Match was rubbish as mentioned elsewhere. I didn't enjoy afterwards too much either.

We're in the Family enclousre (Leazes/East stand corner). We walk along the width of the concourse to get to the Milburn stand side to walk down for the train. This involves walking passed the exit for the away fans. At the Sunderland game we weren't allowed thro as the police had sectioned it off and we had to go back and walk down those nicely cobbled bits behind the East stand.

Last night there were police everywhere. Maybe 10 on horses and more than a dozen with dogs. There was a helicopter in the air, lower than usual. The dogs were going beserk. All the handlers were struggling to control them (or looked to be). The dogs were up on back legs, on short tight leashes barking at everything that moved. The helicopter continued to clatter from above.

A couple of middle aged guys were standing, one making a phone call, they were smiling. An older copper came along from behind and hit them harder across the back, and screamed move along at them. Three horses trotted across, randomly pushing people out of the way.

I pulled Ben to my other side so he was away from it all. We got across the road and started to walk down. There were police vans everywhere. Every 20 yards there was another copper with an angry alsation. About 20 yards in front of us, one of the dogs leapt forward at a group mad eup of a two dads and two 12-14 year old lads. From my view the dog got one of the lads, but as he pulled away it was clear he'd just missed him. The dad went berserk at the copper (rightly). The copper screamed back at him, just about managing to hold his dog back, the thing looking like it was choking in desire to get free. The guy and the copper point fingers and shouted at each other, the copper drew his truncheon. The guy moved on. By the time I caught them up, about 50 yards futher on the lad was still shaking.

Meanwhile police vans were zooming around, sirens screaming, the helicopter was lower, the dogs continued to bark. It was like going back 20 years.

We reached the Bath Lane - New link road junction. The police were escorting the Boro fans straight ahead. Anyone else (inluding a pensioner, who looked totally bemused, and slightly frightened, by it all) were told they couldn't go straight ahead towards the Redheugh bridge, anyone who argued, was met with a truncheon waving copper.

The police looked like they were petrified of trouble.

We reached the Central with lots of people shaking heads. More police vans/cars zoomed up in front of the Central, stuff the red lights and the pedestrian crossing.

We got into the Central and a guy is sitting holding a his hand to a head wound above his right eye.

======= Maybe there was a perceived threat of violence. Maybe the police have to be vigilent otherwise we'd have a go at them. I worry about cause and effect. The atmosphere was one of violence. The police were making aggressive noises, from their dogs, from their vehicles from the air. It was intoxicating, it would suck me in if I was 17 and drunk and needing a kick. The dogs had clearly been wound up. They are trained to be in control and clearly they were on the very edge of being out of control, as were their handlers.

Not nice at all.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001

Answers

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001

They still treat football fans like animals Macbeth, there has to be a change in the attitude of the police.(ps i'm nicking your story)

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001

Boro fans are still pretty active in the Hoolie stakes and I think the internet drunken fan sites were buzzing with the threat of "offs". Boro see this as a derby game, bless them, and derby games often have violent conotations.

Northumbria Police are heavy handed, at Wembley the guest police were the ones who insisted on no drinking in the street when the pubs overspilled.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001

7.30ish Pink Lane. After a few bevvies and a bloody good moan in Town after watching another worrying shitty display, I was heading back home to a St Paddy's day party. The streets were full of happy drunkards wearing silly Irish hats hoping from bar to bar. On Pink Lane it was my bad luck to meet a gang of thugs - shaven heads, boots, you can picture the stereotype - chanting a delightful ditty about St George including foul abuse of all things Irish.
Happily I saw no violence as such but very horrible indeed.
I guess about 20odd 30ish of them, I don't thing they were connected to the Smogs, they seemed to be well organised and Geordies were in their number.
Fuckin Nazis

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Hooliganism is getting worse over here. Three examples of the top of my head.

1)Cinemas in Rotterdam, Den Haag, and Utrecht recently needed police protection against telephone-threats for showing a fly-on-the-wall documentary-film about Ajax.

2)PSV fans burst through a gate in the UEFA quarter-final against Kaiserslautern last week. Only quick action from Eric Gerets and his players stopped them getting their hands on the ref and the opponents. They'll be lucky if they only get a fine.

3)The half-brick that came flying through the window of the away supporters bus I was on 3 weeks ago after a NEC-Sparta match.

Musing on this, and Macbeth's posting, I wondered how important the age factor is. The self-styled hooligan-gangs responsible for most of the recent trouble seem very young mostly around 17/18 years of age (usually drunk/stoned). How many 17 year olds can afford to attend Newcastle games on a regular basis? Just wondering.... Either way I'm already sick of the sort of fan here who knows everything about the Chelsea Headhunters or the Inter-City Crew but very little about say Peter Bonetti or Bobby Moore. That Dougie Brimstone has a lot to answer for.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001