Goalkeepers been Attacked at Football Matches

watman

Since December 3rd 3 different goalkeepers have been attacked after games by opposition fans whilst trying to walk off the pitch. I am a season ticket holder at Stoke City and witnessed the ugly scenes at the Britannia Stadium against QPR where a couple of idiots ran onto the pitch and attacked the QPR Keeper Simon Royce, Since then Grimsby's Simon Mildenhall http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/wrexhamfc/news/tm_objectid=16541831&method=full&siteid=50142&headline=keeper-incident-with-fan-gives-slade-concerns-name_page.html and Arsenal's Manuel Almunia http://www.sports.ie/sport-irish_soccer_news_results_fixtures_world_ireland-storyId-238680-soldier-in-court-over-arsenal-goalkeeper-attack.html have been attacked by mindless idiots.
Where does the solution to this current problem within English Football come from , Do the FA step in now and issue harsh penalties to clubs involved , Is it the fault of the firms who provide the stewards at all football league games throughout the country or is it a case where to punish all fans who attend football games in the UK to put a metal fencing around the playing area to ensure the players safety

Pepe LeFrits

The death penalty would soon sort 'em out.

watman

watman wrote:

Since December 3rd 3 different goalkeepers have been attacked after games by opposition fans whilst trying to walk off the pitch. I am a season ticket holder at Stoke City and witnessed the ugly scenes at the Britannia Stadium against QPR where a couple of idiots ran onto the pitch and attacked the QPR Keeper Simon Royce, Since then Grimsby's Simon Mildenhall http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/wrexhamfc/news/tm_objectid=16541831&method=full&siteid=50142&headline=keeper-incident-with-fan-gives-slade-concerns-name_page.html and Arsenal's Manuel Almunia

i remember Ian walker was approached by an eejit back near xmas 03 aswell in a game between leicester and Villa at the walkers.

Peter enckleman got fierce abuse from a birmingham fan after a terrible blunder 3 years back aswell

PHB

I remember the great Dane starting on some guy who came onto the pitch to attack him, them were the days

YeatsCounty

The club(s) involved should be held accountable, fined and warned by the FA if a serious incident occurs. The FA needs to take such incidents seriously and not wave them away as 'once-offs'. The security firms need to review their practices as well.

PHB wrote:

I remember the great Dane starting on some guy who came onto the pitch to attack him, them were the days

I remember that! Gave me a laugh.

Big Nelly

PHB wrote:

I remember the great Dane starting on some guy who came onto the pitch to attack him, them were the days

Was that the time the Galastsary(sp) fan ran onto the pitch. Peter grab him and held him there with a face on him like he was going to knock his head off till the stewards came out to rescue the fan!

The Muppet

A well publicised life time ban from all football grounds for such morons should act as a deterrent for others .

Dempsey

The fan should face the harshest penalty because he's the idiot, the club cant choose it fans

therecklessone

The Muppet wrote:

A well publicised life time ban from all football grounds for such morons should act as a deterrent for others .

Its a criminal offence to enter the field of play already (never mind the assault), that hasn't done much to deter them.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your "morons" comment. Thats the crux of the issue. Morons tend not to be deterred by future punishment, so its a question of effective stewarding/policing. The problem as I've experienced it is that some stewards are more interested in having an easy time than doing their job.

Take fans standing as an example...I was at Boro in December with Spurs, and one steward kept telling one guy to sit down. Of course, the ten rows in front of him who were standing as well were left to their own devices, and when the singled out fan said "I can't see anything if I sit down" he was told to tell the others to sit down himself.

watman

The FA have decided to step in

Queens Park Rangers FC have been charged with failing to ensure that its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from threatening and/or provocative behaviour.
The charges relate to an incident during the match at Stoke City on 3 December 2005.
In addition, QPR's subsitute goalkeeper Jake Cole has been charged with violent conduct for his involvement in the same incident.
The parties have until 25 January to respond.

We are still awaiting our punishment , no doubt points deduction and games behind closed doors due to our record of crowd trouble. Our Rep has been so bad over previous years that the club now operate an ID Card Scheme (only club in the country) for supporters to attend away matches