & Borders Police were totally out of order this afternoon, both inside and outside the ground. After the match four mounted officers "shepherded" a small group of young ICT fans down Dalry Road towards Haymarket Station and none too pleasantly either. This left a very bad taste in the mouth indeed. Pity they wouldn't concentrate their efforts on the real louts and criminals. Young lads of course can't fight back like some of the gangsters they're too feart to take on. Quite disgusting.

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I'm gonna be unpopular for saying this but here goes...  I think the cops are takin a bit too much flak here. I was sitting at the end of the row next to the lads who got flung out and I had a word with the female officer (who was thoroughly decent) after she had spoken to the boys the first time just before half time.  She agreed with me that the banter between sets of fans was sublime but what they had the problem with was not that the boys were standing up, but goading the other fans (both groups were doing it) who were only seperated from each other by a rotund steward (the sex offender) who couldnt have sprung into action with a written invitation never mind if a fight had broken out and another steward who was also totally anonymous until the cops came up.  I even heard her get on the radio and tell her gaffer that nothing outrageous was being said and the boys should be left alone.

She was being chatty because she wanted to find out where the boys had come from (obviously thought I might know - I didn't) and she knew they hadn't come down on a supporter's bus, so they'd been watching everyone since before they even got into the stadium.  What she said to me was that they didn't want to spoil the craic and thats why they didn't tell the boys to sit down the first time they were spoken to. She was also talking about what they can do with fans who don't do as they're asked i.e. remove the entire row of fans resulting in the loss of those fan's home ground season tickets.  So the cops were giving the boys plenty chances.

Anyway, the game went on and Hearts scored and a couple of our boys jumped into the stairs and started winding up the Hearts fans (one of whom got his badge of honour by getting flung out right at the end).  If they hadn't done that the police wouldn't have come back up.  Fair play to the older folk who stood up and stuck up for the boys because they thought they were being harrassed for standing but the fact is they weren't being picked on for standing, it was because of the "aye, come on then, outside now, lets go" chat that was going back and forth between the fans.  It also didn't help that the boys didnt do what they were told by the 8 foot tall copper without being told 3 times.  I mean come on lads, you're not gonna win in that situation no matter how many white lightnings you've put away ;)

As I said already the atmosphere was great and it was made by the boy's songs.  I was creasing myself for half the game with the "you look like a sex offender", "oh f*ckin sheep is wonderful", "HIV capital" and "glad to hear you're still alive" shouts. Keep it up next time but be cool in front of the cops lads.  Fair enough, the stewards often pick on folk because they're d1cks but the cops don't get involved without a reason.

I have to agree, although like proctor said, both parties have  to take some blame, but if everyone had sat down when the cops came up and asked and then stood up again 5 minutes later the whole situation would have been avoided. I think the boys were absolutely amazing with their singing and their spirit and i don;t want this to be an attack on them it's not. But i did feel sorry for the cops who i though were being quite lenient and pretty polite. I though the council tax song was brilliant (heard FC United do it before) but the cheerio was a bit wide, the 1st was banter but the second was a bit too cheeky. Whilst i totally understand it is annoying that the hearts fans were standing that doesn't mean the cops can't tell you to sit down, and the harsh reality is that those folk in the cheap seats stand up every week, there's a lot more of them, they're not sitting next to opposition fans and they're sitting a lot lower down - different stands, different rules - sh!t but the way it is. Additionally the cops don't know the Inverness support like we do, so they have to take precausive measure - how do they know the Inverness fan's banter isn;t going to turn into people throwing coins or a few people going across for a fight? You can bet your b0llocks to a barndance if that was certain other hearts fans sitting in the same stand there'd have been fights.

The reason for the escort was purely to stop trouble - again WE know you guys are well behaved supporters who arn;t going to start major trouble - but they don't, and they are certain groups of Hearts fans who wouldn't have hesitated to get involved in a good old fight if they'd come across of bunch of guys singing some Inverness chants after the match - there have been a fair few carnages after football games - and not just derby games in Edinburgh.

I know it seems very OTT but they cops were just doing their job and i didn;t think they were too rude/heavy handed in the situations i witnessed, i feel for you guys because i know you are just out for a good time and  a laugh and  are a real asset to the club.