February 21st, 2007
Man United V Lille: Champions League, UEFA and Stadium standards
Last night, after switching over from the dire Man United V Lille match to watch Life on Mars, my brother, who was at the game in France, sent me update texts. Not about the travesty of non-action on the pitch or longed-for goalflashes, but about the chaos that went on in the ground. This morning we finally got to talk and he said everything was a shambles.
“It was a mental night. Total crazyfest and it was one problem after another. We had to get a train to Lens from Lille, which is about 20 miles away*, then we had a 20 minute walk to ground and when we got there we had to walk around and around - we were walking around like sheep - because the stewards didn’t a clue what was going on. When we got in it was like a cattle market. There were far more United fans in our end than there should have been and we couldn’t find our seats as everyone was standing. We didn’t even know there were seats until half-time. There were so many people that it was like a really packed concert and everyone was standing ON TOP of the seats. One of our friends was meant to be in the home end but he ended up getting a ticket with us.
About 10 minutes into the game, the Lille fans started a chant and all the United fans in our end pushed forward. People were falling over, including us (a few times) and we weren’t even down the front, so we don’t know how bad it got. Then the riot police appeared thinking it was United fans causing trouble. Some fans were trying to climb over the barrier to get out but the and cops batoned them back. Then the tear gas started. I didn’t see it being thrown, but I knew by the state of my throat what it was.
All in all, the ground was a shithole, the stewards were ignorant gits and the less said about the riot police the better.”
RTE has story about UEFA calling for better standards in Champions League Grounds.
*The irony here, is that the game was played at Lens ground, because Lille’s Metropole stadium doesn’t meet UEFA standards. What about Lens’ ground? Do we have to wait for another Hillsborough before there’s some set standard of grounds, facilities, stewardship and crowd control procedures? United won 1-0 in the end, with a goal from Ryan Giggs.
United’s Red Issue has various stories on this.
Update: From The Guardian: French police ‘hit fans escaping crush’
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:09 am
It looked deadly dangerous on telly - the reality sounds terrifying.
Good ol’ Giggsy.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:37 am
It’s not for nothing the word nonchalance is French. I think you have to care.
I was at hundreds of games in England before and after Hillsborough, including the other semi-final that horrible day, but I found the tragedy and subsequent Taylor Report could only do so much. The police in Merseyside and Manchester were always good at policing crowds. In places like Coventry, inept policing and stewarding is a very dangerous thing - and I am only talking about well behaved crowds; you still need organisation.
I was the World Cup in France ‘98 and was amazed at how the French could run such a competition while seeming not to even know that it was taking place. I don’t wish to feed national sterotyping, but I think the physical differences of grounds and facilities are the only standards that can be enforced. The human ones of stewardship and following procedures will always be harder.
I hate the prices in England these rare days when I make it transAtlantic, but seats save lives.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 am
seats do indeed save lives, but as the stewards just told everyone to go in to the one section,we could not even find the row our seats were in as it was that packed.utd fans are known for there standing in grounds all over england(and indeed old trafford) but they are only standing over the correct amount of seats allocated.2 many of the utd fans with lille end tickets were just ushered in to the utd end like cattle.very badly organised altogether.I know the french and the english (i’m irish myself,but would have just been deemed english as i was a utd fan) dont really like each other and it really showed the other night,from stewards at the ground to the staff at the train stations.
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 am
Promising a police escort away from the ground and then marching us past the buses of Lille fans was not a clever move. Security and stewarding was a joke. Trains running back were a joke too. Good result though.
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Have a look at Germany to see brilliant and vibrant terraces working safely. There’s at Shalke 04, I think, which is just amazing to look at. It’s heaving and generating atmosphere the whole game.
Seats might save lives but they do make the whole experience much more sterile.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:56 pm
No argument over sterility Twenty, but most countries can’t organise as well as the Germans - including Ireland. For many years Croker was an accident waiting to happen, and twice I’ve been in major overcrowding crushes in Dalymount when the gates were broken down (USSR 1974 and Italy 1985).
Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer the terrace - at least as an option - and think we’ve given up on them too easily because we should be able to have them packed safely as a single throbbing mass.
That day of Hillsborough I was in a packed terrace at Villa Park with friends and relations as we listened to radio reports and rumours of the dead in Sheffield. As Everton fans we had drunk the night before with our Liverpool friends, fathers, and brothers, before we went to Birmingham and they to Sheffield. We had planned to meet up again with them back in Liverpool after the games, hoping to laugh about an all-Merseyside final.
Ultimately we did get that all-Merseyside final. But not all our friends made it back from Sheffield. Ever.
Unless German organisers can impart their wisdom and skills to French stewards and Sheffield police, I just don’t care so much any more.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Sinéad, MUST are asking for eye witnesses of Lille V United to contact them at: comms@imusa.org Your brother might be interested?
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
Eolaà - fair points, wasn’t trying to make light of anything. It’s just when you see how fantastic it looks on the terraces compared to the sitting on your hands and people shouting at you to sit down if you stand up for a second it makes you realise what’s missing.
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I think that one thing missed in all this hoo haa about the events at Lille is the sea change in attitude to Man United since the advent of Chelsea as the Public Enemy Number One of the armchair football fan. With much of the public’s odium and vitriol now directed at the new, wealthy, dominating kid on the block down Stamford Bridge way, people have forgotten the passion and intensity with which ManU were reviled.
Whither loyalty in football? Must we all be slaves to fashion and switch our hatred to Chelsea? I, for one, say No!, and continue to rejoice in each and every discomfort heaped upon the team my poor grandmother would never allow to be referred to in the house as anything other than ‘those bastards.’
I applaud the actions of the French police in keeping tradition alive in football. They are proclaiming loudly that, non, we do not change our prejudices so easily. Once again, the French lead the way, idiosyncratic and unyielding, until the end. Vive la France!
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Twenty, agreed. I’m just lamenting the ineptitude of organisers that has finished so many terraces - where all of my great sports memories live.
Jim, share the hate. Is there not room in your heart for intense dislike of more than one team. As a general rule I retch when I see any team play in red, even under-8s.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I love red - the Rebels and United - great stuff both.