FA Right To Charge John Terry

More the point that it's not particularly surprising to see one Chelsea-supporting adulterer defend another (the adultery point is a bit irrelevant but it makes for a good line). And the fact that he has no credibility generally



On the subject of Wildebeeste's encounter and the lack of response from others, this is an interesting read: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

Well, well! I read Harlan Ellison's The Whimper of Whipped Dogs back in the mid-80's, which is the first time I had ever heard of this event.

It was not long afterwards that I read a story in the local paper of a person going to the assistance of a woman being attacked on Ealing Common (I lived in Ealing at the time). As it turned out, the woman and her "attacker" were actually a team and the would-be samaritan was brutally attacked and robbed; if I remember correctly he was in hospital for a week recovering from his injuries.

I've never forgotten these "two sides to a story" and neither have I ever managed to work out what I would do if I ever found myself in such a situation. Safety first or offer help but run the risk I might suffer serious injury.

I really don't know.

Not sure if Wildebeeste was sat with the Torquay fans yesterday and in all due respect IT IS up to the stewards to deal with those situations. Maybe people around you were engrossed in the game and not taking the slightest bit of notice of two guys having a slanging match, why should they? You may have been travelling for hours and paid good money to get in so the last thing on your mind is getting involved with some arsehole and both being escorted out. In future i would suggest immediately having a quiet word with a steward.......just a thought. Anyway keep up your good posts they make enjoyable reading.

And some more relevant information!

"The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The probability of help has often appeared to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. The mere presence of other bystanders greatly decreases intervention. In general, this is believed to happen because as the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to notice the situation, interpret the incident as a problem, and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

Hey, it's Wikipedia so does need some amount of cross-checking, but that is very interesting if its true.

You're cordially invited to York City v Torquay United on 24 November.

If you can make it to York, Wildebeeste, I'm sure you may bump into one or two others from this forum.

Getting stuck in an all-seated section with people who get on my wick is one of life's little concerns. Just imagine having a season ticket which opens up that delight.

What to tolerate at football - or not - is occasionally a dilemma. There's things we accept as "part of the game" that we may feel less comfortable with away from football. There may even be odd bits of "naughtiness" that we rather enjoy because the rest of our lives are rather more restrained. But I don't buy into some of the "it's a football match, what do you expect?" stuff. And, I suspect, there may have been a few people around Wildebeeste on Saturday who would have taken that line.

Interesting too what Wildebeeste says about the angry nature of the Chesterfield crowd on Saturday. I think that can be a case of swings and roundabouts. We may moan about the lack of passion or fervour at Plainmoor. But with passion and fervour, there's often an increased possibility of aggressive anger and hatred. Yes, there's some anger - and occasional signs of hatred - at Plainmoor if things aren't going well or we're up against somebody we don't like. But, compared to many other grounds, I'm prone to file the atmosphere - when downbeat - under the headings of "sullen" and "miserable" rather than raging. I'd also say we "dislike" rather than "hate" even to the extent of our local derbies being, in comparative terms, rather tepid affairs.

Not that I'm actively promoting hate or anger you must understand. Far from it. But if Wildebeeste's destiny takes him towards more games at Plainmoor - plus the occasional away excursion - I'm sure we'll be pleased to hear more of his sociological insights and comparisons.

There is an old saying “ it’s better to be an alive coward than a dead hero”. I think we would all like to think if we were in a situation where we could save someone’s life we would. How many times have we heard of a hero who has sprung into action and often with little regard of their own safety.

But how foolish would it be to jump into deep water to save a drowning man if you can’t swim yourself? Very foolish indeed as the likelihood is that two people would end up drowning instead of one.

In most actions we are about to take, we do need to try and do an instant risk assessment, failure to do so could have consequential effects. I know being only 5ft 4inches tall. Some 6ft pissed giant is not going to take any notice of what I may say and is more than likely just to thump me. It would hardly be a fair fight and I know who would end up the loser, ME.

I know Lambie you do not always believe it when we say so many things in the old days were better than they are today, but some most certainly were. If the local brat pack were causing trouble outside your house, you went and told them you knew where they lived and if they did not pack it in, you would go and tell their mother and father. These days they will stick their fingers up to you and just tell you to F*** off. All you need to do next is keep an eye on your windows as there is a good chance a brick might be put through one of them.

You knew if you did tell their mum and dad action would be taken and hard lessons would have been learned. It was called discipline but what ever happened to that and how did it get lost. In school you faced the cane if you were naughty, was that such a bad thing? No not in my book as there was a real price to pay if you were naughty, it was called pain, it hurt and you sure did not want it again. Job done then and lessons learned and you grew up knowing right from wrong.

In my childhood days you have the local bobby walking around, if he caught you doing anything he gave you a clip around the ear. Was that so bad? These days kids know they can’t be touched and have no respect for the police, or anyone else it seems.

Barton Downs is so right, some seem to think because its football, anything goes and nothing can be wrong, it’s no wonder so many decent people don’t want to go and watch football matches. They think all football fans are thugs, but as we know, most of us are also decent people and it’s only a few who end up tarring us all.

You can politely ask someone to stop doing something that is causing offence, but if they are the type who would not listen to reason, or the sort that hits first and ask questions later, you would be wasting your time.

So going to a steward is the best and only answer, at least you would be doing something rather than what most seem to do and that is nothing. I know from personal experience that things can be achieved by working with club stewards.

We had our own little pack who sung the ref is a c*** every time he gave a decision they did not like. Was that acceptable to most of us. NO it bloody well was not and would I have got anywhere going and asking them to polity stop. NO I would not have.

But words from the stewards got it all stopped in the end, for my trouble I did get a few thumps in the back while walking along the popside path at the end of the game.

Fans pay good money to watch football, they should not have to put themselves in any danger by having to confront the sorts who think its ok to shout out racist remarks, let those who are paid to do it get on with it once it has been pointed out to them.


On the J.Vine show only a few weeks ago there was a debate about how just one punch and kill. A drunken young man had gone into a late night take away and ordered cheese and chips. He then complained the cheese was not melted enough and the chef came out to talk with him. He hit the chef with one punch and knocked him out cold; the chef hit his head hard on the floor and died.

That’s all it could take just one punch from someone who must be full of hatred anyway, do not take the risk fellow fans, but do not put up with it either. Try and tell a steward to get some action taken. That way you can get back to enjoying the match and go home afterwards to your wife, girlfriend, or boyfriend.