Torquay United Fans Forum

Time to get over it now. Chill out.

Just a reminder. We drew and Torquay are safe in the division for another year. A marginal penalty decision, that was missed anyway is hardly worthy of the anger expressed by some on here.

PhilGull wrote:Just ignore BritishGas, he'll soon find out he just supports another little local club when the Pompey hoardes turn up next season. After they've sold out their away allocation and put a few hundred in the home end I wouldn't be surprised to see them outnumber the home fans at every away game next season.

But despite BritishGas' hamfisted attempt at humour, the lessons from yesterday should definitely not be ignored. The game should have been called as all ticket from the outset and proper measures put in place to ensure segregation. All of the Bristol R fans in home areas yesterday would happily have been together with their own support, if adequate segregated space had been made available.

For those that say, why should away fans have any more allocation, I would say we're not in a position to turn away the money that this brings. Properly segregated, the stewarding and policing in and around the ground is easier - and less costly. The message is that we need to learn how to cope with teams with a bigger away support. Be flexible in the away allocation. Have proper measures to ensure away fans cannot buy tickets in home areas, but if they do, handle this in a firm, but on confrontational way by moving them to the away area- and ensure that there is the space to do this on bigger match days. It's not rocket science!

BritishGAS wrote:We're Bristol Rovers, We stand where we want

I guess you are joking, but you do your club no credit!

It is puzzling why everyone seems so shocked at the situation today. It was clear that Bristol R had sold out their full allocation weeks ago and their fans were openly buying up tickets in the various home areas. Apart from suspending online ticket sales, the club did nothing to prevent this. A bit of sense would have been to offer an increased away allocation and make the game all ticket as soon as it was clear there was such an away demand. But even up to the morning of the game, our fans were wondering why they might struggle to get in to the game.

The police adopted a sensible approach given the situation they were confronted with. A heavy handed approach would have led to a real possibility of significant disorder. On the face of it, a few minor scuffles is disappointing, but not surprising given the shambles that poor administration led to. If capacity is 6.5k and average home crowds are around 3k, then for this type of game, it makes economic sense to allocate up to 2.5 or even 3k tickets for segregated away fans.

It is not illegal for away fans to purchase tickets in designated home areas, but the club does have a discretionary right to refuse admission. The police will judge what action to take, based on an assessment of what is best for the maintenance of public order.

I hope lessons are learned. Having secured another season of L2football, the club needs to consider how games like this will be ticketed and controlled in future. Bear in mind Portsmouth will be coming down next season, as will Bristol Rovers. Both will come in numbers and if not restricted, there will be away fans in home sections and, god forbid, a lot more trouble than there was today.

Finally, for those that claim the moral high ground, making aggressive noises about our opposition's fans simply detracts from your case.