Grimsby Town fans blame 'surge' for pitch invasion at Notts County

[Joe Jones]

An article in the Grimsby Telegraph covering the court case of the Grimsby Town fans who got onto the pitch at Meadow Lane have said they did so to avoid being crushed in a surge of supporters celebrating a goal.

From the article, which can be found at http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/grimsby-town-fans-blame-surge-for-pitch-invasion-at-notts-county/story-29734924-detail/story.html:

Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard that some had trouble finding seats at Meadow Lane – and that supporters were standing in a seated area.

Four Mariners' supporters were banned from all Premier and Football League games for three years. If England are playing abroad, they will have to surrender their passports.

Presiding magistrate David Mitchell told them: "This is to help prevent violence and disorder connected with football matches."

Sitting with two colleagues, he heard criticism over the handling of supporters at the League Two match which ended in a 2-2 draw on September 3.

Grimsby fan Paul John Taylor said: "I talked to a couple of stewards and showed my ticket. They said 'go up there' and I went up there.

"All the seats were taken and I ended up in a standing area. When Grimsby scored, there was a surge and the only place I could go was onto the pitch.

"It was not my fault. It just seemed like bad organisation. You could not get seated anywhere," said Taylor, 46, of Holyoake Road, Grimsby.

Tony Hines, 43, of Laburnam Drive, Grimsby, said he had suffered a broken heel last Christmas and that it was still "very very painful".

He told the court: "When we scored, there was surge of people. I went over the barrier to get out of the way of the crush. Basically I stepped over but didn't go on the pitch or anything like that.

"I didn't want to get in a crush. I basically stepped straight back."

Father-of-three Thomas Troop, 29, apologised and said he had been watching the match from the second row of seating. Problems arose when Grimsby scored their second goal.

"The only way to get out of trouble was to step over the barrier. I stood on the gravel on the other side of the barrier," he said.

"The previous week I had seen Manchester United play Hull. People broke their legs when they scored – I didn't want to be in that situation," added Troop of Danes Close, Grimsby.

And Daniel Fisher, 23, of Lime Grove, Humberston told the bench: "We scored and there was a massive surge of fans heading towards the front.

"The safest thing seemed to be to hop over, which is not the right thing. I stepped over for 20 or 30 seconds.

"It was an all seater but most of the fans were standing," he added.

All pleaded guilty to going onto the playing area at Notts County FC, Meadow Lane in breach of the Football Offences Act 1991.

Troop and Hines were fined £175, Taylor £170 and Fisher £136, all figures based on their income.

They must each pay £85 prosecution costs and a £30 government surcharge.

The quartet can apply to have the banning orders lifted after two years. Magistrates warmed that they risk prison if they defy the ban.

David Miles, prosecuting, said problems occurred when goals were scored. He applied for the Football Banning Orders, telling the magistrates: "You have to be satisfied there are reasonable grounds that it may prevent further violence or disorder."

Notts County FC declined to comment on the case.

What do you think about this story? Namely the comment which describes the away end as suffering from "bad organisation".

[magpiejue]

I think there supporters just blatantly defied the stewards telling them to sit down. There are no standing areas at Meadow Lane. 

[Elite_pie]

They are clearly lying through their teeth.  To claim they went on the pitch for safety reasons "to avoid being crushed" is laughable and pathetic.  They are morons and fully deserve the 3 year ban.  

[Chris]

1 hour ago, Joe Jones said:

Tony Hines, 43, of Laburnam Drive, Grimsby, said he had suffered a broken heel last Christmas and that it was still "very very painful".

He told the court: "When we scored, there was surge of people. I went over the barrier to get out of the way of the crush. Basically I stepped over but didn't go on the pitch or anything like that.

1 hour ago, Joe Jones said:

All pleaded guilty to going onto the playing area at Notts County FC, Meadow Lane in breach of the Football Offences Act 1991.

All denied going onto the 'grass' but pleaded guilty to going onto the 'playing area'. How stupid - the grass is the playing area and the picture above proves he's a liar. I hope @Dan did manage to send this in as evidence.

[liampie]

it did look like there was a problem but that does not explain why they stepped onto the grass or near to where their players was celebrating.

if they listened to the stewards and police, this would have been avoided. grimsby came looking for trouble, before the game there was incidents and after they tried rushing young fans as they was grouped. why should we believe that this was not their fault?

[Fozzy]

They do come up with some excuses! From the family stand end, about 20 of them looked as though they couldn't climb over the boardings quick enough to celebrate their first goal. There was plenty of room in the lower section of the stands, as most fans were higher up and we all know from a few years ago when it was our home stand (and still should be in my opinion) that there is plenty of room between the bottom seat and the barriers.

[Turkey_Twizzler]

Even if they did it for safety its not our fault, their fans were the ones rushing to the front, and they didn't look very scared to me, they were running around and celebrating, deserve to get banned as rules are rules, they are quite clearly trying to use Hillsborough as an excuse and say it was for safety, there is no danger of being crushed in that area of the stand since i believe it has enough room for wheelchair fans (don't quote me on that)

[BradtheMiller]

Complete & utter crap. There was ample seating for all the Mariners fans there. I was sat in the family stand & the Grimsby fans couldn't wait to get on the field, deserved bans.

[DangerousSausage]

I can't understand how a "surge" at an all-seater stadium would work. I've ended up maybe a row further forward when it gets really wild, but that's it. And there's plenty of room at the front of the JS Stand. It sounds like an excuse made up by their lawyer.

However, is it just me who finds a three-year stadium ban (and loss of passports when England are playing) draconian for basically running on the pitch and off again while the ball wasn't even in play? A fine would have been more than enough.