'Police got Bristol Rovers crowd control wrong'
Police tactics have been questioned after football fans brought busy Gloucester Road to a standstill at the weekend before Bristol Rovers played Leeds United.
There were also reports that a number of pubs near the Memorial Ground in Horfield were "trashed" following Saturday's match - the Pirates' second 2-2 draw against their Yorkshire rivals this season.
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Leeds United supporters outside the Memorial Stadium
Bev Knott, Lib Dem councillor for Bishopston, believes the police got it wrong by allowing fans to parade up the centre of Gloucester Road on their way to the game, bringing traffic to a halt.
He has now written to Avon and Somerset Assistant Chief Constable John Long, asking him to explain police tactics.
He said: "People going about their everyday business on a Saturday afternoon should not have to rub shoulders with football fans intent on causing trouble.
"There was a heavy police presence, but shoppers with children shouldn't be put in a position where they run the risk of being caught up with fans. I believe the police got it wrong on Saturday.
"Residents who have nothing to do with football should not be made to feel intimidated by groups of football supporters and I, on behalf of residents who live in the area, want to know what the police are going to do to prevent it happening in the future.
"I have also been told that a number of pubs in the area were trashed after the game.
"I have written to Mr Long asking him if he would find it acceptable if he lived in the area."
Trouble broke out before the match in Gloucester Road, close to its junction with Sommerville Road and Berkeley Road, in Bishopston.
The police helicopter hovered above a group of supporters who were surrounded by police dressed in riot gear.
Mr Knott told The Post he witnessed the incident and said none of the supporters were wearing club colours to mark them out as home or away fans.
He said: "Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a riot or anything approaching the trouble we had in Gloucester Road a few years ago.
"But it's very rare that Gloucester Road is brought to a standstill in this way, and quite rightly, I have been asked why the police allowed it to happen."
There were also reports of trouble outside the Queen Vic pub and at The Foresters prior to kick off.
Cath Foster, an Avon and Somerset police spokeswoman, said: "Prior to Saturday's football match, police were in Gloucester Road acting on intelligence to prevent any potential public disorders or breach of the peace. The police helicopter was also in attendance.
"After the match, police responded to reports of football supporters throwing glass bottles in Ashley Down Road.
"Five arrests were made for public order offences, including affray."
She refused to comment on Mr Knott's letter to Mr Long, saying it was a private matter between them.
Although Rovers pays for policing inside the ground during home matches, it does not contribute to the cost of policing fans before and after games.
A Bristol Rovers club spokesman said: "We work in conjunction with the police to organise crowd control in the most efficient way. We do not condone violence or trouble of any kind and will not tolerate it."











14 Comments
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by Gary, Kingswood, BRISTOL
Friday, March 13 2009, 11:19AM
“Calm down dear, I'm starting to worry for your health.
Is there any answer to my previous suggestion of 'Why don't you offer some constructive advice for a change and suggest a new site for Rovers to play in'. Hysterical rantings that are solely negative will get you absolutely nowhere and does your cause a lot more harm than good.
Where has this myth that Rovers fans live in South Glos come from?
I am totally sick and tired of the never ending negativity and complete and utter lack of any constructive dialogue from ROSE and their minions. The underlying fact is that Rovers are here to stay, and the best solution from all parties (and I admit that the club has been slacking on this) is for constructive dialogue to take place to make the re-development and its after effects as smooth as possible for all concerned.”
by Local resident, Horfield
Thursday, March 12 2009, 11:38AM
“Gary of Kingswood, and Steve of Clevedon (NOTE the addresses) (among others)
Firstly you may NOT call me Jane, because you do not know who I am, and you have no business trying to second guess who correspondents are, and whether or not they are anything to do with ROSE. Secondly, whoever your local authority , you do NOT live in Horfiled, and THATs why you are unqualified to comment on what WE should have to put up with. Thirdly, ROSE have HUNDREDS of local members, many of whom (and could name names! )are diehard Gasheads. However, that does NOT make them support a redevelopment in a densely populated area.
Fourthly, your arithmetic is false. The season is not 52 weeks of the year (thank God), and secondly, you have ommitted the RUgby matches, which cause as much traffic mayhem as Rovers (although not as much anti-social behaviour)
Only the week before last, we had Rovers sceduled for home games on the Tuesday and the Saturday (OK so the Tuesday one was rained off, but it was still on the schedule) and a rugby match on the SUnday.
Rovers fans forget there are TWO teams sharing this ground, but those who live there cannot. FINALLY, to say the football club is not responsible for its hooigan element is only partially true. If Rovers were not playing, the hooigans would not be ther. SImple. So, dont go around telling us we are NIMBYS. Get Rovers to sell the Mem ground and buy land in S. Glos where there is plenty, and away from people's houses . Or perhaps, as I said, get one in Kingswood, and see how you like it. Perhaps someone would point out another club that is proposing a new stadium (PLUS student flats etc.) in the middle of a crowded residential area? yOu will not find one outside London, (which has excellent public tranport links to all its grounds.)”
by A Lynch, bristol
Wednesday, March 11 2009, 12:47PM
“Having been at the game at the weekend as a leeds fan studying in Bristol, I can say that the resisdents of horfield regardless of the damage and vandalism (which coinsidently is totally out of order) is on a large part just as much the fault of their local pubs as it was the police or football fans. In this case the pubs DO NOT have to let their doors open to droves of football fans and serve them alchol in excess all day, but they do this because they are a bussiness and the custom they recieve on match days provides an invaulble income, to not just the pub industry but also food retail outlets such as the numerous cafes and bakerys up gloucester road. The resisdents of horfield who moan about the desrubtion to there saturday afternoons are the same group of people who assume rover left the memorial satdium would be on at the council for the loss of local bussiness in the area.
Now on the same point the poilicing at the weekend was total stupid, and lacked any kind of direction or tactic, shown in the use of the police helicopter, which is utterly pointless, the police were there purely for show at the weekend, I could have arrested 5 people with the amount of stuff that happened.
Now to moan that Gloucester raod was at a stand still is an absolute joke, the road on a match day or not is regularly at a grid lock, coming home from university can regularly take up to and over an hour or 2, its just an excuse for people to have a moan and a groan because they have absolutly nothing better to do with there time.
try asking all your local bussiness what they think of the football being at the mem stadium, I bet they will happily take the good with the bad.”
by steve, clevedon
Tuesday, March 10 2009, 5:08PM
“Well said Gary and Peter John,the anti-football brigade like nothing more than to hear of trouble associated with football(I'm yawning already) I was expecting by now to read about never having trouble at rugger matches(yawn again)The ROSE band lost fair and square in the Stadium regeneration planning application............so get over it!!”
by Gary, Kingswood
Tuesday, March 10 2009, 4:16PM
“Dear Local Resident (or can I call you Jane?) I too live in Kingswood. A large part of it, including where I live, actually comes under the jurisdiction of BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL, so I have every much right as you to comment on this.
I think that 'miseries' may have been a tad harsh, I much prefer the more truthful NIMBY. Let's turn this round then dear residents. Why don't you actually suggest a suitable location for Rovers to build a new stadium? It would make a very welcoming change to have constructive ideas for once! Personally, having had to travel to Bath for a decade and have supoprted applications by Rovers for at least two proposed developments for stadia in South Glos (Mangotsfield and Stoke Gifford), I can not see anywhere other than the Mem for the club for the foreseeable future. The simple reality is that the Mem will never be again a ground that will only host rugby friendlies a dozen or so times a year. That is a fact and it really is high time (13 years and counting) that the NIMBYs learned to live with Rovers and not continually living against them. The club are no more responsible for a minority of their supporters than, say, Whitbread are for violence in town on a weekend night.
Finally, as for the weekly / twice weekly comment, this season Rovers will play a total of 23 games at home, as all the cup matches were away. By my simple maths on a 52 week year that equates to an average of one game every 2.26 weeks!! ROSE would do well to try and establish some credibility by sticking to facts and not the continual scare mongering that only does damage to their own cause (see Rosalie Walker's performance at the planning meeting as an example).”