I am sure that those of you who didn’t attend yesterday’s 0-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur will have heard about the flare that was thrown from the away end of the ground and that hit the linesman.

Before everyone jumps at me, I think flares look fantastic when the displays are done at European stadiums but the fact of the matter is, whether we agree with them or not, flares are illegal in English football stadiums because they are dangerous.

The big question which they will discuss at the F.A. is who exactly is to blame for this?

It is easy to point the finger at the person who threw the flare but I have seen from first hand experience them being lit and then thrown across the stands so this person could simply have been throwing it away from himself. Then again, he could just as easily have lit it himself and thrown it forward; only that person and those close to him will know the truth.

Then we can take a look at our football club and how away supporters behave at Villa Park. Tottenham’s supporters are not the first set of fans to behave badly at our ground. We have all witnessed fans of Manchester United, Chelsea and other clubs run onto the pitch when their teams score so maybe it is time we took a long, hard look at the policing and stewards in and around the away supporters.

Another question that needs to be answered is how exactly did this person get the flare in to the ground in the first place? Like many fans, I go to lots of away games and for the vast majority of games I go to I get searched. Are Villa stewards searching away supporters?

I took my partner to a game against Manchester United a few years ago now and the stewards took a small, handbag-sized deodrant spray off her after searching her bag as they deemed it a ‘dangerous weapon’ yet supporters are somehow getting these flares into English football grounds.

Spurs – Fan Statement

I found this statement on a Tottenham fan website. Make of it what you will:

“Just spoke to my mate who got nicked for throwing it.

He said it came from the back of the lower tier (he originally thought it had come from the upper tier as it was behind him) and landed at his feet.

He didn’t know what it was at first but there was loads of smoke and he couldn’t breathe so his first instinct was to get rid of it. He picked it up and threw it underarm down the gangway so it wouldn’t hit anyone. Unfortunately, he misjudged it and it hit the linesman.

The old bill and stewards spoke to him at the end of the first half and accepted his explanation. We saw him at half time and they had let him go. With hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have gone back to his seat for the second half but bearing in mind he thought it had all been cleared up he went back and sat down.

Plod then came back and asked if they could have a word with him, he went downstairs with them voluntarily where they proceeded to search him, cuff him and then rough him up and throw him into the back of a van. At all times he was trying to explain that he was co-operating but he said there was one particular officer on a power trip who was just hell bent on giving him a hard time (typical West Midlands plod).

The young lad who had lit the thing was already in the back of the van and held his hands up to it. My mate got taken to the nick, thrown in a cell for six hours and then charged for throwing a missile onto the pitch. As he said he was ‘trying to do a good thing’ and has ended up being charged for naff all.

He is now on bail for six weeks and his bail conditions prevent him from attending any games during that time. He asked why the bail was so long and was told it’s so the plod have time to get all the footage from Sky and then the CPS will decide whether to proceed or not. He has told them he is happy to get the footage as it will prove that he did nothing wrong.

He said the Tottenham stewards were all really good and was on his side as they knew he did nothing wrong. West Mids old bill are obviously just looking for an easy nick though which is typical. Hopefully the CPS will throw it out but I have seen enough draconian sentencing around non-events at football to fear the worst.

End of the day he’s a 47-year-old bloke who’s probably the most inoffensive person you’re ever likely to meet. He’s done naff all wrong and is being treated like a criminal because is ‘football related’.”

The Footage

[youtube height=”200″ width=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2omuJV4ubns[/youtube]

A solution

Regardless of the outcome of this situation, English football as a whole needs to look seriously at the flare situation. It is not a one off – people are getting flares into football grounds up and down the country and because people don’t want to get caught with them they throw them, which causes obvious problems.

So either the F.A. needs to make them legal to prevent them being thrown, like across Europe, or they need to really stamp down on anyone caught with one. It does seem crazy that someone can get a lifetime ban for running on to a football pitch but only a slap on the wrist for having an ‘illegal product’.