Pitch invasions - the end of an era

Allen

First Team
I think it was very premature for both Huddersfield and Forest to invade the pitch after the semi finals and there was a risk of injuring players ahead of the biggest game of their career. (I know this has been commented on the play off thread)
Quite ironic that Forest are the team who have brought all this into question, when it was Brian Clough who famously smacked his own fan in the face for being on the pitch.
Pitch invasions of the past felt different. The Great Escape one was a fitting tribute to our survival and there was no animosity at all. These days they seem a lot more dangerous and less tasteful. Our own fans (quite a significant number) not getting off the pitch after being asked several times ruined the lap of honour that the players deserved after a memorable night.

The Times is reporting that new measures will be brought in to stop pitch invasions and I think this is sensible after some nasty incidents in the Forest v Sheffield Utd semi final, McBurnie was filmed stamping on a Forest fan, who allegedly attacked Brewster just before the fan started filming.


This was from Sky;
Nottingham Forest fans invaded the pitch after their victory over Sheffield United on penalties on Tuesday, earning them a place in the Championship play-off final.

The Scotland international did not feature in the game, having been ruled out for several months in April with a foot injury.

Neither Sheffield United nor Nottingham Forest are commenting on the incident at present.

During that pitch invasion, Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp was attacked by a fan, and a man was arrested on Wednesday. Sharp, who was left needing stitches in his head, has called the man responsible "a mindless idiot"
 
It’s so disappointing that some people just can’t control themselves and end up making things worse for everyone else. Authorities need very little excuses to impose draconian restrictions on people, and even more so football fans.

I agree with you Rob - but how many times have you heard the announcement "please don't run on the pitch at the end of the game" and it still happens.

I said to some people at the Forest game - need to win tonight, because we don't want a pitchie against Millwall - it would end up a bloodbath - it was a bit tongue in cheek - but with the incidents at Forest you start to wonder......
 
It’s the end of the season, after two years of empty or partially full grounds. There’s been a couple of unsavoury incidents at one game involving a couple of idiots.

Perspective.
One game? The Bristol Rovers game was held up for 15-20 minutes because of a pitch invasion. There have been others.
 
McBurnie was filmed stamping on a Forest fan, who allegedly attacked Brewster just before the fan started filming.
Do you mean "McBurnie in his surgical boot was knocked off balance and was filmed trying to avoid standing on someone who fell in front of him"?

I know football commentators believe that when your foot lands on or near someone else, it is always a "stamp". But football commentators are stupid sheep. When you put your foot down in the normal course of business, even if someone else has put their foot in the same spot, it isn't a stamp.
 
Do you mean "McBurnie in his surgical boot was knocked off balance and was filmed trying to avoid standing on someone who fell in front of him"?

I know football commentators believe that when your foot lands on or near someone else, it is always a "stamp". But football commentators are stupid sheep. When you put your foot down in the normal course of business, even if someone else has put their foot in the same spot, it isn't a stamp.

He'd already steamed into a ruck with his surgical boot in the first half when Heckingbottom slammed the ball into Spence's chest. There's probably not enough evidence to say he stamped on the bloke but there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that he's an absolute wrongun.
 
I agree with you Rob - but how many times have you heard the announcement "please don't run on the pitch at the end of the game" and it still happens.

I said to some people at the Forest game - need to win tonight, because we don't want a pitchie against Millwall - it would end up a bloodbath - it was a bit tongue in cheek - but with the incidents at Forest you start to wonder......
Are you really a punk!? ;-)
 
One game? The Bristol Rovers game was held up for 15-20 minutes because of a pitch invasion. There have been others.

They’re delays because of the pitch invasion. It’s the unsavoury (violent) incidents in a higher profile game that have grabbed the headlines and why it’s now seen as a problem.

* The fans were also off the pitch a lot quicker than the 15-20 minutes at the Bristol Rovers game, no one had any idea why the delay was quite so long. The pitch was clear for what seemed like ages on sky sports news.
 
It’s the end of the season, after two years of empty or partially full grounds. There’s been a couple of unsavoury incidents at one game involving a couple of idiots.

Perspective.
Yep, but since when did perspective come into football!!
 
This article about pitch invasions including the 1966 World Cup Final when the score was 3-2. There are a number of different ‘incidents’ mentioned, including this below.

The ‘invasion by pigs’ at Charlton, went one better than Cherries fans with their ‘invasion of cushions’.

Pitches aren't just invaded by people. Animals get in on the act too and they are usually much more fun and light-hearted. That's a whole other feature, though.

In 2016, it wasn't just one or two animals invading the pitch - it was pigs and thousands of them. Fair enough they were plastic ones, but still.

The match was a League One clash between Charlton and Coventry at The Valley. The clubs had little in common other than both sets of fans were deeply unhappy with their respective owners.

No sooner had the game started than it had to be stopped due to thousands of plastic pigs raining down onto the pitch from both supporters, forcing the game to stop while they were cleared away.

"The plastic pigs were hurled onto the pitch from all around the stadium," reported BBC journalist Ian Shoesmith.

"It was completely simultaneous - and had obviously been planned in advance by the two pressure groups opposed to the owners of both clubs."

https://www.planetsport.com/soccer/news/football-pitch-invasions-good-bad-ugly-city-ground
 
Think it would have been hard for anyone to keep in their seat , being on the verge of promotion after completing a 7 goal turnaround....;)
I don't see it myself. If I knew that my side was about to get promotion and I could perhaps get the game abandoned if I ran on to the pitch, then I might be inclined to stay sat down.

But regardless of the stupidity of it, if we're going to have pitch invasions permitted in-game, it will add to the time of football, make the pitches worse, and further encourage bad behaviour. The violence of the eighties was partly because pitch invasions were not nipped in the bud when they had the chance - why do you think there were fences in front of the crowds?
 

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