No Prisoners

[shurlock]

Got my MK Dons tickets in which was enclosed a pretty stern warning about our behaviour at away games last season - three away games or 'venues' (without specifying where or which matches) were identified as tarnishing our good name. Can't remember much trouble last season - no more than usual - can anybody else? At any rate club thinks there is a issue and will be prepared to dole out banning orders left, right and centre.

Edited 29 July, 2010 by shurlock

[SaintNeil90]

Tranmere will probably be one, but what do they expect if Tranmere allow two pikeys with P*mpey shirts on to sit as close to us as possible. It was always going to spark a reaction, pity the police and stewards didnt understand this.

[trousers]

Tranmere will probably be one, but what do they expect if Tranmere allow two pikeys with P*mpey shirts on to sit as close to us as possible. It was always going to spark a reaction

 

Always? It wouldn't have sparked a reaction in me. I'd have risen above it personally. :-)

[edprice1984]

Couple of idiots ran onto the pitch at Bristol Rovers at the away league game too. But I think that is pretty much it! Unless they are including the trouble at the P*mpey cup game as well?

[SaintNeil90]

Always? It wouldn't have sparked a reaction in me. I'd have risen above it personally. :-)

 

I did'nt say I reacted. Unfortunatly I as well as you know that there are many people who would and did.

[trousers]

I did'nt say I reacted. Unfortunatly I as well as you know that there are many people who would and did.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to imply you would have reacted too. I agree that, sadly, there will always be people that can't rise above such provocation.

[Nexstar]

MK away in the JPT? With that minor pitch invasion at the end.

[oldskoolsi]

Also very minor pitch invasion at Leyton.

[Mewsta]

Couple of idiots ran onto the pitch at Bristol Rovers at the away league game too. But I think that is pretty much it! Unless they are including the trouble at the P*mpey cup game as well?

 

That was a home game though right?!

[shurlock]

A group of saints fans tried to storm a pub at Brentford but that's about all the off-the-pitch nonsense i saw.

[edprice1984]

That was a home game though right?!

 

I agree, but I can't honestly think of three games where there were any incidents - Tranmere and Bristol Rovers are the only ones that come to mind, and in both cases they were very minor! In comparison to the likes Leeds our record on away trips, with the numbers of supporters we are currently bringing, is nothing short of 'Saintly' (excuse the pun!)

I always feel that one of the plus points about supporting Saints is that I have rarely experienced any trouble or felt threatened and when I go to away games the opposition fans are generally very friendly. We are seen (on the whole) as a 'nice, family club' and our supporters do the club alot of credit.

 

The supposed 'Greatest fans in the World' are on all the Police forces black-lists and with good reason! I know we had alot of police attention last year, but I think that was an over-reaction to the sheer number of away fans that were travelling.

[saint.tom.clancy]

Nothing out of the ordinary springs to mind from last season... Though with the numbers we take and the fact we're a Cat C team, we must be doing something wrong?

[Dave Benson Phillips]

No doubt I will get told I am gloryfying football violence again ( yawn ) , but Southampton is not seen as a 'nice friendly family club' . We are a 'Cat C' team for policing at away games. Infact now Leeds and Millwall have gone up, we are the only Cat C team in League 1.

[hypochondriac]

No doubt I will get told I am gloryfying football violence again ( yawn ) , but Southampton is not seen as a 'nice friendly family club' . We are a 'Cat C' team for policing at away games. Infact now Leeds and Millwall have gone up, we are the only Cat C team in League 1.

 

Are we that bad though? Serious question, I don't see a lot of trouble when I go to away games.

[OldNick]

No doubt I will get told I am gloryfying football violence again ( yawn ) , but Southampton is not seen as a 'nice friendly family club' . We are a 'Cat C' team for policing at away games. Infact now Leeds and Millwall have gone up, we are the only Cat C team in League 1.

 

Behave Stu, I don't think many of us wish to be a Leeds or Millwall.

[NickG]

that is also due to numbers of fans travelling - more policing needed

[hypochondriac]

In fact the ghey barn dancing is about the most offensive thing I have seen from saints fans on an away day.

[a1ex2001]

Our away following has steadily deteriorated since we were relegated from the prem, too many chavs and wanna be hard men. That combined with last seasons spate of the same idiotic child running on the pitch every week are bound to effect our rep!

[Plonko]

I didn't see anything at Colchester...... I mean I really didn't see anything.

[Dave Benson Phillips]

that is also due to numbers of fans travelling - more policing needed

 

No it's not, the Categorys have nothing to do with how large the support is, it's how likely trouble or disorder is. The Categorys are A-C, A being the most pleasant fans whom require little or no policing ( the Norwich's of the world ) and C being clubs whose following are likely to be involved in disorder and need high level policing. Last season Millwall, Leeds and Southampton were the only Cat C teams in League 1.

[View From The Top]

I did plenty of away games last season and only MKD in the JPT springs to mind.

 

It was a bit moody at Leeds, but it usually is and there was some heated folk at Tranmere but nowt special.

[Sour Mash]

Had one of these letters shown to me at Barnet on Tuesday night. What an utterly pointless letter. Still, I'm sure it'll be used to justify plenty more easy police over time at away games.

[Pancake]

Always? It wouldn't have sparked a reaction in me. I'd have risen above it personally. :-)

 

Not sure why trousers getting a hard on would have helped matters....

[scott_saints]

No it's not, the Categorys have nothing to do with how large the support is, it's how likely trouble or disorder is. The Categorys are A-C, A being the most pleasant fans whom require little or no policing ( the Norwich's of the world ) and C being clubs whose following are likely to be involved in disorder and need high level policing. Last season Millwall, Leeds and Southampton were the only Cat C teams in League 1.

 

The categories ARE based on how large the support is Stu, aswell as likeliness of trouble and disorder. Guess what increases the chance of disorder? Yep, numbers.

I'm not overly keen on our family club image gheyness, but we're not uber hard and other clubs also don't think we are, or the police for that matter.

[Dave Benson Phillips]

The categories ARE based on how large the support is Stu, aswell as likeliness of trouble and disorder. Guess what increases the chance of disorder? Yep, numbers.

I'm not overly keen on our family club image gheyness, but we're not uber hard and other clubs also don't think we are, or the police for that matter.

 

No they are not.

 

Norwich were one of the best travelled sets of fans in League 1 last season in terms of numbers and they were classed as Category A.

 

We are not Cat C for our 'hooligan' element in my opinion, we are Category C because of our 'Youth' and because our away support is generally one which likes to get rathered lagered in comparison to other support.

[Appy]

I'd agree that numbers won't always come into it, i remember the first season in the championship when we played millwall at home. They only bought a scattering of fans down, but there were still loads of police.

[saint_stevo]

i blame scott_saints

[yorkie]

Is this about the reputation of "The Club" or the fact we are still living in the 1980's? Last season most of the away days I went on were a good laugh - even Tranmere managed to raise a smile due to people getting very heated at a Pompey fan! Pitch invasions aside by the 10-year old - what else did we do wrong?

We have a drink in a pub usually with the locals, we have banter the the OB walking to the ground, and I have never seen any trouble at the bars before or at HT. The only problem is usually Stu blocking the way to the bar with his 4-pints he has to drink in the 20-min interval! If that isn't bad enough he still tries to get 3-pies down his neck too!

Really though we do have some "oiks" that go away with the club - not really there for the football. Just want to get drunk, be totally obnoxious, and spoil most peoples days out with lots of swearing, spitting and agressive behaviour to fellow fans!

Call me an old fart - but my day out at an away game will never change even if the club don't sell me a ticket with Saints fans - I'll go and sit with the homies!

[OldNick]

I'll go and sit with the homies!

A season ticket at brighton....thats a bit extreme

[hamster]

Was it not at Tranmere that some chap's nipper was told off for jumping about and then proceded to sing that distasteful 'Harry Roberts is our friend' ditty, then, defended by his apparently "saints through and through" Dad, was ejected? I could be wrong of course and expect some find the song just to be friendly banter. But it would not endear us to the authoritues perhaps.

 

Also, and although when I saw it occur found it relatively harmless although strictly speaking against the law, we did have that kiddie who was attempting to break the record for the most pitches invaded.

[Turkish]

No they are not.

 

Norwich were one of the best travelled sets of fans in League 1 last season in terms of numbers and they were classed as Category A.

 

We are not Cat C for our 'hooligan' element in my opinion, we are Category C because of our 'Youth' and because our away support is generally one which likes to get rathered lagered in comparison to other support.

 

That is right Stu, its because we have a large 'youth' element and also a lot of our support seem to be bunch of p*ss heads. Depsite all the loling at that lot barn dancing, having 'fun' and acting crazy at the train station in Yeovil, with people on here slapping themselves on the back about how funny it was an elderly woman on her own may well have felt intimidated by a large group of middle aged drunken men dancing and signing obviously p*ssed out of the skulls. In some quarters it might even be descirbed as anti social behaviour.

[shurlock]

That is right Stu, its because we have a large 'youth' element and also a lot of our support seem to be bunch of p*ss heads. Depsite all the loling at that lot barn dancing, having 'fun' and acting crazy at the train station in Yeovil, with people on here slapping themselves on the back about how funny it was an elderly woman on her own may well have felt intimidated by a large group of middle aged drunken men dancing and signing obviously p*ssed out of the skulls. In some quarters it might even be descirbed as anti social behaviour.

 

The way the authorities prepared for us at Yeovil was a sight to behold: made the helicopter attack in apocalypse now look like the village bobby on his bicycle. They were absolutely bricking it.I guess the lower the division we go and more sleepy footballing towns we play, the greater risk there are of 'misunderstandings' which obviously isnt fair -as we're not necessarily acting any worse- but we should anticipate and deal with...

[Turkish]

The way the authorities prepared for us at Yeovil was a sight to behold: made the helicopter attack in apocalypse now look like the village bobby on his bicycle. They were absolutely bricking it.I guess the lower the division we go and more sleepy footballing towns we play, the greater risk there are of 'misunderstandings' which obviously isnt fair -as we're not necessarily acting any worse- but we should anticipate and deal with...

 

That is the other thing, big club comes into town with a large following, it is to clubs like Yeovil a bit of a cup final who are only used to 300 away supporters. their fans will be more up for it and we do have a bit of a name now due to our 'youth' these clubs hooligan element will also be more up for it. Given what happened v Yeovil at SMS, then the OB were probably anticipating a revenge attack of sorts.

[NickG]

No it's not, the Categorys have nothing to do with how large the support is, it's how likely trouble or disorder is. The Categorys are A-C, A being the most pleasant fans whom require little or no policing ( the Norwich's of the world ) and C being clubs whose following are likely to be involved in disorder and need high level policing. Last season Millwall, Leeds and Southampton were the only Cat C teams in League 1.

 

....

Edited 29 July, 2010 by NickG
he's not worth it!

[Dave Benson Phillips]

I think Nick G was also going to disagree on how police categorise 'risk' but then realised he didn't know what he was talking about and was only disagreeing for the sake of it... again.

 

*yawn*

 

For your benefit Nick, here is a breakdown of the categories.

 

Club Security only- no trouble expected, no police are required, let the match stewards get on with it.

 

Category A match – Low risk of disorder, some police presence usually requested.

 

Category B match – Medium risk of disorder, police required in sufficient numbers to employ tactics suitable to reduce potential threat.

 

Category C match – High risk of disorder. there probably will be trouble and policing is definitely needed and the police need sufficient numbers to deal with the level of problems that they anticipate.

 

Category C+ match – Increased risk of disorder is likely. You know there is going to be trouble and you know that you are going to have a lot of police at the ground, not only for trouble but to ensure that people’s safety is secured.

Edited 29 July, 2010 by Dave Benson Phillips

[benjii]

I think Nick G was also going to disagree on how police categorise 'risk' but then realised he didn't know what he was talking about and was only disagreeing for the sake of it... again.

 

*yawn*

 

He might have been about to say that, ceteris paribus, it might be logical to conclude that a bigger following will entail a bigger risk. But then he probably decided there's no point debating with you as you'll try (and probably fail humourously) to shift the goalposts or you'll start ranting about something unrelated and do a few LMAOs whilst trying to convince yourself that secretly everyone is really jealous and envious of you.

 

Or he might not.

 

I don't really know.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

No it's not, the Categorys have nothing to do with how large the support is, it's how likely trouble or disorder is. The Categorys are A-C, A being the most pleasant fans whom require little or no policing ( the Norwich's of the world ) and C being clubs whose following are likely to be involved in disorder and need high level policing. Last season Millwall, Leeds and Southampton were the only Cat C teams in League 1.

 

It sickens me how many thugs and pikeys we have in our support. There is a real element of this club that need to **** off and die, starting with the chavvy 12-17 year olds that sit banging at the back of the Northam and Kingsand.

[NickG]

He might have been about to say that, ceteris paribus, it might be logical to conclude that a bigger following will entail a bigger risk. But then he probably decided there's no point debating with you as you'll try (and probably fail humourously) to shift the goalposts or you'll start ranting about something unrelated and do a few LMAOs whilst trying to convince yourself that secretly everyone is really jealous and envious of you.

 

Or he might not.

 

I don't really know.

 

yep.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

That is the other thing, big club comes into town with a large following, it is to clubs like Yeovil a bit of a cup final who are only used to 300 away supporters. their fans will be more up for it and we do have a bit of a name now due to our 'youth' these clubs hooligan element will also be more up for it. Given what happened v Yeovil at SMS, then the OB were probably anticipating a revenge attack of sorts.

 

That was appalling. The Yeovil fans looked genuinely scared. Felt so ashamed that evening on the way back.

[Toadhall Saint]

No it's not, the Categorys have nothing to do with how large the support is, it's how likely trouble or disorder is. The Categorys are A-C, A being the most pleasant fans whom require little or no policing ( the Norwich's of the world ) and C being clubs whose following are likely to be involved in disorder and need high level policing. Last season Millwall, Leeds and Southampton were the only Cat C teams in League 1.

 

What a joke. Cat C my god what would the catagories have been in the 70/80s?

[Dave Benson Phillips]

What a joke. Cat C my god what would the catagories have been in the 70/80s?

 

It might be a joke, but that's what we are.

 

You have to remember though that no other teams are being 'pwopa nawty' nowadays, so you don't have to be some uber hooligan club to be Cat C.

 

I would point out though that it's on a match by match basis, so our Category would drop to B probably for a midweek trip to Hartlepool, for example.

Edited 29 July, 2010 by Dave Benson Phillips

[benjii]

It's the matches that are categorised, not a set of fans.

 

If we only sold 100 tickets for an away match, I doubt it would be a Cat C unless all of them were sold to known mentalists.

 

I may be wrong, I'm not expert on this.

[Badvoc]

I think to categorise Southampton with the likes of Leeds and Millwall is a total and utter joke and total rubbish. Our away support is not anywhere remotely like theirs in a million years. I'm just trying to remember the last time any Saints away support charged at the home fans looking for aggro. You probably have to go back to Highbury '84 to see anything remotely resembling that type of behaviour.

 

We must be in the same category as the likes of Norwich, Ipswich, Coventry, Bolton, Blackburn etc- well followed away support which comes and goes with very little aggravation.

 

Besides which if we are 'C' what does that make Man Utd? C++??

[Dave Benson Phillips]

It's the matches that are categorised, not a set of fans.

 

If we only sold 100 tickets for an away match, I doubt it would be a Cat C unless all of them were sold to known mentalists.

 

I may be wrong, I'm not expert on this.

 

You posted as I added it, yes you're right, it's the match that is categorised, Hartlepool away last season would have been dropped to a Cat B game. Most teams apart from Leeds, Millwall and us last season though didn't have any matches in 'Cat C' , most Saturday games of Saints are Category C. Which means high level policing to what other teams may experience.

Edited 29 July, 2010 by Dave Benson Phillips

[Danny R]

The letter appears to be massively over the top. I'm very surprised to learn (if true) that we are cat. c. I didn't see any trouble last year and had to laugh at the extent of the policing (ie. Millwall, when we had an escort despite the fact most were old couples wearing jesters hats - although could have been for our own protection). I'd be very surprised if home fans thought we were anything but a family club based on the numerous away games I went to last year.

[Dave Benson Phillips]

I think to categorise Southampton with the likes of Leeds and Millwall is a total and utter joke and total rubbish. Our away support is not anywhere remotely like theirs in a million years. I'm just trying to remember the last time any Saints away support charged at the home fans looking for aggro. You probably have to go back to Highbury '84 to see anything remotely resembling that type of behaviour.

 

We must be in the same category as the likes of Norwich, Ipswich, Coventry, Bolton, Blackburn etc- well followed away support which comes and goes with very little aggravation.

 

Besides which if we are 'C' what does that make Man Utd? C++??

 

I think this is a good example which can be transferred to the blind love for Cortese. People believe what they want to believe.

 

Norwich are mainly known as a 'Category A' team that need little or no policing.

 

I will get told I am gloryfying violence again but Southampton have one of the largest and most active 'Youth Elements' in the country. This is one of the main reasons we are policed so toughly, the other being that we are a bunch of p!ssheads.

[100%Red&White]

...Coventry, Bolton, Blackburn etc- well followed away support...

 

???!

[SaintBobby]

I'm told by police officers I know, that numbers play a big part in the categorisation. Given - as a statistical average - a certain percentage of away fans will cause trouble, there's a hell of a difference between 4,000 away fans descending on, say, Leyton Orient and 400 doing so.

 

Ok, perhaps Norwich fans are disporportionately charming and well behaved. And there may be other teams who are a particular problem, even with more modest levels of away support (Millwall?)

 

But I'm pretty unsurprised - and unembarrassed - that we are the only regular category c team in League One now.

 

I think Stu is right that we do have a slightly worse than average problem with young scrotes (is this because of the relative affluence of the south? i.e. more young pikeys can afford tickets?), but overall I'd say Saints are about average or slightly better than average in terms of behaviour.

[alpine_saint]

You posted as I added it, yes you're right, it's the match that is categorised, Hartlepool away last season would have been dropped to a Cat B game. Most teams apart from Leeds, Millwall and us last season though didn't have any matches in 'Cat C' , most Saturday games of Saints are Category C. Which means high level policing to what other teams may experience.

 

Who does the categorising ? Hampshire's Finest ?

 

They have always been a bunch of officious bastards. why is the Plymouth kick-off at 12:15, FFS ? Certainly down to them.

 

I hear they even shut down a closing party at a pub over Totton.

 

miserable tossers

[Dave Benson Phillips]

Who does the categorising ? Hampshire's Finest ?

 

They have always been a bunch of officious bastards. why is the Plymouth kick-off at 12:15, FFS ? Certainly down to them.

 

I hear they even shut down a closing party at a pub over Totton.

 

miserable tossers

 

Southamptons FIO and the home teams FIO as far as I am aware.

 

Wouldn't suprise me because our FIO isn't the brightest spark. A couple of people started a completely made up rumour that loads of lads were travelling to Bristol City on that Valentines weekend last year... in reality nobody was travelling as they were all with their other halfs ( well the ones with no backbone ). Mr Pointon took it for gospel and hey ho... around 100 riot police in the Saints end.

Edited 29 July, 2010 by Dave Benson Phillips