West Ham Supporters Arrested For Free Speech

[WildCat]

Sigh, they are

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/13218273

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16137728

A 40,000 Euro fine and a ban on its fans from away games?

That's what passes for being held responsible? No wonder it's been so out of control for so long. If a venue in Chicago were attracting such a clientele the city would pull their operating license.

The sports teams in the US police the fans quite aggressively, you will lose your season tickets if you or one of your guests behaves badly at a game. Non-season ticket holders will be tossed out and banned.

True story: I have a friend who has Bears season tickets, his family has had them for generations and his grandfather was actually head coach for a time, they are well connected in the Bears organization. He couldn't make it to one game, so he sold the tickets through the Bears official ticket exchange, the Bears run it and take a cut of the sale. The seller never even knows who the buyer is. In this case the uyer was a jackass, and the people in the surrounding seats complained. He lost the use of his tickets for the rest of the season, completely unfair IMHO given the circumstances (how can he be responsible for the behavior of someone he doesn't even know?) but this goes to show how seriously they crack down on bad behavior by fans.

The venues/teams don't allow that type of stuff to happen because it can literally kill the business if it does.

A 40,000 Euro fine? That's less than the entertainment tax per game. Maybe if a few teams got the death penalty things would improve.

 

[Giordano]

Sorry are you jewish? Either way the pertinent factor would not be your religion it would be partly the team colours you'd be displaying but mainly that you were calling them out saying that their threats weren't credible. My point was that your claim that their threats weren't credible was laughable being that even given the huge progress cracking down on hooliganism West Ham's remains one of the few teams where the once ubiquitous and frequent violence is likely to flare up. That sort of provocation would today be severely risky where 30 years ago violence would be certain and extreme.

Of course you knew that already didn't you. Your efforts at twisting people's clear meanings is getting quite hilarious. You're making such a fool of yourself I do hope you continue to do so. It puts a hilarious spin on you original xenophobic nastiness and quite removes any chance of people mistakenly taking it seriously. So thanks for that.

Pip pip old chap.

I can't recall Wildcat ever admitting he/she was wrong in any way, no matter how minor or small. I don't expect it to happen here.

 

[MikeG]

I'm pretty sure your own judicial system doesn't understand it either. I think the law is so poorly worded and so broad it can be used and abused in a wide variety of ways. ...........

Oh, you've read the statute then? Perhaps you could give us the name of the Act to which you refer so that we might look it up. Given your record, the chances of you quoting any of it here is pretty slender. Glad to see that you follow our court cases so closely. Perhaps you could name one or two of the actions on which you base your judgement?

Curious that you should say "the law is so poorly worded" as though there is only one law on this.

Mike

 

[Nessie]

I'm pretty sure your own judicial system doesn't understand it either. I think the law is so poorly worded and so broad it can be used and abused in a wide variety of ways. My favorite part of it is how it assumes Brits are psychic and know in advance whether or not a particular string of words will cause someone to be distressed or merely pissed off, the former making you eligible for jail of course.

I do not believe your misunderstanding is real. You have not evidenced your thoughts on the UK CJ system to prove your thoughts are based on reality.

 

[Nessie]

A 40,000 Euro fine and a ban on its fans from away games?

That's what passes for being held responsible? No wonder it's been so out of control for so long. If a venue in Chicago were attracting such a clientele the city would pull their operating license.

The sports teams in the US police the fans quite aggressively, you will lose your season tickets if you or one of your guests behaves badly at a game. Non-season ticket holders will be tossed out and banned.

True story: I have a friend who has Bears season tickets, his family has had them for generations and his grandfather was actually head coach for a time, they are well connected in the Bears organization. He couldn't make it to one game, so he sold the tickets through the Bears official ticket exchange, the Bears run it and take a cut of the sale. The seller never even knows who the buyer is. In this case the uyer was a jackass, and the people in the surrounding seats complained. He lost the use of his tickets for the rest of the season, completely unfair IMHO given the circumstances (how can he be responsible for the behavior of someone he doesn't even know?) but this goes to show how seriously they crack down on bad behavior by fans.

The venues/teams don't allow that type of stuff to happen because it can literally kill the business if it does.

A 40,000 Euro fine? That's less than the entertainment tax per game. Maybe if a few teams got the death penalty things would improve.

I agree the penalties have not been harsh enough, in the same way your example is too harsh. But I have used evidence to show where you were wrong. You need to stump up evidence to show where your thoughts on the UK CJ system are right.

 

[zooterkin]

True story: I have a friend who has Bears season tickets, his family has had them for generations and his grandfather was actually head coach for a time, they are well connected in the Bears organization. He couldn't make it to one game, so he sold the tickets through the Bears official ticket exchange, the Bears run it and take a cut of the sale. The seller never even knows who the buyer is. In this case the uyer was a jackass, and the people in the surrounding seats complained. He lost the use of his tickets for the rest of the season, completely unfair IMHO given the circumstances (how can he be responsible for the behavior of someone he doesn't even know?) but this goes to show how seriously they crack down on bad behavior by fans.

So, the UK has a system where people are punished for what they've done, which you don't like; but in the US they can be punished for things which they didn't do, which you do like. Is that correct?

 

[Nessie]

Some further thoughts on this dreadful post

A 40,000 Euro fine and a ban on its fans from away games?

Of course Americans don't do away games, whereas in the UK and Europe traveling and going to away games is a very big part of supporting your teams.

True story: I have a friend who has Bears season tickets, his family has had them for generations and his grandfather was actually head coach for a time, they are well connected in the Bears organization. He couldn't make it to one game, so he sold the tickets through the Bears official ticket exchange, the Bears run it and take a cut of the sale. The seller never even knows who the buyer is. In this case the uyer was a jackass, and the people in the surrounding seats complained. He lost the use of his tickets for the rest of the season, completely unfair IMHO given the circumstances (how can he be responsible for the behavior of someone he doesn't even know?) but this goes to show how seriously they crack down on bad behavior by fans.

So in America people get punished for other peoples actions. That does not happen in the UK.

The venues/teams don't allow that type of stuff to happen because it can literally kill the business if it does.......

Same here, any fan who steps out of line can face being stripped of their season ticket or banned from attending games.