Sucker punched to the head

AmberGold

Sorry to hear this OP, not what you need coming up to Christmas. I’d report it to the Garda first thing and do my absolute best to forget about it.

Theres a lot of inflammatory type responses from others here that would rile me up even more if I was in your shoes. Not what you need at this moment in time.

kurtainsider

Ah yes. The most vulnerable in our society. These young people have complex needs that society is failing to meet.

What most of them need is a good kick up the hole.

eeeee

Mod reminder: This is the cycling forum. You can discuss cycling topics here. Any other discussion will be deleted, advocating violence on other people etc.

selectamatic

Legal self defence items for cyclists young and old...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B06XNN611V/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1513897504&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=tactical+glove
Hardknuckle cycling gloves

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074M7HD69?ref_=Oct_MWishedS_550005011full_9
Heavy duty bicycle D-lock

AndrewJRenko

Definitely worth reporting OP - and please share details of the location so others are pre-warned?

darconio

368100 wrote: »

Op...whereabouts did it happen?

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Definitely worth reporting OP - and please share details of the location so others are pre-warned?

Bluebell just beside the football pitch

Steve

Sickening. Very sorry to hear that OP.

delly

Not a cyclist, but saw the thread at the top of the new posts list.

Firstly, my sympathies to you OP, nothing worse than going about your daily business, to be then targeted by a gang of scumbags. I would agree with others here that you are unlikely to get any result from the Guards, but think it's important to have it reported.

What makes it relevant to me however, relates to a YouTube channel that I have been following for the last few months called 'Active Self Protection'. It's a US channel that mainly deals with gun crime, but the lessons posted in each video can be used just about anywhere. Although we are not a hotbed of serious crime, your incident shows that something can happen at random and in those cases it's best to be prepared. The ultimate goal in those videos is to come out of a situation with as little damage as possible, and it's in these situations that telling a scumbag a thing or two has no logic. You have to have good situational awareness, time buys you options, options buys you escape routes. Key is to get out of a danger zone ASAP and when you are in 'transitional spaces', to be aware of people gravitating towards you. It may sound a bit OTT, but having seeing how many people blindly walk into a risky situation is scary.

flatty

You can report it if you like, but you're just wasting your own time. Nothing can come of it as you have no idea who did it.
Chalk it down to experience, remember that nothing too bad happened, and there are tens of thousands of people in the country who had worse happen to them this week. Put and keep it in perspective for the fcuking annoying, but relatively minor incident it was, console yourself that you aren't a little scrote like them, and forget about it.
Have a few pints and enjoy the Christmas.
Sin e e.

Wishbone Ash

Sorry for you troubles OP but this part caught my attention:

darconio wrote: »

...I've never been assaulted or been in a fight in 44 years...

Jesus, you must have had a very sheltered upbringing. I'm a very placid individual but have been involved in a few in my time although I think the last time was after the All Ireland final in 1993 when I was thrown off a bus for coming to the aid of another passenger who was being picked on.

darconio

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Sorry for you troubles OP but this part caught my attention:

Jesus, you must have had a very sheltered upbringing. I'm a very placid individual but have been involved in a few in my time although I think the last time was after the All Ireland final in 1993 when I was thrown off a bus for coming to the aid of another passenger who was being picked on.

When I say being in a fight I mean 1 vs 1 where I've be punched/kicked or give a punch/kick to cause an injury. I've been as well in my teens and I had to stand up for myself in several situation: I honestly consider these confrontations rather than fights

smacl

OP, sorry for your woes, getting attacked is unpleasant and stressful.

magicbastarder wrote: »

i was recently talking to someone (plural/anecdote/data warning) who learned judo in the 70s to deal with random street violence.

I took up full contact martial arts after a few dodgy incidents living in a rough enough area. It worked well, but not for the reasons you might think. Basically if you have the living crap beaten out of you by your mates on a regular basis and return the favour, you become used to physical violence, don't get upset by it and tend not to attract it nearly so much. Looking back, certainly for me at least, the fear of being jumped made life more miserable then any actual injury, so once that was gone the problem evaporated. Sports like judo can also be fantastic fun, well worth a punt if you're that way inclined, and could well compliment cycling. At the same time, I'd be highly sceptical of any self defence courses that promised street skills.

dhaughton99

“Bluebell just beside the football pitch”

I cycle it everyday. It’s a hole.

You have that lot from the flats and then the Labra park lot as well up further. I go the longer Naas rd route after 5:00pm to avoid the hassle. It’s to easy to get trapped at those barriers and get your bike robbed or worse.

I had a 13 yr old female spit in my face at the gate a few months ago. Also had another female swing a kick at my front wheel and squeal at me recently.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Personally I'd chalk it down to experience, not engage with a group of teens again & I certainly wouldn't waste my time reporting it to AGS.

I'd a similar experience only recently, but I wasn't assaulted. I just kept cycling because as an adult you're on a loser every time.

If you defend yourself the tables will be turned on YOU, and you'll come out looking like a kunt.

Happened to a training partner awhile back. Assaulted by two ****, beat them up, got charged. They showed up in court with their mothers, and wearing school uniforms. The fact that (similar to me) my mate is a 3rd Judo black belt and the court went to town on him.

Teens are arseholes, dangerous little bastards. You can cycle quicker than they can run after you, keep cycling next time. They'll get their come uppence from someone else.

Kaisr Sose

darconio wrote: »

Bluebell just beside the football pitch

Sorry about your incident. I don’t think you were wrong to stop. It’s the like the Wild West around there.

tobdom

flatty wrote: »

You can report it if you like, but you're just wasting your own time. Nothing can come of it as you have no idea who did it.
Chalk it down to experience, remember that nothing too bad happened, and there are tens of thousands of people in the country who had worse happen to them this week. Put and keep it in perspective for the fcuking annoying, but relatively minor incident it was, console yourself that you aren't a little scrote like them, and forget about it.
Have a few pints and enjoy the Christmas.
Sin e e.

What kind of bull**** response is this?! Seriously?!! OP was randomly assaulted on his way home, how often in a year/lifetime would that happen to you? "ahh, just assaulted on the way home from work there, not too bad I suppose......"

Tripping on the street & falling, dopping a plate & smashing it..... etc. are "fcuking annoying" events....... getting assaulted randomly through no fault of your own is disgusting and can be quite an emotional & troubling ordeal that leaves you anxious for quite some time - although I would say you have to be a victim of it to fully understand.

I'm not saying there's anything really that the OP can do about it, other than report it so that it's recorded with AGS, but still, a response like yours is quite ridiculous.

The "sure it could have been worse" sentiment really grates for me, it seems to be a very Irish thing (I'm Irish), you hear it all the time, and while it can be true in some situations it still annoys me..... Yea, could be worse, or, it could not have happened at all.

Hope you get over this soon OP and can enjoy the Christmas.

com1

To all those who are saying don't report it... you are wrong, definitely report it and get it recorded on the Garda system. While most likely nothing will/can be done about that particular crime, it will become part of the statistics and give more leverage to increase the Garda presence to a more acceptable level.

Look at the current set of stats out saying that crime is down. I personally don't believe it, but if people 'don't bother' to report it because its a waste of time and nothing will be done, then it is guaranteed that nothing will be done.

Just because nothing might happen in your particular case, your report may help the next person from getting into a similar situation.

Remember OP, you got assaulted twice by a gang of scrotes. It is important that the garda know that this has happened.

Wishbone Ash

Samir Sparse Wing wrote: »

...Teens are arseholes, dangerous little bastards. ....

Steady on Samir Sparse Wing! :eek:

A small minority may be dangerous and they are the ones you hear about. The vast majority of teenagers are harmless.

plodder

com1 wrote: »

To all those who are saying don't report it... you are wrong, definitely report it and get it recorded on the Garda system. While most likely nothing will/can be done about that particular crime, it will become part of the statistics and give more leverage to increase the Garda presence to a more acceptable level.

Look at the current set of stats out saying that crime is down. I personally don't believe it, but if people 'don't bother' to report it because its a waste of time and nothing will be done, then it is guaranteed that nothing will be done.

Just because nothing might happen in your particular case, your report may help the next person from getting into a similar situation.

Remember OP, you got assaulted twice by a gang of scrotes. It is important that the garda know that this has happened.

That's important to remember. It's actually the first assault (where they threw something at his face) that is more likely to result in action, as I would guess he had a better view of who did it. Definitely report it.

RasTa

Reminds me a bit of this. Violence won't stop anything, most of these kids would be getting beaten regularly by their parents anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-D4dFLzelM

the world wonders

Probably the same bunch who were assaulting cyclists at the same spot during the summer:

Just a follow-up, today I was assaulted (hit in the face) while just cycling home from work at 1900 this evening by some 12-15 year old scumbags, at the kissing-gates near Bluebell - just down from the traveler's encampment at Kylemore road.

I had a brush with them myself a few months back, they tried to block my path at the gates beside the football pitch. I kept moving with a "mind your foot there pal" in my strongest Dublin accent and they backed off, one of them kicked my rear wheel as I went through. Really unpleasant and intimidating experience even though it was quite mild compared to what happened to the OP and the person in the other post.

I would advise against getting into physical confrontations unless completely unavoidable -- even if you do give them a well-deserved kicking they'll be waiting for you the next day with their big brothers. Put in a report to Ballyfermot garda station, they probably know the names and maybe the juvenile liason officer can get involved.

robindch

darconio wrote: »

While cycling on my way home I came across a group of scobes average age of 14. They threw something at my face and I stopped asking if they were out of their mind doing that as I could fall and badly get injured.

Bad move to stop.

Same happened to me a few years ago in Ringsend one evening cycling home. Two young lads were hiding behind the rails opposite the library as I was coming down from the bridge and just as I was whizzing past them, they stood up - and I'm not joking here - threw a few tortilla wraps at me, one of which nearly wrapped itself wetly around my head. There were tortilla wraps all over the road and the to guys had obviously been doing it for a while.

Anyway, I swore at them and sprinted to Irishtown Garda station a few hundred yards further on, told the lads what had happened and they immediately sent up a squad car, lights blaring and all the rest - which left the building before I'd managed to exit myself.

Not sure if the two lads got caught, but the gardai were on top form that day and I wasn't ever tortilla'd again.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Steady on Makikomi! :eek:

A small minority may be dangerous and they are the ones you hear about. The vast majority of teenagers are harmless.

Context;

Teens are arseholes, dangerous little bastards. You can cycle quicker than they can run after you, keep cycling next time. They'll get their come uppence from someone else.

Teens who assault you are arseholes & dangerous little bastards, and that's why I continued with 'keep cycling next time'.

Anyway I don't do tit-for-tat internet arguments.

OP seriously, try put it behind you. No point in stressing now, enjoy the holidays and just think to yourself that the little scrouts will never amount to anything in their sad, pathetic little lives.

Merry Christmas

CramCycle

RasTa wrote: »

Reminds me a bit of this. Violence won't stop anything, most of these kids would be getting beaten regularly by their parents anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-D4dFLzelM

I was fully expecting the bike to be gone when he got back, had similar on Pearse St. a few years ago, they are just waiting for you to land the first punch, no point stopping.

flatty

tobdom wrote: »

flatty wrote: »

You can report it if you like, but you're just wasting your own time. Nothing can come of it as you have no idea who did it.
Chalk it down to experience, remember that nothing too bad happened, and there are tens of thousands of people in the country who had worse happen to them this week. Put and keep it in perspective for the fcuking annoying, but relatively minor incident it was, console yourself that you aren't a little scrote like them, and forget about it.
Have a few pints and enjoy the Christmas.
Sin e e.

What kind of bull**** response is this?! Seriously?!! OP was randomly assaulted on his way home, how often in a year/lifetime would that happen to you? "ahh, just assaulted on the way home from work there, not too bad I suppose......"

Tripping on the street & falling, dopping a plate & smashing it..... etc. are "fcuking annoying" events....... getting assaulted randomly through no fault of your own is disgusting and can be quite an emotional & troubling ordeal that leaves you anxious for quite some time - although I would say you have to be a victim of it to fully understand.

I'm not saying there's anything really that the OP can do about it, other than report it so that it's recorded with AGS, but still, a response like yours is quite ridiculous.

The "sure it could have been worse" sentiment really grates for me, it seems to be a very Irish thing (I'm Irish), you hear it all the time, and while it can be true in some situations it still annoys me..... Yea, could be worse, or, it could not have happened at all.

Hope you get over this soon OP and can enjoy the Christmas.

Nope, I've been spat on by young lads, had fireworks thrown at me, and been hit by rocks thrown whilst on an off road cycle path. I had, on one occasion, to take off my bike lock and threaten to use it as a weapon when confronted by ten or twelve teenagers.
If you think a slap from a young lad is a major incident, you've had a very sheltered existence.
I'm trying to save the OP wasting a half day of his Christmas reporting this, to no end whatever. I was also encouraging him to put it behind him, and not worry about something which, in the scheme of life is trivial.
I'm just being pragmatic really.
Personally, it would annoy me, but not really worry me more than that.

gk5000

I'd report it just to mess up the guards figures/statistics.

This was my response to the previous thread about cycling through this area on the canal:

"My 2c is: Slow down and sit up - and acknowledge them if possible.
They don't appreciate people barrelling through, head down with attitude of owning the road - think it's a territorial thing."

dhaughton99

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Sorry about your incident. I don’t think you were wrong to stop. It’s the like the Wild West around there.

One of the locals told me this morning that another cyclist got a kicking last week by 5 thugs at the football field.

Trojan

A friend and I had eggs thrown at us from a car of young lads driving by, late one night on the Howth Road a few years back. One hit my helmet, scared the hell out of me. I reported them in Clontarf, AGS knew who they were.

LennoxR

dhaughton99 wrote: »

One of the locals told me this morning that another cyclist got a kicking last week by 5 thugs at the football field.

The Gardai need to do something about policing that particular spot, All the problems seem to happen there.

Wishbone Ash

LennoxR wrote: »

The Gardai need to do something about policing that particular spot, All the problems seem to happen there.

Unfortunately several posters above said that they wouldn't bother reporting it as nothing would be done (or words to that effect). If people aren't going to bother reporting such incidents, how would AGS be expected to know?