‘Well Fans, Not Criminals II: The Return to Paisley

On the 14^th of September last year something ridiculous happened. There’s no need to go into all the details as I wrote about it at the time, however it is important to recognise just how out of order the conduct of the police was on that day. It’s also worth acknowledging that the complaint I made appeared to have been taken seriously by Police Scotland, with a Chief Inspector discussing the events with me on the phone and a Police Inspector coming to my home to discuss it further.

During the conversation with the latter, it was explained that the police weren’t particularly appreciative of the behaviour of stewards at most, if not all, football matches. I remember vividly being told that stewards had a habit of wanting to “light the paper, then stand back”, leaving the police having to clear up the mess. But I was also assured that responsibility had been taken by the police for their actions on that day and subsequent measures would be put in place to ensure it didn’t happen again.

And so on Saturday the 5^th of April of this year the Motherwell support returned to St. Mirren Park for a league match. It was always going to be interesting observing just how the away fans were going to be treated given it was the first visit back after the debacle of September and I was keen to see what measures the police would have in place, if any.

The first was something I never thought I’d see at a Scottish league match between St. Mirren and Motherwell – sniffer dogs. It seems that Police Scotland had decided that these impressively trained creatures and important members of the force were now not only to be used for vital airport security and drug raids, but also to ensure that football fans knew they’d already been ear-marked as potential criminals purely for having the audacity to turn up in Paisley and support Motherwell. But before we’d even reached the dogs, we were treated to full body searches. It’s worth pointing out that I do not believe sniffer dogs or body searches were on the agenda for any St. Mirren fans – only us lucky ‘Well fans were given that honour, some as many as four times.

Now, obviously in the grand scheme of things it’s important to realise that being searched and patted down by a police officer while a dog sniffs about your legs isn’t a massive inconvenience. You’re delayed from getting into the ground by a few minutes at most and, if you don’t have anything on your person that you shouldn’t, there’s really nothing at all to worry about.

However, it’s also worth noting that the more you treat people like criminals, the more chance they will begin to act like criminals. No one would ever suggest that the Motherwell support is full of innocent angels, however those who are part of a group which is regularly victimised are never actively looking to cause trouble. There may be the odd bit of mischief making that deserves a slap on the wrist and any group of people – be it at a football match, a concert or any other gathering – is going to boast a percentage of morons. But overall, the group of ‘Well fans who are regularly isolated and harassed turn up at football matches with the sole intention of being loud and colourful. So when this group, and even those not associated with them, are treated like trouble-makers, hooligans and criminals before they’ve even entered the ground, it results in frustration and anger that football fans are being, once again, antagonised.

And yet, no misbehaviour occurred. Just like in September, the behaviour by and large by the Motherwell support was completely acceptable. The group responsible for the great atmosphere at Motherwell games managed to congregate at the front of the away stand – despite the police and stewards’ best efforts to disperse them for no apparent reason – and the first half was spent with the usual chanting and backing the team.

By half-time, despite the over the top policing at the turnstyles, it appeared the police officers on duty at the match were relatively happy just to leave the Motherwell supporters to get on with supporting their side – a far cry from those present in the earlier fixture. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the stewards. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the behaviour of football stewards all over Scotland, it seems they were intent on, as Police Scotland so succinctly put it, lighting the paper and then standing back. This time it was one particular steward who decided to wade into the middle of the Motherwell support and attempt to eject a fan, followed soon after by one or two of his cronies. When those around him enquired why, they were given no response. There had been no trouble in the first half, no smoke bombs, no flares, nothing. And yet here was someone who had decided that his bright orange jacket somehow gave him the right to harass someone in the Motherwell support.

The police hovered around observing what was going on, with one officer entering the group of supporters but being unable to give a reason for why the steward was trying to eject someone. And, once again, a tense situation had been created from absolutely nothing by someone seemingly on a power-trip. Again though, despite some obvious anger and confusion from the Motherwell supporters, the behaviour overall was perfectly fine, and yet for the remainder of the game, this section of the Motherwell support had to peer at the pitch through a wall of stewards – something that seemed to particularly annoy a few St. Mirren supporters I spoke to after the game, disgusted by the stewards’ antics they had witnessed from the home end of the ground.

So, it appears when the police told me that measures would be taken to ensure it didn’t happen again, they were being truthful. Those measures were a bit heavy-handed and unexpected in the form of sniffer dogs and body searches, however given the shambles of September was orchestrated using a smoke bomb being set off in the ‘Well end as an excuse, it’s perhaps no surprise that there was a conscious effort to ensure no one was attempting to get a flare or smoke bomb into the ground. And, it must be said, that when a steward did begin to cause trouble the police did not adopt the same stance they did last year of kettling, man-handling and the rest.

It still has to be recognised though that Police Scotland cannot expect to treat people like criminals before they have done anything wrong. If you treat a group of young football fans like lowlife scum or potential trouble-makers before they’ve even entered the ground, it should not surprise anyone if one or two individuals decide to play up to the role they’ve already been assigned. There has to be a sensible and intelligent decision made by Police Scotland to take necessary measures in terms of trouble prevention and policing at football grounds, without discriminating football supporters because of who it is they’re supporting or because they enjoy the heinous activity of creating an atmosphere at football matches.

But furthermore, it’s about time something was done about the behaviour of stewards in this country. For far too long now, a noticeable number of those tasked with stewarding at football matches have viewed putting on a horrendous looking orange or yellow jacket as akin to putting on a superhero’s cape that makes them invincible and able to target, bully, harass, and victimise any football fan they choose – unsurprisingly, usually those football fans who are younger or smaller than themselves.

If it is ultimately up to the police who is and isn’t ejected from football stadiums, then crowd trouble could be prevented a lot easier by ejecting the jobsworth trouble-makers in luminous anoraks rather than the paying customers in football colours.

– Jason Henderson (15/04/2014)