Studs Up

When I first moved to Bristol in October 2000, curiosity about my new home’s football scene led me to a Bristol Rovers game. I was underwhelmed by both the standard of football on the pitch and the standard of banter off it, and as I departed Bristol’s Memorial Ground having watched visitors Northampton Town steal a one-nil win, I felt pretty certain that it would be my first and last experience of football in England’s 3rd tier. However, last Saturday I found myself at Griffin Park to see Brentford take on Swindon, this time as a reporter for the Western Daily Press.

Having taken my seat in the press-box, it struck me as I took in my surroundings that I had very little to draw reference from. For example, although the pitch did not look as good as a Premier League pitch, and was much better than anything I’ve experienced myself on a Sunday morning, I had no way of judging whether it was any good or not by League One standards. The same went for the size and intimacy of the ground itself. Although I knew that Griffin Park’s capacity according to Wikipedia was about 12,000, and that this was fairly standard for League One, I had no way of knowing how it felt in comparison to other grounds of a similar size.

It was a strange feeling to be surrounded by fans getting ready for their weekly matchday experience, whilst I had zero investment in the result whatsoever. Usually when inside a football ground, I am used to feeling a mixture of intense nerves and excitement as time flies towards kick-off. But on Saturday I was more preoccupied with making sure my 3G internet connection was working whilst trying to glean as much information as I could from the local reporters. Even so, as the referee blew his whistle to get the match underway, I still felt a little buzz. Apart from anything else, I had to be switched on, because my stint at the WDP would surely be brief if my article was not accurate.

Here’s my match report:

Revell at the double as Swindon sting the Bees.
Brentford 2
Swindon Town 3
An Alex Revell brace gave Swindon all three points against a spirited Brentford side in an exciting encounter at Griffin Park, ending a run of four consecutive draws and moving them up into the play-off places.
Although Swindon raced into a two-goal lead, Brentford twice reduced the deficit to a single goal, which given Town’s recent habit of throwing away leads late on in games, ensured a nerve-jangling finish.
The 1,244 Swindon town supporters in the Brook Road End began the game in good voice, and the players seemed to respond. After just 8 minutes, Jon-Paul McGovern found space to feed the ball through for Revell, and the on-loan striker did well to squeeze the ball over the line from a tight angle, scoring his first goal for the club.
Swindon continued to apply pressure, and 13 minutes later they doubled their lead. Ben Hutchinson showed good pace to get onto Anthony McNamee’s through ball, opening his Swindon account with a composed finish past Nikki Bull in the Brentford goal.
As the first half wore on however, Brentford began to gain a foothold in the game. Veteran striker Carl Cort had the home side’s best chance of the half from Ryan Dickson’s cross, but he was unable to keep his header down and Swindon went into the break two goals up.
The second half started in the same fashion as the first half ended, with Brentford pushing for a goal that would get them back into the game. Saunders cut in from the right and unleashed a spectacular left-footed effort, which hit the post having beaten Town keeper David Lucas. The resulting rebound presented Charlie McDonald with the easiest of chances, but the striker somehow managed to put his shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy no more than six yards out.
Brentford continued to press however, and with 15 minutes remaining, Carl Cort was rewarded for a hard-working display, as he thumped a shot past Lucas from the edge of the box.
But if Swindon fans’ thoughts were turning to their recent run of draws, they did not have to worry for long. Almost immediately after the restart, McGovern found Revel on the left-hand edge of the box. Full of confidence having finally found the net for his new club, the striker moved the ball onto his preferred right foot and smashed it into the roof of the net from 25 yards.
The Bees did not give up however, and scored again in the 82nd minute as some poor defending at a corner allowed MacDonald to head in. But with time running out for the home side, Swindon held on to seal a win that extends their unbeaten run in the league to ten games.
After the game, Revell spoke of his delight at getting off the mark: “It’s a massive relief to get my first goal for Swindon. It’s a great moment for me, but I’m delighted for all of the boys. We’ve deserved to win some games lately that we’ve drawn, so it’s just good for the team to get a win.”
Manager Danny Wilson was satisfied with his side’s 2nd away win of the season: “There’s a lot of teams that will struggle here, this is a tough place to come. Brentford have a great attitude and never seem to give up.”
Brentford (4-4-2): Bull, Wilson, Phillips, Bennett, Dickson, Saunders, Bean, O’Connor, Wood (Weston 73), McDonald, Cort. Subs not used: Price, Kabba, Taylor, Forster, Osborne, Legge.
Swindon (4-4-2): Lucas, Amankwaah, Greer, Cuthbert, Kennedy, McGovern, Douglas, Ferry, McNamee (Timlin 80), Hutchinson (Macklin 63), Revell (Paynter 85). Subs not used: Smith, Morrison, Jean-Francois, Peacock.

So with five goals, some of them of a decent quality, I was left with plenty to write about and some very enjoyable memories. My second experience of English League football had been better by far. However, as I left the ground, I was aware of a pang of concern. One thing that had struck me during the day was the average age of the supporters at the game. There were far more elderly fans and very few children. Although today’s ticket-prices probably prevent many pensioners from being able to attend Premier League games, but my feeling is that this is not the primary reason for the high average age of attendee.

It seemed to me that I was witnessing yet another symptom of the decay of the traditional aspects of the game in this country. Fans today (myself included) watch far more football on TV than in the flesh, and the community-based aspect of football is declining proportionally with the increase in Sky Television subscriptions. The idea of paying to watch your local club regardless of which division they play in is beginning to gather dust, and I fear that in a few years a valuable part of the infrastructure which serves as a platform for our more privileged clubs will become eroded beyond repair. In the meantime, I give total respect to the fans that were present on Saturday. Their love for their club as is it should be, unconditional, and for that I take my hat off to them.

The FA today handed Emmanuel Adebayor a £25,000 fine and a suspended 2-game ban for his rather idiotic celebration following his goal against Arsenal last month. But given that he’d already received a yellow card as a result, and other players have done similar things without further punishment, have the FA made a mistake in intervening amid the controversy? I think they have, and writing for EPL Talk, I’ve outlined why here:

http://www.epltalk.com/adebayor-punishment-unjust/11759

Following Liverpool’s devastating annihilation of the immensely irritating Phil Brown’s Hull side at Anfield today, I’ve written a few thoughts on the game over at Liverpool Banter. You can read them by clicking this link:

http://www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk/2009/09/a-6-1-smashing-in-the-bag-now.html

Fredorrarci over at the excellent Sport Is a TV Show apologised yesterday and described his blog as “tumbleweed-friendly”. He’d been absent for 7 days. So going by that, in recent times Studs Up has definitely been an area in which evapotranspiration outweighs precipitation (look it up). I could list my excuses, but they’re not terribly interesting. So instead, here are some links to kick things off again.

Elliot Tucker‘s contributions to The Run Of Play have often been documented here on Studs Up in light of their bizarre blend of the surreal and the amusing that is almost unique in terms of football writing. Samuel L Jackson once starred in a film that loosely referred to events inside Anfield, but Tucker’s Premiership Fiction seems much closer to the sort of thing we’d get if Quentin Tarantino directed a Premier League season:

http://www.runofplay.com/2009/09/23/premiership-fiction/

But guess what, there’s more. Tucker has his own blog called Futfanatico, and it’s even weirder. Having read his imaginary interview with Brazilian Interfaith novelist Paulo Coelho on the current fortunes of Liverpool FC, I think he may have taken football-related writing to new levels of peculiarity. But why Elliot, why?

http://futfanatico.com/2009/09/25/paolo-coehlo-comments-on-liverpool-etc/

Much has been said about Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva’s dive against Celtic during last Wednesday’s 2nd leg of the Champions League pre-qualifier, including an article I’ve written on the subject for my friends over at EPL Talk.

Check it out:

http://www.epltalk.com/diving-a-cardinal-sin/10627

In the early hours of the Saturday before last, West Ham Utd defender Calum Davenport was attacked in an incident related to his private life. During what was a vicious and brutal assault on both the player and his mother, Davenport’s legs were stabbed repeatedly in what is thought to have been a deliberate attempt to end his career. In the aftermath of the incident, there were fears that Davenport’s leg might have to be amputated, an indication of the severity of his injuries that does not bode well for his future as a footballer. Such an awful event puts football as a whole into perspective, and as last week began, I’m sure few could have imagined that another off-field calamity of similar magnitude was about to befall West Ham. However, the clues were in the draw for the 2nd round of the Carling Cup. Three days after Davenport’s stabbing, violent clashes between fans of West Ham and Millwall produced tremors that shook the foundations of the game in England. And as a man lies in hospital recovering from a knife wound to the chest sustained during the violent clashes, the football community are obliged to identify those responsible and bring them to account.

But who exactly ought to be held responsible? Obviously it would be nice to charge all of the “fans” that were involved in the violence with whatever their respective offences merited. But as well as being impossible given the huge numbers involved and vagueness around what would actually constitute involvement, this seems to me to be a measure that contributes little to the process of preventing a reoccurrence of such an incident. With the FA launching an investigation, West Ham and Millwall are set to be hit with some sort of punishment, with West Ham particularly in the firing line since their stewards were unable to prevent numerous pitch invasions (on three separate occasions West Ham fans were able to invade the pitch, and could even be seen confronting and verbally abusing players). While expulsion from the competition remains a possibility, as do games played behind closed doors, the very least West Ham can expect is a fine. The club has already vowed to accept whatever punishment they are given, although it’s probably worth pointing out that they have little choice given how unwise it would be to appear to condone the actions of the perpetrators.

But either way, the usual routine that follows bad behaviour from supporters, namely a club-fine and a clearly voiced intention on the part of said club to root out the ring-leaders and prevent them from attending future games, still seems to me to be wide of the mark in terms of a step towards preventing further incidents of this kind. In all probability, the deplorable individuals who were responsible for the coordination of the violent clashes last Tuesday have already been banned from attending West Ham and Millwall games. This doesn’t really matter to them because amongst their circle of friends this probably represents some sort of badge of honour. Moreover, they’re much more interested in a fight than they are in football anyway. I’m not saying that West Ham and Millwall should not be punished for what happened, nor am I saying that any individuals involved should be allowed to attend future games, but this should not be all that happens.

Having the pictures and videos of obese, shaven-headed, heavily tattooed middle-aged white males goading each other, I found myself tempted into a knee-jerk reaction of: “oh let them at each other, they all deserve whatever comes of it, save police time and taxpayers’ money”. However, this is not really acceptable. Firstly, I take the liberal view that these violent criminals are actually mentally unwell, and therefore are entitled to protection from themselves. But less controversial is the fact that innocent individuals could and do become caught in the middle of such things, and that alone is reason to do everything possible to stop the violence. It is well-known that football-related violence and rioting has never ceased, but has in fact merely relocated from match-venues to areas under less police scrutiny. However, last week’s scenes prove that as long as the culture exists, the public are still at risk. Therefore, the challenge facing football’s governing bodies and the police is to take steps that might genuinely prevent such a thing happening ever again.

As a Liverpool fan, I have never taken any notice of the draw for the 2nd round of the Carling Cup, because my team only become involved at the 3rd round stage. However, if I had noticed that West Ham had drawn bitter local rivals Millwall, I would have expected there to be a bit of bother. You’d have thought that relevant authorities might have had the same thought. But if they did, their reaction was clearly inadequate. Upton Park tube station and the streets surrounding the ground ought to have been swarming with riot police during the afternoon and evening of the game, Millwall fans ought to have been completely isolated during the build up to the game, and the number of stewards and police inside the ground ought to have been increased by a much greater margin than they were (if indeed they were at all). To me, the apparent surprise felt by those responsible for protecting the public during football matches seems naïve to the point of embarrassment. Ken Chapman, Millwall FC’s Security and Operations Adviser admitted on BBC’s Football Focus that he felt “shocked”. But it was West Ham versus Millwall, surely anybody who knows anything about football understands the significance of that match-up. Even if Tuesday night’s violence did come as a surprise to those responsible for keeping the peace, it would not require a particularly elaborate system of intelligence-gathering to work out which clubs’ “firms” have particularly keen rivalries, and to therefore considerably increase whatever anti-violence measures would usually be in place as standard whenever two such clubs were drawn together. The FA have responded to the media pressure following last week’s events with plenty of rhetoric, but I’m hoping (perhaps showing similar naivety myself) that their response will run much deeper. Otherwise, next time the consequences for those who merely wish to enjoy the beautiful game might be even worse.