I got a headbutt on Patrick's street last night!

silent sage

grumpy jo wrote: »

1 realised you were about to get smacked & layed into these two scum bags before they hit you.

I don't think that was a realistic option. I was smoking up against a wall in front of a taxi rank, before I knew it I was surrounded between wall and couple of lads (one with head against mine). The headbutt came out of the blue. I was obviously stunned for a few seconds and a quick review of the situation meant - no I ain't fighting back here or I could get knifed for all I know.

2, & this is the most advisable, press charges against these scum bags,
You went on your way hurting both physically & mentally & they went on their way to do the exact same thing to some other poor unfortunate. Press charges & @ leat they would be off the street for a few hours.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't hurt much mentally. I just thought it was a joke that I can't mind my own business without a stranger wanting a fag and getting overly violent when you decline. The cops were still talking to them when I left and it seemed like it was under control. I went home feeling pretty good and thinking how I could dramatise the story for friends and such.

It's my first few weeks in Cork, I didn't fancy any legal ramifications. All decisions were made in a split second.

Max001

OP, I'm not judging, nor criticising in any way. You made your
own choices about how to handle the situation and you stand
by them. Fair enough. However, rule 1 (especially) in a city.
Always be aware of your surroundings.

Glad it didn't escalate into something worse. FYI. Many types of
army surplus boots are really light and comfortable and come with
steel toe caps

Dean820

I think Cork is very safe. I walk home by myself after most nights out. Never had any problems. You just have to have a bit of cop on in these situations.

gimmick

gimmick wrote: »

What I read is that the fella went head to head with OP while the 2 were around him ie not able to walk away.

That said, in those situations I would always give in early for fear of a hiding.

There was only two of them in total, in most of those situations they are looking to start something anyway, I reckon if the OP had given them a ciggy they would have next asked for the time or to use his phone etc etc.

baraca wrote: »

Sorry, but this is hilarious!

I agree

eurokev wrote: »

Best way to avoid I think is to put on your best norrie accent, this way they might think youre a bit dodge. I f**king hate scumbags.

Absolutely daft advise, pretend you're a hard man and they may f off, in all fairness.

DarkJager wrote: »

Just a hint in case anyone gets a similar experience in future. If someone is about to throw a headbutt at you, just slightly tilt your head forward enough, so the top of your head is exactly where he will land it. Guaranteed to break his nose and maybe even his teeth as well. What you do after that is up to you.

.

I fail to see how that will result in him breaking his nose or teeth, he'll bop your head with his head, result being possibly two split heads, at least two sore ones anyway. Also headbutts being headbutts unless you are fairly nifty you won't see it coming in time to "just" anything.


OP, best thing to do when someone goes head to head with you is to either take some backward steps or else push them away. Get yourself out of their range, worst case scenario they will try and assault you again. Best case you can flea or they f off and find an easier target.

I used to be very wary of these scummy types when I was in my late teens and early 20s, worryingly enough the last few years they seem to give me a salute as they go about their nights entertainment

IrishEyes19

silent sage wrote: »

It all happened so fast, and yes one of them went head to head with me, I did very little to provoke them. Once I had refused the first time, there was no point in backing down the second time and going home feeling like a chump. My only option was to talk my way out of it, they were obviously looking for a fight more than a smoke. I impulsively bagan to outright question their actions and more importantly, themselves! The headbutter seemed quite confused by my response, and the other guy had a wry smile on his face. Once the cops arrived it was ample opportunity to push back and call them all sorts of names. If I had fought back initially, I'd be in hospital right now.

I'm so sick of strangers asking for cigarettes or rollies in public. It's happened so many times in Cork and Dublin. The last time I obliged a guy, he began to tell me his life story and how he thought he may have taken his arm cast off too early?? I don't fucking care, I don't know you, I'll never meet you again, take my free tobacco and keep your stories to yourself. Prick.

Jesus calm down!!! Sorry but I was on your side there until you posted this. The guy there sounded like a typical Irish lad being friendly and chatting away when you gave him a cigerette. I reckon you're treated aggressively by these people because you're aggressive in your refusal. Calling a guy a p***k because he was friendly enough to chat. I call that friendliness.

charlemont

Milly33 wrote: »

Why has it become all of a sudden so rough then. Well not all of a sudden but there seems to always be something now. And stupid things like this fights for no reasons. Even we went to town last week during the day for the first time in ages and it even looks fairly rough and no one is perticularly friendly anymore..

Heroin and the "hard" attitude picked up in St Pats by the teenagers were the main reasons the atmosphere amongst certain people has changed, Cork was such a friendly city, when the Spike Island facility was shut it coincided with a dramatic increase in heroin use (also the severe lack of hash played its part) i live in one of the worse affected streets in the centre of the city for crime and drugs and believe me iv seen some violence and **** behaviour although the street has gone quiet now as heroin has spread around to all the suburbs..

By the way a friend of mine was mugged and she was left with back and arm bruises from being kicked on Old Youghal road recently, it was at 6.45 pm so it was still bright.

raydar

Im Sorry ye cant have a great night out with these tossers causing unessesary grief, Anger really is the other end of Fear.

I had a few bad beatings in and around Cork city around 20 years ago ,

so its always been there ,

I remember getting dragged out of a house party by the bloody hair by two scumbags and got a real dirty beating ,
Got kicked into the head and face and was warned , if i got up theyd kill me i had to wait till they were finished with me
Not nice! after it was all over and they won ,one of them apoligised ,Wow Bi-polar or what ?

they took my jacket and my money was in it,so i had to walk 4 miles to get home ,Trying to whipe the blood out my eyes to see that night wasnt nice,

I now no one of them killed himself a while back ago.

Another night got hopped by three and there was so much blood i thought someone else was bleeding but it was my own,i saw stars that night,


Took time to get over them experieces,

Ireland can be very dangerous at times,
it really is what you attract based on your thinking and state of mind at that time ,

the last five years i became more aware about my thoughts and energy and have changed the way i think before i act ,and ive walked near and through some dangerous groups and had no fear

they didnt even look at me and other times they moved out of the way

Cheers
Peace , Love ,and Dub

soundsham

ffs there was only 2 of them.....

babo9

An old guy once headbutted me outside Hillbillies!!!
I did try to skip the queue and he called me on it so I said fair enough and apoligised and went back, I was locked he was even worse - he was having none of my apology! In retrospect though that did piss me off and I may have acted in ways to slightly aggrevate him more!

Long story short after he was pulled inside by the bouncer and after we both had our food he was outside waiting for me and BAM headbutt in the face kind shocked me really!

The laugh is then I was backing towards the bouncers to diffuse the situation and they goes Lads take it around the corner, not infront of the shop!! I was like are you for real I have no intention in beating an old man!!

charlemont

charlemont wrote: »

Cork was such a friendly city,

Cork is still a friendly city, folks have always been mugged, years back the street where John Graces is located on was a riot zone every Saturday night. Most junkies couldn't drop a hard sh1t and don't go about fighting with folks, begging is their main source of income, they'll rob a shop or similar in preference to actually mugging someone as they know it's easier money and less chance of getting a thumping. If a junkie attempted to mug me I'd probably throw a few euro his way as I wouldn't want to have any physical contact with the manky bastads. Only a minority of kids from Cork end up in St Pats, the few I know of that went there were total scum beforehand anyway. Some have actually turned out ok as they got older, others have gone the junkie, long term offender route.

Back to the OP, must have been a p1ss poor head butt if he landed it square on your nose without breaking it.

silent sage

IrishEyes19 wrote: »

Jesus calm down!!! Sorry but I was on your side there until you posted this.

I have been very calm, I guess the use of some stronger words gives the impression otherwise.

The guy there sounded like a typical Irish lad being friendly and chatting away when you gave him a cigerette. I reckon you're treated aggressively by these people because you're aggressive in your refusal. Calling a guy a p***k because he was friendly enough to chat. I call that friendliness.

I assure you I'm not aggressive in my refusals. In fact I rarely refuse, but I decided that now I'm back in college and on a strict budget, I'm not doling out my stuff to strangers for free for the sake of being nice. The "prick" (I did not call him this to his face, I simply nodded as he began told me his life story) in question, stopped me as I was hurrying down Westmoreland street trying to be in time to meet a friend. I had a load of bags, he could see that I was in a hurry, but that went right over his head on the sight of me smoking a rollie. I stopped, shuffled bags around, went rooting around for tobacco, skins and various paraphernalia while this guy (who obviously did this a lot, any smoker he could see, I'm guessing) told me his life story on a busy Dublin street. He was not interested in me, only himself and the prospect of easy smoke.

Don't get me wrong, if I'm in the smoking area of a bar and someone comes up asking for a smoke, I'll happily oblige, chat away and enjoy their company. This is not the case in public streets - people looking for your stuff, they don't care about you, just free shit.

silent sage

RoverJames wrote: »

Back to the OP, must have been a p1ss poor head butt if he landed it square on your nose without breaking it.

It's not one he should be proud of. I sensed a little insecurity in him when I asked "are you fuckin serious??", and he stood facing the wall with head down after I had shoved him out of my face.

He was dying for me to raise a hand or something though, so he'd have an excuse to have another bite at the cherry.

gunnerfitzy

JohnK wrote: »

And that right there is why this crap keeps happening. If you dont press charges the cops cant do a bloody thing and these people keep getting away with it.

AFAIK it is not up to an individual to press charges or not. The option to press charges or not is an individuals right in the US but not Ireland.

One may decide not to make a statement to the Gardai. If you do make a statement you have no part of the decision making in whether charges are preferred at a later date or not.

Mr Cork Man

Unforunately things like this can happen in any urban area.I do think it would be more usefull to report this to the guards.There's nothing wrong with reporting it here either but the guards can't catch these thugs if you won't comply with them.I come from the countryside and i always found Cork to be a nicer city than Limerick and Dublin but like everywhere it does have it's nasty side too.Now if you're going to judge Cork from being on pana on a saturday night then of course you wouldn't have a nice impression of this place but then again i have come across plenty of late night entertainment in eyre square over the years.:pac: I just hope you will try to be more vigilant next time and i also hope that you well find out that while this city(like any other one) has it's problems it also has plenty of positives too.

silent sage

Mr Cork Man wrote: »

I just hope you will try to be more vigilant next time

I thought I'd have a quick smoke before I got in a cab to go home. I was leaning against a wall in front of a taxi rank in a well lit up part of Patrick's street. I saw these guys coming, they didn't look overly dodgy/scumbag-ish and I presumed they'd walk on by like any kind of civilized human being. Before I knew it, I'm pinned against the wall head to head. There was no lack of vigilance about it, bar running away from every subtle nuance of questionable activity.

I've also noticed some people saying there were only two of them. Two guys, with adrenaline pumping, obviously geared up to fight minutes previously, catch me on my own off guard. No one else around. If you're implying that I should have fought back because there were only two of them, are you fuckin serious?? :P I throw a punch at one, the other grabs me by the neck from behind, and bam I'm gettin my head kicked in with very little means of defense or attack. I've got a bag on my shoulder and an Ipod in my pocket. For all I know, they've got a knife in their pocket and bloodstream full of coke. It's all about strategy. Basically, I knew the position I was in and I had great fun playing non violent mind games that defused the situation adequately.

and i also hope that you well find out that while this city(like any other one) has it's problems it also has plenty of positives too.

Ah yeah, I'm well aware of the problems you'll find in all cities. I thought I'd post my first unfavourable Cork experience for the good people of Boards.ie.

I was playing 5 a-side soccer with a barrister friend last night, when I asked if I should have pressed charges he replied, "I wouldn't bother me hole". These things take months to pan out, and it's far more hassle than it's worth. I suspect my lonely little court case would have had very little effect on the riff-raff of Cork city anyway.

Finally, I'll say that I love Cork. Great atmosphere & events, great range of pubs, great people (apart from the odd baffling Cork accent ), fantastic city in general. I've settled in nicely and I'm looking forward to a lengthy spell here.

Fox McCloud

There are definately guys (and girls too actually) who go around town on a saturday night looking for a fight, and guess what their favourite opening line is?!
Its especially hard to tell them no if your smoking at the time, opens up a nice confrontation for them to start the fight. I generally say no, I dont smoke and move away quickly.

I wish people would always press charges, I know it causes general hassle and the risk of future revenge or whatever, but what these guys learned from this is that they can headbut anyone they want for no reason, get caught by the guards, and walk away scot free. The court may not give them more than a slap on the wrist but hey its an inconvienience for them to give an afternoon of their free time, put on their best trackies and go to court! One more violent conviction on what may be a long list could have an influence on future courtcases etc. If we want to stop Cork going in the direction it is, we cant let these guys get away with it.

YOu reckon you had great fun playing non violent mind games and that you diffused the situation ! Doesn't really tie in with your previous posts to be honest, if the guards hadn't arrived they would have battered the sh1t out of you. I don't see how getting head butted can be considered diffusing the situation. Your were set upon, made an awful knob of yourself and now are making out it all went to plan and that you had a great laugh.

54kroc

Getting a headbutt to the nose is not a great way to defuse a situation like that and why go head to head with someone if you can't back it up.

Swampy

Cork is a Kip.

Dean820

Swampy wrote: »

Cork is a Kip.

Stay in Dublin then.

grenache

OP you definitely went the wrong way about ''defusing'' it. From what you said, it seems like you didn't really help yourself. Why not just say ''sorry lads its my last rollie'' or something along those lines? You cant expect anything less than this sort of behaviour from scum like this and i'm puzzled as to why you were so surprised by their reaction.

silent sage

RoverJames wrote: »

YOu reckon you had great fun playing non violent mind games and that you diffused the situation !

Yes. That's what I said.

Doesn't really tie in with your previous posts to be honest

How so? I'm to expect a headbutt from saying "No, sorry" for a request for some tobacco? Nothing violent happened after that, situation defused.

if the guards hadn't arrived they would have battered the sh1t out of you.

I'm afraid you're making unfair assumptions for a man who wasn't there. If the guards hadn't arrived, I'd have done something epic on their broken pride, no doubt.

I don't see how getting head butted can be considered diffusing the situation.

Read again if you must, this headbutt was surprising and unprovoked. How can you defuse such a situation when there was nothing apparent to defuse?

Your were set upon, made an awful knob of yourself and now are making out it all went to plan and that you had a great laugh.

Yes, it all went to plan. I certainly had a great laugh, I can only speak for myself.

This is interesting, initially I get accused of "moaning" because I point out the possibility of assault for no logical reason on Patrick's street. Then I'm perceived as "making a knob of myself" when I told you I had a good time and avoided a situation that could have escalated into something far worse.

silent sage

cork45 wrote: »

Getting a headbutt to the nose is not a great way to defuse a situation like that and why go head to head with someone if you can't back it up.

Pay attention cork45, if you're that interested. The headbutt was completely surprising and unavoidable. I didn't go head to head with him, he approached me swiftly, pinned me up against the wall with his head, staring straight into my eyes. I made no forward movement towards him. I put my hand on his chest to gently push him away to see how that would fly, no dice, "get your fucking hands off me". I gradually followed his command as not to give him an excuse to strike again.

silent sage

grenache wrote: »

OP you definitely went the wrong way about ''defusing'' it. From what you said, it seems like you didn't really help yourself.

How can you say such a thing? The headbutt was uncontrollable. There was no further violence after that. I'll mention that there was obviously a minute a two before the cops arrived, I can't remember exactly what I said to them during that period, but they were certainly a lot more docile than the behaviour they can entered the altercation with.

Why not just say ''sorry lads its my last rollie'' or something along those lines?

I think that's very easy to say when you know the result of not using that wording in my situation. I don't know if you're a smoker, but these responses come naturally because these requests happen all the time. This was the first time I've got a violent reaction.

You cant expect anything less than this sort of behaviour from scum like this and i'm puzzled as to why you were so surprised by their reaction.

As I have said, I did not realise they were scum until he approached me head to head. Then, do you think handing over some tobacco at a second demand would have eased his violent behaviour? Maybe, but I don't want to feel like a dick for backing down to some loser who thinks he can get what he wants through intimidation. Again, I'm only speaking for myself.

ABajaninCork

I think I know the drunks you mean. Do they normally hang around by the all night Centra in Grand Parade??

I've been accosted by them more than once. I just tell them I'm on my last one. They normally just leave then.

Sgt.Peppers

i hear the rubberbandits are around...

silent sage

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I think I know the drunks you mean. Do they normally hang around by the all night Centra in Grand Parade??

I'm not sure. I'm new to the city.

miss_shadow

RoverJames wrote: »

YOu reckon you had great fun playing non violent mind games and that you diffused the situation ! Doesn't really tie in with your previous posts to be honest, if the guards hadn't arrived they would have battered the sh1t out of you. I don't see how getting head butted can be considered diffusing the situation. Your were set upon, made an awful knob of yourself and now are making out it all went to plan and that you had a great laugh.

and how did he make a knob of himself?

unlike *you* who appears to be replying to this thread just criticizing the OP for simply not knowing how to approach or deal the situation he found himself in. It is not his fault, he is simply posting a thread on boards to make sense of it.

But then seeing as most of the posts I have seen of yours on boards are all about criticizing someone or something its seems like you have nothing better to offer than exactly that.

niva*sis

why should u give them something u paid for, scumbags!!!!!