Posted on 5th March 2013
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
Hull City fans have branded West Yorkshire Police plans to change upcoming travel restrictions a “shabby compromise”. The Tigers visit Huddersfield Town on Saturday 30th March and WYP’s decision to enforce a “bubble” match caused uproar with fans’ groups from both clubs condemning the decision.
Restrictions limited away tickets to 1,500 and forced all supporters to travel from Hull on the club’s designated Tiger Travel service. This enforced bubble restricts freedom of movement and fans who live outside Hull are inconvenienced or unable to attend the fixture.
The stinging response to those plans from supporters has forced WYP to review their tactics with Assistant Chief Constable Craig Guildford saying they had spoken to both clubs and “listened carefully to the concerns of fans”.
The revised police plans would see Hull City fans travelling independently to Hartshead Moor Services on the M62 if they wished. Fans would still have to travel to Huddersfield from Hartshead Moor Services on official club coaches.
But fans’ groups described the police’s claim that they had listened to fans as “laughable” with supporters’ organisations Amber Nectar, City Independent, Hull City Official Supporters’ Club and the Hull City Southern Supporters rejecting the “contemptible measures”.
In a joint statement they said: “It appears that West Yorkshire Police don’t quite get it, do they? It wasn’t just about the ticket allocation, as dismal as that was. It wasn’t purely the inconvenience of having to travel from Hull, irrespective of where you live. It was the principle of being compelled to travel in a particular way in order to watch a football match.
“We implore West Yorkshire Police to see sense and drop these travel restrictions, increase the allocation to a full 4,000 and remove the unnecessary Category C+ [high risk] labelling of this match and make it a Category A [low risk] fixture.
“We jointly request that the club refuses to accept an allocation of tickets unless these restrictions are lifted – and we recommend that all supporters who share our disapproval of these contemptible measures decline to attend the game.
“We are fans, not criminals, and we should not put up with this.”
Thanks to Action Images for the image used in this story.
VAR is extremely unpopular and if this farce from the Scotland game last night is anything to go by, it will remain so for the forseeable future. Scott McTominay’s superbly hit free-kick against Spain was ruled out because of some ethereal infringement – but no-one’s quite sure what. Ridiculous stuff from the officiating team.
Last month the FA announced that the Community Shield would be taking place on a Sunday at 5.30pm, a difficult time for Manchester City fans hoping to get down to the game and back in time for work the next day. After a backlash that was revised to 4pm but Manchester City fans are calling for it to be moved to 3pm.
In recent seasons, the supporters’ movement in the women’s game has flourished and Manchester City Women’s Official Supporters Club are just one of the many fan groups riding that wave. In a special long read, which is packed full of ideas for other developing groups, Board member Dave Sheel tells us about the group’s journey over the past five years…
Exeter City, the fan-owned club who were saved by their supporters when the club was in crisis in 2003, have repaid the long-term interest free loan provided by the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust (ECST).
