June 06, 2007

The Blame Game: : after a UEFA report blamed Liverpool fans for crowd trouble Rick Parry, Liverpool chief executive argued otherwise. Now Platini agrees saying that Reds fans cannot be blamed for the trouble. Martin Samuel isn't so sure.

posted by Fence to soccer at 05:13 AM - 4 comments

Like most of these issues it seems to me that it is six of one, half a dozen of the other.

The people who stormed into the stadium are the scum of the earth. They put at risk hundreds of lives and should be ashamed of themselves. The vast majority of Liverpool fans are impeccably behaved, but there has always been a hard core of mindless thugs that ruin it for the rest. It hurts me to say this, but I won’t be following Liverpool on their travels in future.”
- Phil Hammond, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group

posted by Fence at 05:15 AM on June 06, 2007

Fence, that may be the most reasoned response to this whole kerfuffle yet. Both sides have to admit that they share culpability for this mess (even the slight majority of Reds fans have to be acknoweledged). That said, stewardship of the final seemed to be a joke.

posted by trox at 09:57 AM on June 06, 2007

When you get any large enough group of human beings together in an activity laced with strong emotion some will act badly and a few very badly. Tragic at times but there you go.

posted by billsaysthis at 10:15 AM on June 06, 2007

First, Martin Samuel is the best football writer on the planet. He is a weekly must-read in my household, and is usually spot on in his analysis. I would just like to take a moment and relish actual sport's journalism rather than Micky Mouse-ESPN bullshite. now Of course Uefa will blame Liverpool, because L'pool are the ones who used forged tickets. The estimated 20,000 supporters that showed up sans tickets conspired to crash the gate in Athens, Hillborough be damned. It was L'pool who took their meager allotment (17,000 tickets) and gave 6,000 to sponsors and blue-hairs rather than season ticket holders. Likewise, of course L'pool will blame Uefa. As long as these big matches are held stadiums built for track and field and populated with corporate sponsors rather than football fans, this will continue. The cities chosen by Uefa are ridiculous. Istanbul? Athens? Moscow? How often do the authorities there contend with drunken rowdy crowds of 30,000 or more? How often do they deal with big-boy club football in general? CSK Moscow....please.... Football matches should be held in football stadiums, and the FIRST people let in the gate should be season ticket holding football fans of the clubs in contention. l'pool and Milan fans have a right to be angry with Uefa. The biggest game of their season is hijacked at the last minute by Swiss businessmen only concerned about TV revenue and Heineken advertisements. As long as these games are held on cricket grounds, javelin fields, and equestrian tracks in cities that do not have world class football teams expect problems. And if the local authorities are not up to the task, expect the problems to get messy/deadly.

posted by r8rh8r27 at 10:25 AM on June 06, 2007

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.