Appalling behaviour by football fans

[Guest makapaka]

I thought sy police had everthing in place for the match before and after,sounds like they got there plans wrong again.

 

Not really.

 

They can only mitigate not eliminate.

[nightrider]

I drove through this crowd, there was only just enough room. They were challenging every driver asking who they supported and banging on the car waving glasses of lager. After I passed through (to go up Cemetery Rd) I noticed in my mirror that the road on that side was completely blocked with people.

 

From the footage I have seen those "fans" are lucky no driver panicked and hit the accelerator for a quick getaway.

[Hook]

Not really.

 

They can only mitigate not eliminate.

 

They got the plans for getting the blades fans to the stadium very wrong.

[mickey finn]

Yeh, it was all the fault of the police!!

 

How can being held on a tram be an excuse for anyone to misbehave, commit damage or cause trouble? Ive been on trams when they've stopped for quite a while due to a blockage in the road and at no tine did I feel the need to behave as the fans did. If someone causes intentional damage or public nuicence then they are the ones to blame, not others.

 

What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

Spot on post.

[Flanker7]

This isn't the first time United fans have been poorly behaved recently, there was fighting in the Middlesboro and Grimsby Town matches.

 

I wonder if police are properly enforcing banning orders on known offenders?

 

Enforcing banning orders won't affect this trouble on 2 counts.

Location and Time .

 

It's tribe mentality and mob psychology.

Niether is an excuse for what was happening.

[arrowhead]

Businesses forced to close, civilised people run for cover and bolt their doors, roads littered, dispersal orders issued, a few animals arrested, children witness the carnage...

 

..and grow up to be inbred hooligans like their mums and dads.

 

Welcome to Sheffield!!

[Hook]

Yeh, it was all the fault of the police!!

 

How can being held on a tram be an excuse for anyone to misbehave, commit damage or cause trouble? Ive been on trams when they've stopped for quite a while due to a blockage in the road and at no tine did I feel the need to behave as the fans did. If someone causes intentional damage or public nuicence then they are the ones to blame, not others.

 

What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

You are basing your comments on your experience on trams - which, with no disrespect, is completely different to what the Blades fans experienced on Sunday.

 

I should make it clear that I was down there working, not for Supertram, but I was involved with the public transport side of things. Normally Supertram only provide special services for after the match, ensuring that they can get a large number of supporters away from the ground as quickly as possible. These are not segregated so that you get away and home fans travelling together. It is very rare that this causes problems.

 

However as this weekend was 'the' derby it was decided that fans would be segregated prior to the match and that the Blades fans would be marshalled together together at City Hall, Supertram would provide several special trams for those fans and they would be provided with a police escort to get them straight to Leppings Lane, non-stopping. The regular service trams were given time to get ahead, so that it would be a clear run.

 

There were, I believe, three special trams sent out from Nunnery Depot to City Hall to pick up said fans. Normally with heavy loadings Supertram just let the fans get on - when they've decided the tram is full enough then the doors are closed and they set off. Not today - the police were forcing fans onto the tram in a bid to make it as full as possible and get as many people up to the ground as possible. There were approximately 600 fans on the first tram.

 

Once they'd filled the tram up, the police then decided that that perhaps they should have some coppers on board. So they then pulled some of the fans off the tram so they could get on board. At this point the doors were shut and the tram moved forward to allow the tram behind to pull into the platform. The process was repeated.

 

Now I doubt very much you've been on a tram with 599 other people, I doubt you've been on a tram with that many other people when it's 30+ inside the tram. I'm sure you are aware however that there's no air conditioning on the tram, or any 'fans' except for the heating. So when the tram isn't moving there is no air circulation and it gets very hot indeed.

 

This loading occurred at City Hall approximately 12:00.

 

The first tram was initially held for around 10 minutes, before the police escort set off. They were escorted down West Street, then when they got to the junction before Shalesmoor there were police motorcyclists waiting for the trams to continue the escort. However the police forgot there was more than one tram - so the first tram was held on Infirmary Road for several minutes while the trams behind got their signals and caught up. The plan was that the police would hold traffic to allow all three trams to pass through Shalesmoor quickly.

 

As you can imagine at this point the temperature on board the tram was very uncomfortable, there was no communication between the police and Supertram and therefore no communication with the fans on board.

 

When the convoy got going again they managed to get as far as Bamforth Street before the police held them again. By this point a lady at the rear of the first tram had fainted. With no way to contact the driver and/or anybody else the people on board the tram tried to open the doors. Eventually somebody pulled the emergency door release and the fans poured out of the tram. The lady who had collapsed was treated at the side of the road while YAS treated her.

 

Meanwhile SYP started to escort the fans off the first tram towards Hillsborough whilst moving the now empty tram and the two trams following behind the fans.

 

Just prior to the Interchange the police then decided to block the road off with police vans, hold the blades fans in one place until the riot police turned up. They then proceeded to put the fans back onto the first tram. Now bear in mind that a) the Supertram staff on the ground were telling the police that the doors were damaged and it wasn't safe to load the fans back onto the tram and b) the tram was not in a platform this wasn't a particularly safe thing to do.

 

SYP continued to load the fans onto the tram, with police officers at each door manhandling fans onto the tram. Many of the blades fans were protesting against this and were being forced onto the tram. The driver of the tram was instructed to close the doors of the tram by SYP while fans were still being forced aboard. At one point a police officer was holding one set of doors open while another was trying to close then. This resulted in, I believe, a broken set of doors.

 

This was approximately 12:55, so the majority of fans had been on the tram for nearly an hour. On the second tram there was a pregnant lady who was feeling ill - so whilst SYP were loading the first tram back up they were TAKING people off the second tram. (Are you starting to see how bloody chaotic the whole thing was?).

 

They then attempted to set off again, but of course the fans on the first tram who had been riled up and aggravated by SYP were confused as to why they had been forced back onto a tram and the supporters behind were being let off. Of course at this point the doors of the first tram are damaged - so the tram can't actually move!

 

It was utter carnage, and had SYP just moved the tram convoy as quickly as possible through Hillsborough the worst damage may have been a broken window or two. Instead the whole plan unravelled, they had to bring in vans of riot police and NPAS Carr Gate.

 

I stand by my belief that SYP caused the majority of the trouble through their poor planning, poor communication and poor decision making.

 

(In the interests of full disclosure I have previously worked for Supertram, so I have a good understanding of how all of this works, but I'm not going to share who I currently work with because we have a pretty cagey social media policy)

[Jonny5]

^ that sounds like SYP treating football fans like cattle. Which is pretty much the exact opposite of how SYP are supposed to act.

 

Pretty appalling that. Especially so considering the stadium that they were "escorting" fans to.

 

Will these dotards never learn?

Edited September 26, 2017 by Jonny5

[Lurgh Mor]

Hook, you say approximately 600 on the first tram. The trams are designed to carry 88 seated and 155 standing passengers. I don't see 600 as being physically possible.

[sheff66]

Hook, you say approximately 600 on the first tram. The trams are designed to carry 88 seated and 155 standing passengers. I don't see 600 as being physically possible.

 

 

Don't let facts get in the way of an argument , what no ones mentioning is that the fans could have got back on said tram and gone through to Hillsborough in time for the kick off but the fans decided otherwise , yet its SYPs fault lol fans not co operating ? heard this before haven't we