The natives are revolting in Huddersfield, as Town fans complain about the ‘exit control’ plan to segregate rival fans leaving the John Smith’s stadium after tomorrow’s game.
Huddersfield fans will be prevented from leaving the stadium via the St. Andrews’ Road exit until we’ve left the area, which will mean that some of them will have to walk a long way round via Leeds road to get to their cars or back to the town centre. And some of them are getting jolly cross and accusing the club of causing inconvenience to their own fans.
In fact Huddersfield asked the Safety Advisory Panel and West Yorkshire Police about the alternative method of segregation, of holding Leeds fans in the stadium at the end of the game, but the police thought that to do so would create “a disproportionately significant risk to the safety of not only those fans, but also the police and stewards.”
But Stephen King, chairman of the Huddersfield Town Supporters Association told the Huddersfield Examiner “It seems to me that because the police cannot control the Leeds fans, they have pledged to control all the Town fans. I will be seeking a meeting with West Yorkshire Police as soon as possible to try and understand the disparities in policing this fixture in Huddersfield and Leeds. Town fans have been kept inside the stadium for up to 45 minutes at Leeds after the final whistle.”
Obviously Mr.King hasn’t heard about the new arrangements for away fans at Elland Road, where away fans can now get straight to their coaches parked behind the West Stand. They may have been kept behind after games in the past, but when they come to Leeds later in the season they will be able to able to leave the stand straight after the final whistle.
And as far tomorrow’s game is concerned, the ‘exit control’ plan in force seems perfectly sensible to me, as it allows to the two sets of rival fans to disperse in different directions. If we were kept inside that would allow the Huddersfield fans to congregate to have a go at us, while we were marched back to the station in an escort.
Despite Mr. King’s claim that the potential for bother is all down to Leeds fans being uncontrollable louts, some of the followers of his own team aren’t exactly whiter than the whites. Every time we play in Huddersfield we see groups of fans in the two home stands on both sides who take up the blocks of seats nearest the Leeds end, and spend the whole time trying to provoke us rather than watching the match.
I’m sure that these people would love to have a go at us if they got the chance. Remember the cowardly attack on Alan Smith on the pitch after their play-off game with MK Dons last season just because he used to play for us?
Following on from the Examiner’s article on their website there is the comments section, which has more hilarious moaning about the inconvenience to innocent Town fans, and how we should be the ones who are made to wait, just because they’re the ones supporting the home team. But of course there none of them can manage to justify why law-abiding Leeds fans should be inconvenienced instead.
I’ll be thinking of them all tomorrow when I walk out of the stadium straight after the final whistle, and having a good chuckle. And hopefully when we visit Huddersfield in the future the powers that be will ignore the likes of Stephen King and maintain the perfectly sensible arrangements they have put in place for this game.