Back in England from the most hostile environment I have ever been in. Those in the title of this blog entry should be ashamed of their actions and will hopefully be held to account.
“nothing wrong with fans fighting, keep up the good work” – Igor Lebedev
This is an actual quote. Now Igor is a rather interesting chap that wouldn’t be at the top of my list to go on a night out with. He is not a fan, not a leader of a fan group responsible for the attacks on English supporters. He is an MP for the populist Liberal Democratic Party. More worryingly he is on the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union. Yes the Russian FA. The same Russian FA that is responsible for games at the next Confederations Cup, World Cup and Euros.
“There was no clash. That’s being exaggerated. In fact, everything is fine here” – Vitaly Mutko, 11th June 2016
“It’s the right thing, there were flares, there was a flare gun, there had been clashes in the stands, it’s necessary to sort all of this out” – Vitaly Mutko, 12th June 2016
Now we move on to Vitaly. Another interesting chap that was at the front of the stand wearing a suit as he appeared to be ‘geeing up the boys’ moments before they launched their attack mentioned below in point 10. As you can see from the two quotes above (the dates are correct) he does seem to be a tad schizophrenic or at least little bit liberal with the truth anyway. He’s also the Russian Sports minister. It should also be noted that he has not only been implicated in the doping scandal that has rocked Russian Athletics and seen them banned from competition but also in the alleged covering up of positive test of a player in the Russian Premier League.
Could you imagine the front pages if the Rt hon John Whittingdale or Mr Greg Dyke decided to repeat the actions of Igor or Vitaly? Add in the rumours about some relatively high profile Russian figures that spent part of their youth partaking in activities before, during and after games. This says everything we need to know about the Russian government, governing body and the country’s culture. It must be said though to add some balance I can’t be the only one that would find it an interesting watch to see Boris Johnson, Michael Gove or George Osbourne all turning up before a game at The Den holding a flare and leading the firm into a tear up.
Anyway back to the weekend’s events. Below is how I saw and felt about the situation that arose and the non existent organisation of the event.
1. The Russians and Marseille Ultras were animals. Russians were stabbing and hitting innocents sat down eating pizzas. Marseille Ultras were at some point 5-10 on 1 against the English.
2. The Russians were in balaclavas and holding knives & other weapons and the English that reacted to them had to. They had no choice. We were all penned in by the sea and riot police with tear gas. They looked round saw that they and others (kids included) had nowhere to go and were sitting ducks. They charged at the Russians with furniture and anything else they could lay their hands on to try to hold back them back as they were making their way down to us.
3. PSG, Tolouse and Nice ultras were there to fight the locals. They made it clear they wanted to protect the English. Once they had arrived the local hooligan firms went very quiet.
4. The police were a disgrace and completely lost control of their City. Tear gassing innocent local kids and elderly, innocent England player’s wives and innocent England fans who were chanting with innocent Russians. Meanwhile 50 yards away the guilty Russians were attacking those mentioned in point 2. Myself along with a few other England fans were doing the police’s job by ensuring the local families and injured England Supporters in the vicinity were ok and safe. Also not long after, some of the police took out fans with batons. Once motionless on the floor several other police officers would start laying into them for no reason. At one point one unconscious guy had 4 officers surrounding him and hitting him over and over again. However I must say the 2/3 police officers that helped the critical should be highly commended. Shame they were in the minority.
5. The paramedics were very low in numbers. There were just two in the Port Area that I could see (could’ve been more to be fair but I didn’t come across any others) and took some time to help. Both were having a chat whilst English guys were lying there in pools of blood yards away and myself and other English fans were administering first aid and making sure others were ok. We pointed to one bloke that was out cold with a huge gash in his head. They asked us to bring him to them. Eventually they came over to help.
6. The Russians should be stripped of hosting both the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Euros in my opinion. It’s been all but confirmed that the voting process wasn’t fair in the first place. Everyone seems to bang on about Qatar but Russia hosting these tournaments is a much bigger problem.
7. UEFA should share the blame in this. The Russian influence on Marseille is well documented. They were warned that Russia v England in Marseille was a bad idea and they ignored expert opinion. Why could they not see it was going to be a problem? Ukraine v Poland could be even worse, especially as some of the Russians have said they will be taking a trip back to Marseille to ‘welcome them’. Let’s not forget the scenes when 20000 Russians marched through the centre of Warsaw four years ago. Add in the recent controversy involving Eurovision and this is a recipe for disaster. This Thursday England play Wales in Lens. The night after Russia play Slovakia 25 miles away in Lille. Yes, Lille where the FA, the UK Foreign Office and UEFA have suggested that up to a quarter of a million British fans should base themselves. It should also be noted that there will no doubt be a good number of Russian fans that will travel the short journey
8. The timing of the tear gas being sprayed and the co-ordinated Russian attacks was very suspicious especially given the already mentioned well documented Russian influence on Marseille.
9. Inside the ground at the end of the game the flare gun (the flare itself landed in an England section) was a signal to start what followed. Around 10-20% of the Russian fans involved went into the concourse to prevent the English fans from vacating the terrace and he rest charged over the seats (a pincer movement).
10. The bag collection after the game was disgraceful and completely unorganised. We got a ticket but the numbers on it didn’t relate to a particular area or shelf. The hundreds or perhaps thousands of bags were just in a pile on top of each other. They ended up calling numbers out hoping the owners were there. Some said yes and didn’t have the stated ticket but were allowed to take other people’s property anyway. How many were taken/stolen I have no idea. After waiting for nearly two hours, Barry, a Brummie I had met in the queue and I finally got to the front. There was a crush and the consequences of that if it had got worse are fairly obvious. Barry was unable to locate his bag and the delay meant he missed his Sport Options flight. We gave him a lift to Turin and he had our mate’s spare flight. We then gave him a lift to the Midlands from Stansted. This is what England away trips are all about. Meeting and helping complete strangers that may support your local rival. Not running for your life or picking up people off the floor and taking them to safety.
Far too many are blaming the wrong people. My piece on BBC Midlands Today – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07dnkbs/midlands-today-12062016
Will hopefully post again after Lens. If you’re going over there firstly stay alert and safe and secondly feel free to give me a shout and we’ll share a handshake & a round!
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