I don’t normally post through a euro away trip. For one, I hate typing on my moby as regular readers will know I’m not laconic when I start. Haha. And the last thing I want to be doing is typing my wham when I’m on ‘holiday.’
But I’m just that lost and in bits after tonight it seems the appropriate time. And not at losing the game. That was a complete, non event sideshow. The match honestly doesn’t matter. But the absolute disgrace and lack of ANY organisation before the game. There’s going to be a lot of ***** written and spoken blaming ’those Scousers again! ‘in the coming days. Its already started from UEFA and the French authorities with their lies to shift the blame. But nothing could be further from the truth.
We got to the ground around half 6 tonight. For a game that wasn’t scheduled to kick off until 9. And the lack of ANY organisation after the first check point was immediately apparent around the turnstiles. The disorganised queue was lengthy at that time. And wasn’t moving. All leading to ONE small gete that led through to the actual turnstiles. And, naturally, the longer you were in it, the more congested it got. There wasn’t ONE steward or police outside to organise the building mass. And I won’t lie. It was scary as F. And I was personally really struggling ….. I’ve deleted this 5 times now as I’m struggling to convey my feelings ….. I was getting flashbacks to Sheffield. And I couldn’t get out as you were stuck in the throng. Panic doesn’t begin to describe the emotions but you have to hold it together for everyone elses sake around you. And when you have a crowd like that, frustrated, with the kick off fast approaching (we were still outside going on an hour and a half after starting to queue), people start vocally letting their annoyance be heard.
So you’ve one small gate to funnel people in, which was almost constantly shut (admittedly ____heads with jarg tickets didn’t help that situation as the gate was constantly being shut as they got lashed out), a mass build up of people trying to get through the one small gate, and NO police or stewards controlling that build up. And then, just to add to the fun, out of nowhere, and I still don’t know where it came from (presumably from the Police inside the outer cordon of the ground we were trying to get through to) we got teargassed. Not once. Which would have been disgraceful enough. But THREE separate times. Now I don’t know if anyones experienced that, but I can tell you first hand its not F nice! And when you can’t disperse from it, its even worse. Lads were throwing up on the 2nd/ 3rd wave of it.
I eventually got through into the ground 20 minutes before the original scheduled KO. Over TWO hours after I started queuing. Separated from mates who eventually made it in. I was a complete emotional mess. I won’t dwell on this as I struggle to talk about Sheffield at the beat of times. But I thought I was back there. The game was just a non event as my head was in bits. Even after I’d composed myself.
This probably sounds dramatic, and maybe incoherent as I’m rambling on a phone, but thats honestly the worst experience I’ve had in decades at a game where the lack of any and all organisation/ consideration of public safety/ crowd control et al, was astounding. There but for grace of God there wasn’t a SERIOUS incident. And that was only through our own fans self policing each other and calming people down the more naturally
annoyed and frustrated they got.
This isn’t some backward Country we are talking about. This is the capital of France. In a stadium regularly used for major football/ rugby games. But here we are again. With a complete lack official accountability and the blame being spun onto football supporters.
I currently feel like I just can’t be arsed with this any more. Being treated like absolute low life **** just because I happen to want to support my team abroad. I mean this was the biggest football game on the planet for F’s sake! Just HOW can this continue to be happening?
Oh, and just for good measure, the French police turned up at the end of the game in full riot gear looking like Robocop, and teargassed us again going out! I missed that one as I stayed to applaud every last one of our magnificent team off the park at the end. But a few mates didn’t and walked straight into that.
UEFA and the French authorities can politely go F themselves for the absolutely despicable treatment of hard working people who paid a small.fortune to be at their showpiece game tonight. But hey, it’s just them Scousers at it again and the lies will stick with the majority around the Country.
This is supposed to be the pinnacle supporting your side but I’m tuning out for a while as I need to forget football and tonights events or else I will fall apart with the memories tonights carnage invoked.
