Police in Riot Gear at Manchester United V Manchester City Derby

Originally posted by dragonsrreal
I am not anti police but this to me is another indication about how the current government think we should be controlled

Just thought I'd point out here that the Government have no operational control over what the Police do.

If a Police force decides to have it's officers dress up in riot gear, it's that force alone that has taken the decision.

reply to post by dragonsrreal


At a game like that a large percentage of officers would be wearing riot gear anyway and nearly all would have at least some protective garnments on.

It is not inconceivable that the police have received intelligence about planned trouble and after the summer riots have no intention of being caught unprepared.

reply to post by boymonkey74

The futures bright, the futures Blue.........

The futures bright for any club who gets a billionaire owner who can buy success for a club. I've lost interest in football over the last few years, as it's basically cheering on a bunch of mercenaries who have very little allegiance or loyalty to their clubs. It's created a breed of over payed, pampered and spoilt human beings who have so much money they don't know what to do with it. I just can't muster the enthusiasm to cheer these people on any more.

The fact that people are willing to fight each other over the results of these games and risk injury to others and the police is just pathetic.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Just to point out the game is an FA cup tie.

Also Yes City have spent a fortune but as you know us city fans have stuck by our club and 10 years ago we were in the 2nd division.
We have been in Utd shadow for a long time and have had to put up with the Utd fans goading for years.
I dont care if we have spent £500 million but if you look at out plans we are developing a massive site of land to help kids the community plus making many many jobs for the people of Manchester

Oh and Mario Ballotelli is a legend...he is like Robin Hood..driving aroud manchester in his car in a santa suit throwing cash at anyone wearing a city top

Here is his song WARNING contains a swear word

www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by boymonkey74
As a Man City fan I can safely say it is to make sure the Man Utd fans dont kick off when they get beaten

Man Utd fans are not used to being beat by us and will kick off everytime we beat them now.
I have seen the Man U fans kick off at our ground (with flares) and also I was attacked by a group of Man Utd fans at Wembley last year after the match (We won) 20 v 4 great odds eh?
Yes we have our fair share of bad fans (Like any club) and just hope the game is a good game and no trouble happens.
I hope the police are all well trained and control their horses (Seen some bad stuff at footie matches and horses).
My prediction 5-1 City

The futures bright, the futures Blue.........

I've seen my fair share of bad city fans as well. Every club has bad fans, it's not just limited to United fans. But yeah I will love to see the looks on the faces of City fans come May when they watch United lift yet another league title.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
As a Man City fan I can safely say it is to make sure the Man Utd fans dont kick off when they get beaten

.......

This is totally true...its a Manchester Derby...the same happens in Glasgow with the Old Firm

reply to post by jrmcleod


I've been to an Auld Firm Derby....absolutely amazing and evokes such amazing levels of passion.....personally I lack the words to fully describe it...especially as we won 4-2!

Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by dragonsrreal

 

I have several thoughts on this...

1. The PTB are increasingly inching their way forward in dealing with the civil unrest we're going to be seeing. We've had riots, they've started the discussion about militarizing the Police across the country and considering the use of live ammo. The MET has purchased a reinforced segmented metal wall for central London, which can be put up within hours. They are preparing for something that a lot of people still don't think is going to happen.
They probably also have intelligence about the game too. There are a few groups in the UK (mostly the EDL/BNP Neo Nazi's) who plan and organize riots at these games.

2. After the riots in London and other cities, the Police are right to be prepared. I believe in PROTEST, when it's needed. There is a huge difference between mindless violence and genuine anger against an injustice. They should be preparing for these events to get nasty.

3. England has an impressive record of football violence. It's all very well crying about how it's unfair to label, but some stereotypes are true. In the UK, there are a hell of a lot of drunk, violent, racist thugs who enjoy football not for the sport but for the violence associated with it. Yes there are plenty of people who wouldn't hurt a fly who go to matches, but that doesn't seem to make any difference to the fact that a lot of matches get violent every year.

4. I don't believe in the BS about "instigating" violence just because an officer is in riot gear. It's not an excuse to be violent just because someone is suited up to protect themselves. I've been caught in the middle of a riot, and the sight of police dogs riot shields and batons didn't remotely tempt me to join in the mob. I knew who was right and who was wrong.

Point 3 - What a load of rubbish.

Football violence in England has been going down since the Mid Eighties. There was a slight rise last year in arrests for violent offences at lower league fixtures. In the Premier League, there has been virtually no violence in ground since it's inception.

Trying to draw parallels between football related violence nowadays to the 70's and 80's makes as much sense as trying to draw parallels between Gladiators in the Roman Arena and Gladiators with Wrighty and Ulrika. If you ever experienced proper hooliganism you would know what i mean.

I dont think this has anything to do with TPTB, this is how i see it.

Its a local derby between two HUGE global clubs, and its also an FA cup tie which adds to the momentum. Ofcourse there is going to be fighting, this is nothing less then RIVALRY.
Im not happy that they're slapping on the riot gear but if i was an officer, i wouldn't wanna get caught out. This match is guaranteed to have hooligans on both sides looking to cause trouble.


I wonder how the police in spain handle Barcelona and Real Madrid matches, i wont think it would be far off.

Good idea. Soccer is riddled with savages and brutes, social parasites who cannot conduct themselves like adults.

I don't know how a fan could complain about this, they're serving a purpose and the riot gear is required to protect police from the violent and aggressive "fans" of the game who embarrass the nation with their barbarism.

reply to post by JessopJessopJessop


1st it's football
2nd read the past posts (about how much better the sport has got and when was the times of the hooligan)
3rd you have no idea

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by JessopJessopJessop

 

1st it's football
2nd read the past posts
3rd you have no idea

1st I didn't say it wasn't football
2nd I read the past post
3rd I know all too well the behaviour of typical soccer fans

Originally posted by boymonkey74
2nd read the past posts (about how much better the sport has got and when was the times of the hooligan)

Well society has gotten better, it's only natural that football behaviour will improve. But in relation to other sports, has there really been much improvement? Soccer is still shockingly behind everybody else, what's still acceptable as "passion" in soccer is unacceptable and shocking in all other professional sports

Your average soccer fan is still the same, the only reason there's less trouble at grounds is because traditional fans have been priced out of the game

reply to post by JessopJessopJessop


Sorry fella you call it Soccer ...All your points are null and void because of this

Maybe because of this passion Football is the most watched sport on the planet?

Show me a sport without passion and I will show you a sport with no one watching it.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by JessopJessopJessop

 

Sorry fella you call it Soccer ...All your points are null and void because of this

I hear that a lot, usually from people who play Pro Evolution Soccer and watch Soccer AM.

Soccer is perfectly acceptable for association football and used in a good part of the world. The only reason soccer fans get so hung up on the word is because they associate it with America and think the word must be un-British by association

My point is valid and you know it. The average fan has been priced out of the game and half the stadiums are filled with students and middle class trendies - the knuckle draggers are still strong but they've been forced to watch the game in the pub or at their mates

Originally posted by boymonkey74
Show me a sport without passion and I will show you a sport with no one watching it.

edit on 5-1-2012 by boymonkey74 because: (no reason given)

I'm talking about abusive and aggressive and violent knuckle dragging excused under the guise of passion.

I can show you plenty of sports with passionate fans who behave themselves and have an ounce or respect.

I've often thought about starting a thread about football hooliganism over the years, the associated youth sub-cultures, the emergence of the Casual scene and the subsequent decline.

It would certainly dispel a lot of the myths which have grown up around it, some of which have been touched upon in this thread.

I'm not sure I could take some of the misconceptions and pre-conceived ideas seriously though.

It's quite alarming how many otherwise inquisitive and free thinking people allow their opinions to be clouded so much on this subject by MSM.

always remember when the local paper here in stoke printed a list of known hooligans the police were after my dad was laughing as he'd served pretty much all of them in his shop

considering english fans are known to get piss drunk and throw darts at each other during games, i would scrap the riot gear and just bring in tanks.

to bad tevez isn't playing, city would be unstoppable.

In Holland if you go to matches from Ajax, Feyenoord, Utrecht etc etc

there is always riot police.

And with what they call risk matches there are also water canons present.