Hooligans ruin a football spectacle once again by Dan Smith
As someone who has long argued that the UK has a problem regarding fan behaviour, I feel obliged to give my opinion on the events that overshadowed the Champions League Final.
It’s embarrassing enough for the England FA that last summer supporters without tickets forced entry into Wembley, while this season ended with Liverpudlians (yes you are English like it or not) being accused of trying to gain access to the Stade De France with fake tickets or none at all.
We are quick to look at other nations and judge, yet when it’s our own country we want to blame UEFA, police, security, etc.
The reality is we have a growing number of examples where British men and women think that, in the confines of their footballing bubble, they can act however they want.
There are several instances in the world right now where the media report to you what suits their agenda, not necessarily all the facts. It’s up to you as a person to research a subject, listen to both sides of the argument and form your own point of view.
TV, Radio and the Internet though will try and force you to think a certain way.
So, if you listened to Five Live on Saturday, read articles off the BBC or watched BT, you would hear how Red followers booed the CL anthem because ‘their brothers and sisters were still locked out’.
Journalists took to social media to report how innocent people made to queue for hours were being tear gassed.
In reality, the French police didn’t just decide to randomly attack individuals while organizers didn’t just lock the ground out of spite.
Due to their sensitive history, it’s almost taboo to question Liverpool fans’ accountability when there is crowd trouble. It also hurts their brand and marketability potential to paint them as Yobs.
Yet in the last few weeks, some fans from that City booed the national anthem, swore at the future king, provoked Patrick Vieira, and now clashed with French police with the world watching.
Go on YouTube, you will find videos of people jumping over fences to get in free, breaking down barriers, posts of fights breaking out and admissions of peers stealing tickets.
Ask yourself why the press chose to hide those images?
Over 60,000 scousers flocked to Paris, meaning over half didn’t have tickets.
Of course, it’s a disgrace that governing bodies allocate tickets in the manner they do, but that doesn’t give you a divine right to get into the stadium anyway.
If you went to the French Capital and brought a fake ticket from a tout or tried to break in, then I have zero sympathy.
Of course, genuine customers missed kick off when the doors were locked, but if I was being tear gassed, I wouldn’t be angry at personnel paid to protect the public, I would be fuming with those next to me, wasting our time by trying to jump the queue.
I would be questioning why thousands of morons are wasting authorities’ time when they should be in a Fan Park, not outside a stadium.
It’s easy with hindsight to judge how the situation should have been policed.
Yet nothing should be more of a priority than the health and wellbeing of humans.
Once it was clear that there were too many fans with too many false tickets, those in power have a duty of care to ensure you don’t have overcrowding in one tier.
If that means delaying kick off until things are better organised, then that’s too bad.
Wembley stewards were accused of being two soft in July when, not just was the Twin Towers broken into, but those criminals were not removed from the seats they stole.
When the French equivalent takes control, they are too harsh?
It’s got to be one or the other.
Could tickets have been checked at other points on route to the stadium?
Of course.
Yet that doesn’t give you the right to do what you want. That would be like robbing a shop then blaming the security.
After ‘God Save The Queen’ was jeered in the FA Cup Final, Jurgen Klopp said we should ask why? It’s funny he’s not asking that now.
In reality, the truth is fans bombarded a stadium without tickets and/or fake versions.
They climbed over fences, kicked down barriers, verbally abused police and even fought each other.
If you don’t want to be tear gassed then stop breaking the law.
Be Kind In The Comments
Dan
Very true.
Let’s face it, If it were any other big club from Britain it would probably have been the same. It’s not just Liverpool. English clubs have a bad rep. But then, so do a lot of clubs all over the world. This is a football problem and one that the authorities really need to get to grips with. There are so many oversights because there is so much money to be made. More control and less greed is needed!!
I read or saw no TV images of Liverpool supporters attempting to break into The Stad. Instead the reports from reliable BBC sources quoted witnesses and journalists saying that the problems were first caused by locals attacking supporters and trying to break in and the police randomly tear gassed the waiting fans. It’s easy to say ‘oh yes, typical Liverpool fans’, but you’re making assumptions based on past indescretions by British fans abroad. Let’s see what you have to say when the enquiry has been completed.
Did you not see the video halfway through the article?
It CLEARLY shows Liverpool fans jumping over the barriers!
Errr, no it doesn’t. It shows young men climbing over the high barriers but none wearing red and some other men running towards the Stadium one or two wearing red but no indication of them forcing entry. So these are all ‘clearly Liverpool fans’ then?
https://youtu.be/eyrrmU5jheQ
Here you go
Clearly Liverpool fans fighting each other
Fans saying ‘ there are fans causing trouble ‘ and ‘ he stole a ticket out of his hand ‘
Liverpool fans were fighting local youths who were attacking and mugging them. It’s well reported on BBC and other reputable outlets.
I never said it was just liverpool fans ?
So first you said they were not liverpool fans
Then I prove it
Now your saying , they are liverpool.fans but not all of them
Yes or no is that Liverpool fans fighting in that video ?
So wait ….don’t believe the French minister because that’s fake news but believe the BBC ?
Did you not see they weren’t Liverpool fans who snatch tickets but rather locals? The Liverpool fans were trying to get their stolen tickets back from these French youths who weren’t wearing red.
Stop watching things with red tinted glasses.
How do you know that from the video
We see no one snatching tickets
We don’t know why there are fighting ?
The stealing tickets is fans account which I can send you link of and it’s been proven fans had fake tickets
Can you not see what is happening in this video. Locals are attacking legitimate fans and stealing there tickets. This is reported all over the news by all media outlets. You need to give your head a wobble, you are a disgrace to the Arsenal badge and their fans. You just don’t have a clue or worse still you are propagating the lies and you know it. Hang your head in shame, even your fellow Arsenal supporters have told you on here.
https://youtube.com/shorts/-QCpEwgxTnU?
https://youtube.com/shorts/IBwIPS-lrZs?
The first of your YouTube shows some Liverpool players climbing over a barrier which suggests they may be avoiding paying. Fair enough. The second video shows no Liverpool supporters breaking in… only local youths running towards the Stadium. I’ve seen all of this elsewhere. I have no love of Liverpool.. just want some honest reporting… which is not apparent in this article.
The first video shows fans climbing over a wall onto what I think was a closed road to avoid a crush. That is not the stadium.
Just another example of rival fans seeing what they want to see.
Did you not see they weren’t Liverpool fans who snatch tickets but rather locals? The Liverpool fans were trying to get their stolen tickets back from these French youths who weren’t wearing red.
Stop watching things with red tinted glasses.
Those red fans were trying to avoid a crush there was no way into the stadium that way
Where you there????????????????
More rubbish. The first video is outside of the perimeter, fans are climbing on a wall in a walkway as they where being crushed. No where near the perimeter of the ground. The second video shows locals rushing the ticket barrier where liverpool fans are queuing up, you don’t see any red shirts running, just locals in casual clothing who stand out a mile as not being liverpool fans.
That first video is fans climbing over a wall onto a ramp that leads to the main concourse where the turnstiles are. All to avoid being in the crush.
I was there, it was gangs of French locals absolutely loads of them unless your witnessed it you wouldn’t know do some research try and read some Madrid fans experiences … as football fans we need to stand together this was an awful experience for virtually everybody
Just look at how they are dressed, they are local lads, not Liverpool fans and if you knew anything about scousers who follow football, you would have known that. Its been reported by all sections of the media who they where climbing the fences. Do the right thing and apologies for the lies you have written.
Way off topic, but so good to see Forrest back in the Premier. The name alone makes me want to wax nostalgic about why I fell in love with British football: players in baggy shorts, cloth capped fag toting fans standings on terraces, wingers who believed they could dribble their way out of a telephone and of course Brian Clough. The Kroenkes will never get it.
I agree JS, unfortunately the last thing we need is another team in the PL who seems to have our number
I work in Nottingham City Centre and it was so loud with cheering and music. I work in the top floor of our building and it was still almost deafening. They had a ball
Well done Nottingham Forest
I guess most avid football supporters have mob mentality, but Liverpool’s seem to be the worst
There was nothing kind in this article but I’ll try to be kind in my comment. I think all of us should be careful about assigning blame until all the facts are in.
Disappointing article. Disappointing headline.
Facts …..there is proof of fans fighting ?
Climbing barriers and fences
Fans account that they were stealing tickets
This idea that you just stood in a que and police went ‘ let’s tear gas them ‘…..why ?
“TV, Radio and the Internet though will try and force you to think a certain way.” LOL. You believe the title of a Youtube video as truth :)) rather than considering other pov that it could be (and most likely) local kids, Poor journalism chap.
Not a title as such ……but the actual video what my eyes see lol
Poor comment chap
Well written Dan Smith. I don’t think you were too harsh in your views and opinions. It is a huge problem worldwide. Some supporters will always tarnish football. You would think lessons would have been learnt after the 1989 Hillsbrough Disaster. The police and various authorities were blamed for that. But, it started all started by supporters rushing the entrance gates. The sad thing about all of this, is that innocent people who have done the right thing, bought their tickets through the correct outlets have been caught up in this. All football clubs should be working with all authorities to prevent these things happening. It’s just not Liverpool supporters, but they have made the headlines over the years for the wrong reasons. Depending what news outlet you watch in Australia, it was portrayed that the French Police and Authorities were in the wrong and started it. Watch it on other channels, and you get a totally different picture. I totally forgot to get up to watch that match on Sunday morning. Later in the day I was watching Sky News Sports updates, and the main focus was not the match result, it was the mayhem before the match, and how Liverpool Football Club was going to put in a written complaint. It’s obvious that various media organisations have their own agenda in how they what to tell the news. But it’s all on YouTube to be Googled
In a joint press conference this afternoon, French minister of sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin discussed the chaotic events outside the Stade de France that marred the build-up to the Champions League final on Saturday.
The decision was taken three months ago [to move the final to the Stade de France] following the geopolitical situation in Moscow. Whereas we usually take 12 to 18 months to organise such an event, this was done in 3. We regret that there was a deformity in the way the Liverpool fans were welcomed, unlike with the Spanish supporters
30,000 to 40,000 Liverpool supporters found themselves at the Stade de France either with fake tickets or without a ticket. On top of that, there was the RER B strike which forced them to use the RER D, which has a more narrow exit. What was observed was a massive and organised fraud of fake tickets. 70% of fake tickets at the initial filtering, 15% after the first filter stage. Out of 29 arrests at the Stade de France, more than half concerns Britons.
“The decisions that were taken ensured that there were no deaths. The initial filtering was removed to avoid people being crushed on police cordons or on gates.”
“The tickets are usually electronic, but were paper tickets at Liverpool’s request. The 22,000 English tickets were all paper, which contributed to the massive and industrial fraud. 70% of tickets were fake in the initial filtering stage.“The decisions that were taken ensured that there were no deaths. The initial filtering was removed to avoid people being crushed on police cordons or on gates.”
“The tickets are usually electronic, but were paper tickets at Liverpool’s request. The 22,000 English tickets were all paper, which contributed to the massive and industrial fraud. 70% of tickets were fake in the initial filtering stage.The French doctrine of maintaining order prevented there being deaths and injuries. Comparisons with the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup [to be held in France in 2024 and 2023] seem rather disproportionate to me, knowing that it’s patently only in football with certain English clubs that these events happen. I remind you that France has organised a large number of high-level rugby and football matches recently without difficulty. This was notably the case in the Coupe de France final.In 2019, the final between Liverpool and Tottenham caused the same issues in Madrid. So did a final at Wembley a few years ago. There was also the Liverpool manager who called on supporters to come to France even without tickets. We found ourselves with tens of thousands of British supporters of which a section respected the rules perfectly. And a minor, but extremely lively, section which pushed the authorities
an agenda driven article if ever . shame on the author for trying to cause problems,if it were anybody but liverpool i bet mr. smith would not even comment, let alone write such a one sided article.i know there are a number of anti liverpool fc fans on here, but i did not see anything major in any of the videos that have been posted. yes, there was fighting, but, did tear gas need to be employed ?. have a care before condemming all liverpool fans regarding saturday nights match. even in our wonderful football club there is a certain section of fan who would be up there with the type of behaviour that some fans from both clubs showed. people in glasshouses should never ever throw stones.
I stopped reading after …yeah there was fighting but …. In that moment you lost your argument
Looking at the video you can see provided Dan, I would question that the young man is a Liverpool fan… especially as it seems Liverpool fans were trying to “engage” with him.
There is this kind of thuggish behaviour all over the world and there are no exceptions I’m afraid.
The problem Liverpool fans have, is that they still carry the stigma of previous behaviour…. but it must be sickening to be judged in that way for the vast majority.
I still recall how the Tories and the Sun garbage paper lied and covered up the crime of Hillsborough… a total disgrace.
The stadium is notorious for entering and departing from and the two associations were very quick to apportion blame blame – a bit like you are doing in my opinion.
Why not waiting until the official findings are produced by both sides and then pass judgement?
I must say though, if I hadn’t got a ticket and realised how much one would cost on the black market, I would be watching the game on TV at home.
The French police are by no means angels, as Arsenal supporters found out in the CWC final in ’95, when after the final whistle they locked the exit gates and then sprayed tear gas. Also once we were finally let out of the stadium they then stopped us from getting to the multi storey car park next to the stadium and just kept us kettled.
As for the Scousers, they have a history of jibbing into grounds for big games. As has already been mentioned, Hillsborough, Athens, Istanbul and then our place in the quarter finals of the CL when quite a few of them had forged tickets.
There’s crowd trouble at the Italian games, but you never see it mentioned in the English MSN.
No idea if true but I heard that a lot of the issues may have been caused by North African Liverpool fans in terms of stealing tickets and having counterfeits. Saw a couple videos too of them boasting about it once inside.
The vast majority of Liverpool fans aren’t English 🙂
North African Liverpool fans,how specific!did people stopped them to ask their ethnicity??
How unfair and plain wrong that Dan considers himself judge, jury and chief prosecutor too. Though I do not doubt there were some fake tickets where Liverpol fans attempted to enter and also a few who tried to climb in, I do not believe in a kangaroo court , which is what this completely one sided and farcically biased against LiVERPOOL FANS PIECE ACTUALLY AND DISGRACEFULLY IS.
I would far rather wait for the outcome of the enquiry into this matter before trying to apportion blame to Liverpool, IF, which I much doubt, they deserve it!
IMO, THEOBVIOUS LACK OF ORGANISATION WAS A SHAMBLES AND THE FRENCH POLICE HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO ANSWER FOR.
IMO they were shamefully acting on past reputations and not on what happened on the night itself.
That, meaning DANS RANT, is not how a court of justice functions in Britain, fortunately!
stopped reading at Jon Fox lol
THEN MORE FOOL YOU, AS YOU WOULD HAVE SOMETHING INSTEAD OF REMAINING IGNORANT!
I am not defending or accusing Liverpool fans because if what you are seeing is 100% correct, EVERY club im afraid has an hooligan element attached to them BUT. I have a friend whose friend, who isnt an hooligan, was in one of the queues into the stadium and sent videos to him of the police just pepper spraying families/children and people just queuing to get in with no provocation at all. Someone had let in hundreds of people with fake tickets and spraying those asking questions as to why they couldn’t get in, when they had genuine tickets. They got in eventually but the police were 100% at fault in their situation and they couldn’t comprehend what was going on and why. Dan, just remember there are always two sides to stories and to make out only Liverpool are hooligans is wrong, it is every club who have hooligans.
okay , there are eye witness accounts of fans stealing tickets off each other ?
There are videos of fans fighting ?
20 odds arrests have been made , majority British
The minister of Sport has said thousands didnt have tickets
so what side do I need to hear ?
You either say that’s bad behaviour or not
Dan, you were not on about some bad behavior, you were on about hooligans, that are not just Liverpool problem but a football problem. The police were handling the situation very badly and someone has alluded to that the stealing was by North African Liverpool supporters, that is something that also was a cause of problems. It was a complete mess and not all caused by fans, true fans.
I brought up Liverpool because it involved Liverpool?
It doesn’t matter where they are from , North African or not , they are still fans.
The majority of arrests were British
Plus if you believe one account , you should listen to the minister of French sport as well
Last week I equally had a go at Everton for thier pitch invasion
I agree it’s a football problem
One question, it’s 2022 and tickets are usually electronic so why did Liverpool FC requested for theirs to be paper tickets??
It’s common sense though that there were too many fans
each team got what 25-000 each correct for a stadium what 75-000
Real fans got in find one end .
So we are meant to believe that 25-000 peeps ( not allot for a football match ) were just queuing for hours when the security and police went , ‘ lets tear gas them’
Or is it more likely with it proved that over 60-000 brits went to Paris that thousands showed up either trying to steal ( against the law) or buy from tout ( against the law)
Dan, i am sure lots of things went on, thats obvious but you are portraying one side, from your point of view and i am telling you from the other side, from a non hooligan, they were abused and targeted by police for no reason at all, with what can loosely be described as over use of pepper spray and targeting Liverpool fans in the queues. I saw videos of police spraying families and im sure if you want to even the argument up, there are said videos on you tube.
Of course not all fans are wrong but if I were in that que being sprayed with tear gas I would blame those causing the disturbance
If I have a valid ticket and guy next to me doesn’t have one and is holding up the que , knocking down fences causing police to act …then I’m angry with that person not police
I was at the stade de France on Saturday. I bought my ticket through lfc ballot. It was a paper ticket. Eufa tickets were digital.
There was no trouble until the French police started pepper spraying everyone, both young and old. It was the French locals who were vaulting the fence not liverpool fans. I’d argue that it was good behaviour of liverpool fans that prevented any deaths in the crushes and stampede caused by locked gates and police firing Cs gas canisters.
I saw people pulling kids out of the crush, women getting trampled, old men collapsing because they couldn’t breathe. People covered in blood. Locals stealing phones and tickets. Police hitting and gassing everyone without cause. It was a nightmare.
You clearly weren’t there or you would not be shouting your mouth off for your petty agenda.
And there was things that went on that were caused by over forceful police, who were totally out of line with their force and handling of the situation.
UEFA have commissioned an independent (and pro-bono) enquiry headed by a Portugese official. Perhaps we should await the outcome of that enquiry before commenting one way or the other?
No my eyes tell me enough
If I see fans fighting , it mean fans are fighting each other ….don’t need an enquiry to tell me why
You’ve got it wrong, the enquiry isn’t about a few booze fuelled fans fighting, this happens all the time. It’s brief is to find out who and what caused the ensuing chaos and whether the French police were justified using pepper spray and tear gas. Are you saying that you are against a fact finding enquiry because seen enough videos to make up your mind. CCTV will have miles of footage on the whole scene not just isolated events. Personally I would prefer to await the results of the enquiry, not keen on trial by Youtube
We all know what Scousers are like abroad but anybody can see that this is French locals taking the P . Paris like London is descending into the third world ,Law ,order and safety is old news now and we all let it happen .
Thank goodness most of the commenters here have taken a measured perspective of the events in Paris and have challenged this article for its obvious anti Liverpool bias and complete disregard of the reports from fans and journalists in France which tell a somewhat different and more balanced viewpoint.
Totally Jax… Smith has made up his mind on who and what caused the issue and no amount of debating and trying to explain the issues to him is going to work. He talks about “agendas” but his article is full of holes just because he’s seen a few youtube videos, his mind is made up, if anything, it’s his article that comes across as agenda driven.
I was there. I got in, my mate never, we both got our tickets via the ballot from LFC.. we passed 2 check points and at the third to get into the stadium, the turnstile turned green to allow me in, his turned red and they said his was a fake ticket and wouldn’t let him in. His ticket was taken off him and passed to someone else. There are numerous stories of stewards taking real tickets off fans to hand them over to gangs to sell outside for €500.
Here’s a link of stewards allowing their friends in. See the Liverpool fan who has scanned his ticket and gone through the turnstile but is stopped.
https://twitter.com/fflose/status/1530657070638309377?s=21&t=ynAOC_KUiK55XtKD4kBZaw
This was not down to Liverpool fans but people have already made up their minds. Respected figures in all walks of life have come out and defended the majority of the fans there who’s behaviour was exemplary, but those views and accounts have been discredited by a few YouTube videos by Smith.
Just like Hillsborough, if you get the narrative of “fans turning up late, ticketless, drunk etc” out there early enough then mud sticks… it took 30 years for all those lies to come out but even now, Liverpool fans get taunted with “Murders, The S*n was right, Always the victims…” chants, so not expecting any different now and this article proves it. Rather than look at all the evidence and accounts of people that were there, Smith has made up his mind by what he has seen on YouTube.
So what I saw on YouTube is fake mate ?
Like you think it’s been staged ?
So if I send you a video of Liverpool fans fighting that is actors ?
No mate
You asked for evidence and it’s been provided
Of course media in UK and Liverpool fans will say they were victims
But look at the evidence , take emotion out of it
Your saying 25-000 fans qued peacefully and police said let’s tear gas them for fun?
That’s a crazy accusation to make
Your saying the 20 odd arrested did nothing wrong just because ?
The minister is just lieing ?
Even though the UK said 60-000 peeps decended to Paris – half of which has no tickets
Let’s face it, you’ve got this completely wrong. Hope people see it for what it is and call out the bullshit. The figures that the French police are quoting about fake tickets don’t add up. 1st it was fans turning up late, then the ticket situation. 1 thing is certain though. A liar always changes it’s story 👀
So wait the French police and minister have it wrong because ?
Why ?
Because you don’t want to believe it
I think a post like this is really disappointing when the overwhelming evidence seen so far shows the total lack of organisation at the stadium and heavy handiness of the police. Many reports and videos show that it was mostly locals who were climbing fences on both sides of the ground and getting in to altercations with the police. Why not take fellow fans (Liverpool AND Madrid) at face value with their experiences of the day and join in with condemnation of the total lack of organisation for an event that fans spent hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds to go to? This could easily have been Arsenal fans!! Like every big event(sport, music festivals, rallies) there will always be a very small number of people who will attempt to bunk in (saw this at Glastonbury many times but I don’t call out the whole crowd for it) and behave poorly but you can clearly see from all videos posted that 99.95% of fans remained calm despite queuing for hours and being provocateur by police on the other side of the fence. I just despair that rival fans with an anti-LFC bias ignore the overwhelming evidence shown to date and would rather believe hurried statements from UEFA and politicians that just don’t add up. Fans from all clubs should be united in calling out the poor treatment they receive when going to see their team abroad, not petty point scoring, which seems to be this articles aim….
Final point – faux outrage at booing the national anthem! Liverpool fans get Hillsborough, poverty songs sung to them by almost every other club across the country every week.
What over whelming evidence ?
It’s proven that Liverpool fans went without tickets
I have proven that fans were fighting , fans climbed barriers , majority of fans arrested were British , I can send you fan accounts of people stealing tickets off each other , go the red man TV and he says he got to first fence and his bag was pick pocketed ….. What else do you want lol
Overwhelming evidence:
Sky Sports Reports
BBC reports
Spanish Media Reports
French journalist reports
Fans accounts/videos
Journalists/Media WHO WERE THERE
Can see your videos of a handful of scuffles (with what looks like French locals and police) and a a handful of people climbing fences (again, looks like mostly French locals). Reports of pickpockets happened to English and Spanish – again, reports/fans say by local French who also were waiting outside ground after game. I don’t think you really understand the gravity of the situation but still reached your position based on your perception of Liverpool as a club and a city.
Why have you not posted the majority of media reports which seem to conflict with your view?
Assume you’ve also accepted Boris Johnsons position on lockdown parties as well? He is the Prime Minister after all so must be true.
No I meant evidence that suggest I’m making this up ?
There is a video of Liverpool fans fighting
Now you admit that yes fans were stealing ?
Never mentioned the city , I clearly say there is a problem in England of fans thinking they can act how they want
Just happend to be liverpool this time
Last week I wrote about pitch invasions , I wrote about man U fans breaking into old Trafford , spurs throwing a banana at Auba , a rise in racism in the UK , a euros where fans tried to break into wembely without tickets
So know it’s not a perception on one city .
Equally that city can’t play the victim every time they are criticised .
Fact is 60-000 peeps went to a city where only 20-000 had tickets
Uefa and police have to be accountable but so do fans as well
Locals were stealing from all accounts reported – not Liverpool fans!
Seen no evidence of fans fighting that warrants riot police, tear gas and heavy handiness of police
See no evidence of Liverpool fans acting how you described (or compared to England fans at Euro Championship)
Next time your team or the country you follow gets to play a game in Europe, or even in this country, just remember the rubbish you’ve spouted and blamed.
Your argument seems to be that if just one fan misbehaves then you should tar the whole fan base as hooligans and they get what they deserve. All the evidence shown so far points to poor organisation. Assume you also think that for the World Cup later this year only fans with tickets should go to Qatar otherwise it’s fair game for them to be treated like animals?!
Remember that it’s about the safety of football fans and not about point scoring on tragedy or near misses.
Stay safe
Dude I sent video like three times of fans fighting wearing Liverpool shirts
The French comissioner as said fans had fake tickets
Red man TV said bag got pick pocketed
Police reported arrests
I can’t keep saying same thing
Mate – that video is at the Real Madrid gates that I walked past. They’re Real fans mixed with local lads from Saint-Denis.
I was there. Saw it all. The reason you need to back LFC on this is that every english club is on the target list so we’re all in it together lad.
Stadium organisation and security was a debacle. Just look at what your boy Thierry Henry was saying on tele about the place. He knew the score and I bet he’s completely unsurprised about what happened.
Need to stick together on this one. Bigger than club rivalry lad.
Kaveh’s breakdown on Sky Sports was bang on. Suggest you watch that and re-evaluate your article.
Peace.
Mate look further up , there is a video of Liverpool fans fighting , I’ll post it if you like ?
Red man TV – I was in first fence and my bag got pick pocketed !
The French comission report – who are we just to say that is a lie?
30 areests , the majority British
An absolute shambles of an article to be honest.
Listening to 100’s of different fans accounts of the incident, all this trouble started well before they even got near to the stadium, whether it was being bottlenecked in to a crush with kids being lifted out, or being mugged by gangs on the way to the stadium. Every fan base has a few dickheads and just because someone chucks on a Liverpool shirt to jump a fence in to the Liverpool end doesn’t even make them a fan.
This isn’t the first event that UEFA should have been held accountable for not making safe. Time after time they choose locations and stadiums that simply aren’t adequate.
And sadly, with stupid articles like this for mere clicks and point scoring against another team, nothing will change. It will happen time and time again until their are tragedies.
Things need to change, and fast, at the very top. Only once we hold them accountable together will we ever see any action or change.
Luckily, this was well documented and not only by LFC fans. I have hope.
Soz mate I stopped at just because they put on a Liverpool shirt doesn’t make them a fan ?
So now because I have found a video of fans fighting and proven fans accounts of fans stealing , the best you come up with is what ….locals are dressing up as Liverpool fans
Here’s a clue , if your wearing a liverpool shirt I think your a liverpool fan
Very disappointing article. Most of it already being debunked by further reports of what actually happened and I look forward to the follow up article in the near future putting the record straight with a sincere apology from the writer.
What’s been debunked ?
Well Dan, as an Arsenal supporter I think you should remember the problems that Arsenal fans have had when coming in contact with the French police.
As a 76 year old Liverpool supporter I am heartened to read the responses to your article from Arsenal fans who are suggesting that you should wait for the outcome of an ‘Independent’ enquiry before judging
I don’t go to away games now but I watch as thousands of away supporters attend games at Anfield and how the movement of people are controlled by stewards and police. I’m sure the same is true for all games in the UK.
It’s true that there will be idiots in any crowd but I’m convinced that a truly independent enquiry will point a finger at the the inept organisation and particularly the actions of the riot squads in gassing a group of people including women, children and the elderly.
I never said organisation or police were great
I’m saying this argument that Liverpool fans just stood in a que isn’t true
This idea suddenly that the French just picked on the English and are now covering it up is doubtful
We have a problem in the UK of admitting our fans do anything wrong
https://youtu.be/eyrrmU5jheQ
37 seconds in – fans fighting , some in liverpool shirts
Fans saying ‘ he took tickets out of his hand ‘
Fans saying ‘ fans casing trouble all over the place ‘
30 arrests , most British
Minister of France saying fake tickets were brought
I’m afraid it had become a national tradition from Linerpool supporters. “It wasn’t us”.
Getting boring
This article is embarrassing and agenda led. It’s not based on facts or witness accounts. Strange how actual journalists with credibility say different.
Oh dear mate
In 2022 don’t believe everything media tell you.
Plus your argument falls down based on the French media and government are telling you the opposite.
So why believe one media and not the other
Witness accounts?
Okay ….Jason macaterr said his wife at Liverpool end was mugged before the game ?
Is he lieing ?
Now that could be locals of course
But equally it supports the French claim that there was bad behaviour happening
I was at the stade de France on Saturday. I bought my ticket through lfc ballot. It was a paper ticket. Eufa tickets were digital.
There was no trouble until the French police started pepper spraying everyone, both young and old. It was the French locals who were vaulting the fence not liverpool fans. I’d argue that it was good behaviour of liverpool fans that prevented any deaths in the crushes and stampede caused by locked gates and police firing Cs gas canisters.
I saw people pulling kids out of the crush, women getting trampled, old men collapsing because they couldn’t breathe. People covered in blood. Locals stealing phones and tickets. Police hitting and gassing everyone without cause. It was a nightmare.
You clearly weren’t there or you would not be shouting your mouth off for your petty agenda.
As and admin you are an absolute disgrace to every fan on this country, to come on here and to propagate the narrative being spouted by the UEFA and the French government. They and them alone are responsible for what happened in Paris. Real journalists (not you) who were there have reported who is responsible and they are all in agreement that Liverpool fans were not responsible for what happened. You say you feel obliged to comment, like you actually know what happened, well let me tell you what happened as I was there and I can tell you there would not have been no trouble if the local rats from the area had stayed away, mugging men, women and children charging at the gates, climbing over fences, hundreds of them, some with friends just letting them in. Yes there will always be fake tickets and those people should get dealt with but the real reason it was a shambles is because of poor planning, and the local authorities did not deal with the local issues. Think before you print lies.
What makes this article author think that the guys entering the stadium on the video are liverpool fans ?? From a deduction, he develops a full article while nothing has yet fully be sort out about what happened.
I’d say that the general consensus here is that Liverpool fans most certainly did not “embarrass England once again”, and if in fact any embarrassment has been witnessed it’s by the author of this article and the one or two suck ups who’ve supported it.
‘Be kind in comments’, he says…. The audacity to conclude an article as hurtful and insulting as this with the line is really quite something. First and foremost, it’s clear you know nothing about what really happened (or choose to ignore it) and unfortunately have a site here (which I stumbled across by sheer bad luck) that has so little decency that it gives you a platform to spout all sorts of dangerous nonsense. Obviously most teams have some silly fans but sadly this does no favours for the collective feeling towards Arsenal supporters- hopefully most are wise enough to steer well clear of your articles.
I have also been heartened by the various comments calling this article out. If only you kept your articles to pondering if it should be Lacazette or Nketiah up top.
And as well as being a know-it-all on the actions of thousands of people on Saturday in Paris, you are also clearly an expert in effective policing and stewarding. That said, let’s hope that if Arsenal make it back to the big European matches you stay well away.. Besides, that way you’ll avoid any chances of getting unjustly tear-gassed!
Glad most decent news sources are now starting to report what really happened, at least.
Take it easy
P.S. to reiterate what KR said: “Final point – faux outrage at booing the national anthem! Liverpool fans get Hillsborough, poverty songs sung to them by almost every other club across the country every week.”
The biggest issue was the fans being totally exonerated over Hillsborough. I am from Sheffield had family living around the ground and people I knew working at the match. I sat in the Leppings lane from 4 and stood from 8 and see the verdict very differently. It then happened at Athens when 5,000 got locked out many with valid tickets, tear gassing them at the time saved lives.
Tim, I agree with you, especially about Hillsborough. In ’06, 8 of us went to the CL Final in Paris. 4 had tickets, 4 of us didn’t. Us 4 watched the game in a pub and there was some Scousers in there. I got talking to one of them and he said If it Liverpool were playing they would be at the stadium trying to jib in. I replied, like Hillsborough ? To which he replied, you know.
In those days the police would rather have a big group of ticketless fans in the ground than have them playing up in a city centre.
Herr Drier which club do you support? Hillsborough has never been the same for me, once the Liverpool fans got cleared, I had to look at empty terraces where 97 innocent people died for a year to have the real cause wiped from history. There were many other factors as well. The evidence is there for all to see on the matchday videos filmed from the back of the stand, but they have doctored them adding speech and assembled the footage in another way to mislead the general public watching.
Tim, I’m an Arsenal fan. Again I agree with you. As you say, there were many factors that sad day that led to the deaths of those poor Liverpool fans, the biggest thing imho was the fences, and Dan Smith wants to see fences brought back due to recent pitch invasions 😠.
Its all true, sadly look at the state of the british media in all this,
Endless excuses & lets blame someone else.
You do know Liverpool has a global fan base not all Liverpool fans are “scousers” as all Arsenal fans are not “cockneys” . Many scousers support Everton which shows how little you know about football and geography.
You already know very so little about your subject, you have embarrassed yourself with your ignorance.
Having watched the video there is not one red shirt there and judging by the attire of the kids they aren’t English and there is more white on the kids than red so perhaps they are Madrid fans?
There’s a life out there for you if you want it ?
For me, there!’s culpability on all sides and the investigation will show this to be the case. But what is clearly being swept under the carpet by our wonderful British media are the amount of fake tickets that were in circulation. Liverpool fans were openly bragging on social media about buying and selling forged tickets. It’s been reported that around 2800 fans gained entry on fake tickets which largely squares with the 2700 genuine ticket holders who didn’t get in and who UEFA said they would be issuing refunds to.
People need to step back and think about this for a moment. If you knowingly buy a forged ticket and get in ahead of the genuine ticket holder, you are not only sh*tting on a fellow fan who had a right to be there, but also when the ticket fraud is on such a huge scale (note that 2800 isn’t the total amount of forgeries – that’s just the number who managed to get in with one) then it clearly prevents a safety risk and could potentially lead to a disaster if they’d actually opened the gates and let everyone in. You’d have thought LFC fans more than anyone else should know this, given their protracted fight for justice over the lies and cover-ups around Hillsborough.
No stone should be left unturned and each party should own the findings if they’re implicated. If that includes Liverpool FC and those Liverpool fans who knowingly sold or bought forged tickets then so be it.
Same happened at Athens. Liverpool football club and its supporters are in total denial. While ever they cover up for an element who support their club, it leaves them looking very guilty. If you aren’t buying tickets from a reliable source, you are guilty.
Tim, I agree with you, especially about Hillsborough. In ’06, 8 of us went to the CL Final in Paris. 4 had tickets, 4 of us didn’t. Us 4 watched the game in a pub and there was some Scousers in there. I got talking to one of them and he said If it Liverpool were playing they would be at the stadium trying to jib in. I replied, like Hillsborough ? To which he replied, you know.
In those days the police would rather have a big group of ticketless fans in the ground than have them playing up in a city centre.
Mickeys posting that its faux outrage at their booing of the national anthem need to give their heads a wobble. It certainly isn’t faux outrage, it’s real anger. They moan about other fans singing songs about them, well sing songs about those clubs then. When have members of the Royal Family sung derogatory songs about Liverpool ?
Real Madrid now seeking answers to lack of organisation on Saturday.
UEFA apologises to both set of fans and to carry out review.
French politicians under severe scrutiny from senate about their initial claims and French Sports Minister Head of Staff resigns.
Maybe Liverpool/Madrid fans and media/journalists who were there were actually telling the truth?!!! Surely politicians, UEFA and a notorious police force wouldn’t lie????
As a Liverpool fan (who was in Paris over the weekend and had the misfortune to be staying in St Denis) I also stumbled across this article by accident and was left shaking my head at the ridiculous bias it shows, yet pretending to be weighing up the evidence.
To say “I saw it with my own eyes” when you were not there and expect to be taken seriously?
This article needs to remain available as it is a perfect example of how to claim to be taking an evidence based view and yet does the opposite. It is a case study in conformation bias – getting the “evidence” to fit your desired story rather than building a picture from all the evidence. Time will tell on this and the weight of independent views will ultimately decide where things went wrong.
The obvious hatred and bias towards Liverpool and it’s fans runs through this item and some of the comments giving it zero credibility. It serves only to feed the desire to point the finger at a hated rival. It does you no credit.
What is equally fascinating is that in the time since the final, the weight of multiple and various accounts has gradually began to highlight an issue with organisation and policing and yet, in the minds of some, this has become a media conspiracy to clear Liverpool fans. This points even more firmly to confirmation bias – you will find the story you want no matter what.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/confirmation-bias.html
Well, I have read most of these posts. How misguided you all are apart from Mat and Keilan who were there. I am in my 60s and have followed Liverpool all over Europe for over 40 years and was also at the match on Saturday. Unless you were there I would suggest those of you who are presenting Liverpool fans in a bad light stop it. The truth will come out, but I can tell all of you now that the numbers of fake tickets is a myth and would ask how you could intelligently even guess the numbers. Yes thousands more went to Paris but thousands also stayed in the fan park to watch it. After the game there were hundreds of French gangs all around the St Denis area that caused more trouble. Before the game at the stadium and even at the fan park earlier in the day, the organization was shocking and policing was diabolical- worst I have ever seen in Europe or in England. I have friends in Madrid, who are Real fans and they have similar accounts. I approached the ground from a direction that was predominantly Real fans, there was crushing as we were corralled through narrow channels to security check tickets. I could give many stories around what I saw that night. Stop embarrassing yourself by writing rubbish and believing what you want to believe