What a thoroughly horrible club.

[Argyle sy]

Watch the videos of the crowd at the match there are 100s on each side more interested in taunting the opposition than supporting their team. If it is society’s problem why do no other sporting events have this issue? The very fact we have to segregate fans in the first place and we all treat this as normal and inevitable speaks volumes about football culture

From time to time there are incidents like this at rugby league matches and at boxing events as well. Not too long ago a young lad died after fighting broke out between supporters of rivals boxers at a boxing event in Walsall, quite often issues at boxing as some "firms" attach themselves to local boxers. I have seen violence break out at rugby league matches a few times as well, as I was saying on another thread you have teams from places like St. Helens and Warrington that don't have football teams so the idiots there tend to attach themselves to their local rugby league teams instead. More than a few occasions I have seen violence break out between Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity fans as well(having spent a lot of time in Castleford I have always had a soft spot for the Tigers and have gone to games when I am up that way). So it really isn't just football that attracts the idiots, I guess it is just less prevalent and publicised with other sports.

 

[justanotherfan]

Clubland? That is a concept at least ten years out of date I think. Clubs are dying
out.

You should really keep up with local news as a brand new club is opening in Plymouth.

 

[Kevin Dacombe]

A lot of animals in the away end today, but I'm sure 95% of their crowd were there just for the football.

I went to Rovers away in 15/16 and witnessed plenty of equally knuckle-headed Argyle morons being escorted to the ground by police.

These "big" games always bring out the mouth-breathers at every club.

This. Didn't think we covered ourselves in glory at Oxford (as a set of fans). It's unfair to judge a whole club based on the actions of a few morons. Watch our away support at the next match - moving away from allocated seating so they can get closer to rival fans and make hand gestures. Some drunk to the point of being barely able to stand up.

Every club has them - even us

Forgive me for asking but I was at Oxford and have no idea about any trouble there?

 

[Carlo]

Anyone would think we were playing Galatasaray. Every club has a select few. If you think we have issues with hooligans in this country then thank god we’re not based in Eastern Europe

 

[Knibbsworth]

Bristol Rovers are no different from Argyle, anyone would think all of our fans were well behaved angels judging by these shocked reactions.

 

[IJN]

I don’t agree. Rovers have always had that edge to them. Have we been involved in an abandoned Sky game?

Bristol’s a harder City than ours, I managed in both for over 30 years and there is little comparison.

 

[Green Flash]

Not saying violence does not occur at all at other sports, I have seen a huge fight at the Derby for example. Alcohol and large groups of young men are always going to throw up the risk of violence. I am saying football is worse because of the tribal culture, it has got better but there is still a long way to go. My view is that football should take a carrot and stick approach and treat fans like adults - remove compulsory segregation (I accept this cannot happen overnight but we can perhaps start by introducing mixed zones for certain categories of members), allow alcohol again BUT institute zero tolerance of aggressive behaviour - just as there would be in any other public space. You start gesticulating to strangers in any other public place and calling them "f*cking c*nts" you will be arrested pretty quickly. Same thing should happen at football. A significant minority of people seem to think the usual rules of social conduct don't apply at football (or travelling to and from football for that matter). This culture has to be changed - it will need to start with heavier policing but after a while it will become socially unacceptable and the thing will start to police itself.

I guess it is akin to the zero tolerance approach that was so successful in cleaning up New York. Sweat the small stuff and the big stuff disappears too.

 

[slingsbypobble]

A lot of animals in the away end today, but I'm sure 95% of their crowd were there just for the football.

I went to Rovers away in 15/16 and witnessed plenty of equally knuckle-headed Argyle morons being escorted to the ground by police.

These "big" games always bring out the mouth-breathers at every club.

This. Didn't think we covered ourselves in glory at Oxford (as a set of fans). It's unfair to judge a whole club based on the actions of a few morons. Watch our away support at the next match - moving away from allocated seating so they can get closer to rival fans and make hand gestures. Some drunk to the point of being barely able to stand up.

Every club has them - even us

Forgive me for asking but I was at Oxford and have no idea about any trouble there?

No trouble in the eyes of law/stewards, just the 'usual' taunting, arm waving, swearing and standing in the aisles that seems to be tolerated at any football match. Never mind the kids and families trying to watch the game, just stand where you want to get closer to the opposition fans so they can see how hard you are.

To be fair to Oxford's fans they seemed pretty well behaved from where I was sitting.

My point is that some pretty unsavoury behaviour is tolerated as 'normal' at a football match, whereas it wouldn't be acceptable in any other social situation.

 

[Shankster]

Any port city is generally ‘edgy’, visited many and you have to keep your wits about you. Even Funchal in Medeira was ropey (got into an altercation with a gentleman who was demanding my wallet on one occasion, pointed out I don’t carry such a thing)

 

[Jose446]

Much safer to take you kids to a football game, than it would be to a city centre pub at 7pm / 8pm on a Saturday night.

You KNOW what area's of the ground will be more hostile - just like you KNOW that going down to Noah's Arc / Brass Monkey / Kitty's etc on a Saturday night would not be the best place to have a pub lunch with kids.
Why people are so perplexed is beyond me. As mentioned above, football is and always will be tribal. The day it isn't is the day it looses appeal and people start clamouring for "atmosphere's of old" to return.

 

[Balham Green]

I don’t agree. Rovers have always had that edge to them. Have we been involved in an abandoned Sky game?

Bristol’s a harder City than ours, I managed in both for over 30 years and there is little comparison.

Lived in both. No evidence that Bristol is 'harder'. I would say Plymouth is if anything. Its certainly poorer than Bristol. Bristol is the twice the size so is bound to have twice as many numpties.

 

[Balham Green]

What have large numbers got to do with it? It is to do with culture not numbers 80k attend rugby internationals have a few drinks mingle and enjoy friendly banter without a hint of trouble. People say that is because rugby is middle class - not true Twickenham may be but the millennium stadium certainly isn’t and nor is any rugby league club

Obviously large numbers are relevant. I suspect on Saturday 2% at most of the crowd was looking for trouble but that works out to a few hundred.

 

[Green Flash]

Much safer to take you kids to a football game, than it would be to a city centre pub at 7pm / 8pm on a Saturday night.

You KNOW what area's of the ground will be more hostile - just like you KNOW that going down to Noah's Arc / Brass Monkey / Kitty's etc on a Saturday night would not be the best place to have a pub lunch with kids.
Why people are so perplexed is beyond me. As mentioned above, football is and always will be tribal. The day it isn't is the day it looses appeal and people start clamouring for "atmosphere's of old" to return.

And this attitude is the problem. It is not acceptable for any part of a ground to be "hostile". And as for atmosphere, you can have a fantastic and partisan atmosphere without hostility. Once again I say go to see Wales in the Millennium Stadium if you don't believe me.

Not taking kids to pubs on a Saturday night and not taking them to sporting event are two entirely different things. Kids should feel safe and welcome in any part of a ground for any sporting event.

 

[Green Flash]

What have large numbers got to do with it? It is to do with culture not numbers 80k attend rugby internationals have a few drinks mingle and enjoy friendly banter without a hint of trouble. People say that is because rugby is middle class - not true Twickenham may be but the millennium stadium certainly isn’t and nor is any rugby league club

Obviously large numbers are relevant. I suspect on Saturday 2% at most of the crowd was looking for trouble but that works out to a few hundred.

Other sports have large crowds with 0% of the crowd looking for trouble, as do music festivals etc etc.

 

[Balham Green]

Much safer to take you kids to a football game, than it would be to a city centre pub at 7pm / 8pm on a Saturday night.

You KNOW what area's of the ground will be more hostile - just like you KNOW that going down to Noah's Arc / Brass Monkey / Kitty's etc on a Saturday night would not be the best place to have a pub lunch with kids.
Why people are so perplexed is beyond me. As mentioned above, football is and always will be tribal. The day it isn't is the day it looses appeal and people start clamouring for "atmosphere's of old" to return.

And this attitude is the problem. It is not acceptable for any part of a ground to be "hostile". And as for atmosphere, you can have a fantastic and partisan atmosphere without hostility. Once again I say go to see Wales in the Millennium Stadium if you don't believe me.

Not taking kids to pubs on a Saturday night and not taking them to sporting event are two entirely different things. Kids should feel safe and welcome in any part of a ground for any sporting event.

But the pub point shows this is not a football issue. How you can blame the behaviour of a few hundred lunatics on Football is beyond me. You are getting the cause of the problem mixed up with the location.