Bath Away jan 19th

Post by **SuperNickyWroe** » 19 Jan 2019, 21:22

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑19 Jan 2019, 09:18 Safe trip Chris

Cheers Dave, it was thanks.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 19 Jan 2019, 21:29

Are you sure it wasn't more locally based fans in with our lot? I've heard mentioned that a group of Bristol City fans were heading to the match and had tickets for the away end.

Nick Potkins · Post by **Nick Potkins** » 19 Jan 2019, 21:39

The league transfer window is open for 12 more days. You would guess this merry-go-round may result in some player movement in. Maybe the same squad next week, with the week after being interesting. . .

SatNav · Post by **SatNav** » 19 Jan 2019, 21:40

Please do mate. These idiots need to be banned for life. Please feel free to PM me; I have a vested interest in this and want to see these hooligans banned for good!!

gateman49 · Post by **gateman49** » 19 Jan 2019, 21:40

What I witnessed this afternoon begs a number of questions.

Firstly, the thugs among the Torquay fans were in an all ticket area so those who sold the tickets (both clubs) bear responsibility in not being able to weed out the trouble makers at source. That doesn't excuse their behaviour once inside the ground as all was reasonably quiet with only obscene chants being hurled back and forth in the period after they were gifted their first goal. What happened when we equalised was appalling as the morons at our end ran over to the dividing fence and literally traded blows across that fence for quite a period. They had no need to move towards any nutters in the Bath crowd but they did and for that the whole of the blame lies within the Torquay 'camp'.

What happened next was almost pure farce as the few stewards at our end (I was later told by the place that there were only thirteen in the whole ground) made their way to where the flare up had occurred and barely managed to get between the opposing idiots. To do this they had to abandon the gates which allowed access to the pitch and one of them was opened to allow some more idiots to gain access to the pitch. Luckily this incursion was brief.

Then a few police arrived to stand idly by but to at least show their presence presumably as the stewards were responsible for security.

At half time I went down to enquire of the police and stewards what they were doing about the situation and to suggest that the fans in the area nearest to the flare up zone be moved back behind the barrier two thirds of the way across our end and for that barrier to then be shut off (which was perfectly feasible). This would have corralled all of the Torquay fans and morons in one area and created a dead zone but I was told that any such action was down to the ground safety officer. Nothing happened and the bating continued into the second half although most of the Bath contingent had moved to the other end of their 'pop' side so they were more distant.

When we scored our second it all kicked off again with flares being thrown and I saw at least two of the thugs with face masks and balaclavas who were clearly only there for one reason. I also saw a number of adults going over to join in the trouble making so this wasn't just juvenile delinquency.

This was a black day for Torquay United and I could go on but here are some thoughts a few hours after the event.

In my view our club has to shoulder a proportion of responsibility for the behaviour of those who purport to be Torquay fans but are no more than thugs and trouble makers. I didn't recognise any of them as Plainmoor regulars but isn't it time for us to send our own security staff on away trips where significant numbers are to be expected and the host clubs either cannot be bothered or are unable to control the crowds. After all a large crowd was expected and these events should have been foreseen bearing in mind the behaviour at the WSM game.

standupsitdown · Post by **standupsitdown** » 19 Jan 2019, 22:08

Given the size of the away support and that we are known to have a few potential troublemakers, the policing and stewarding of this match was wholly inadequate.

This was the first time I’ve seen punches thrown in a football ground for a long time. Bath fans were guilty too, of both fighting and smoke bombs.

Unfortunately clubs like bath and Weston aren’t used to handling such crowds and maybe TUFC should have had more input into the planning.

arcadia · Post by **arcadia** » 19 Jan 2019, 22:24

Safety
We were told that there were flares at the station so I would like to know why the stewards did not search the Torquay supporters for the flares before the game.

standupsitdown · Post by **standupsitdown** » 19 Jan 2019, 22:38

A flare was set off as fans walked through city to the pub.

Bath fans also let off a smoke bomb.

Searches aren’t very effective though. They take place at Premier League matches but flares and smoke bombs still get in. Not much more than a deterrent unless they have dogs to assist search.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 19 Jan 2019, 22:42

It's not easy finding these things while searching at turnstiles. At a festival for example we can conduct intimate body searches on people indicated by dogs but drugs still find their way in. Stiffer penalties would be a start, banning orders and prison sentences would make most of these tools think twice.

Having seen photos on social media it's fairly obvious who was involved.

fred · Post by **fred** » 19 Jan 2019, 23:02

Firstly the football. Not a great first half and felt we were fortunate to go in level. We then totaly dominated the next 30 minutes and if Andrews had put the penalty away it would have been all over. To be fair to their manager they bought the big fella on and he changed the game. Same as our home match against Bilarricy. We don't seem to be able to handle this type of forward in the latter stages of matches. Real shame today given the Woking result.
As for the day out itself it was great in weatherspoons and please remember that about 1400 fans were totally brilliant and a credit to our club!!! Unfortunately we will be remembered in Bath as we will in WSM for the few that continue cause trouble. In the modern age lots of people must have footage of today's nonsense and it's now time the club stamp down and ban these people. Total disgrace!!!

Peteboa · Post by **Peteboa** » 19 Jan 2019, 23:43

Yes, we laughed pretty hard at the tin pot football factory prepubescent apes running towards us as you conceded !!!!

yes, you are a joke. And everyone is laughing at you.

Yellow7 · Post by **Yellow7** » 20 Jan 2019, 01:27

Didn't feel like we really got going today and for most of the game it felt like Weston Super Mare all over again. Gave Bath far too much respect but have to say that their extra man in midfield made it difficult for CLE to dictate the play in the manner he usually does.

Seemed as if the size of the occasion perhaps got to the heads of some of our younger players, notably Kalala and Andrews who both had pretty poor games. Was a bold move by Andrews to take that penalty but he'll definitely learn from that mistake.

At the end of the day though, when we had 12 points from 9 games at the start of the season, to say we'd be top of the league as early as December would be laughable. There's still over a third of the season to go and there's bound to be many more twists and turns, not only for us but also for our fellow promotion hopefuls.

A final note on our support which was superb besides the usual rabble who only turn up to the more local away games (I wonder why). On the whole, a fantastic turnout from the Yellow Army!

Big chance to get back to winning ways at home next Saturday and I'm sure the players will be eager to put things right

Swatcat · Post by **Swatcat** » 20 Jan 2019, 01:30

I noticed that Kevin Amankwah was playing for Bath City - that was some years ago he was on loan at Torquay.

Regarding those criminal hooligans, it would surprise me if our team were unaffected by the goings on. Fortunately Woking dropped 2 points and now we are free for another 10 wins in a row !

Good luck Guys - I hope to catch a game or two at season's end.

goody2449 · Post by **goody2449** » 20 Jan 2019, 07:16

Poor performance and had we scored the penalty we would of “got away with one”, we didn’t and now must use it as a game learnt not lost!

The idiots causing trouble ruined it for me. Went with my wife and 8 yr old son and when he saw the fighting he started crying and wanted to leave. This is a boy who lives and breaths football! They’re a disgrace and all need a good slap! They’re not fans they’re idiots. We left a good 8-10 mins before the final whistle to avoid my son having to witness any more trouble

Dave_Pougher · Post by **Dave_Pougher** » 20 Jan 2019, 08:28

Disappointed, obviously lol but it seemed the better side won on the day. Bath had a lot of experience in that side and all we can do is hope our guys learn for that. Even down to their penalty, which looked more than dodgy to me as their player seemed to ran across ours then go down but I was a long way from it so will have to see it again but their penalty and their third as well as your penalty miss, our early first half and late effort even involving our keeper was all down to experience I'm afraid.

Side note, not calling anything here but the hooligan incident, been watching for donkeys years now home and away and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone of those guys at a Torquay match before. Maybe someone can put me right?

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