POLISH PASSION

POLISH PASSION

Thursday 3rd November 2011

Fulham 4 (Duff 5, Johnson 30, 57, Sidwell 79) Wisla Krakow 1 (Kirm 9)
20,319


                                                           Photo by Stephen Taylor

Before the game, we were warned that there were going to be a lot of Wisla fans at the game, which wasn't a major surprise considering the number of Poles in this country, but nothing really prepared us for the ferocity of the support.

I was back on the track, but I was able to see most of the game as I was at the corner again. Apart from the five goals, the away support was amazing, especially in the first half. At one stage, two or three flares were set off in the Johnny Haynes Stand, causing not a little concern among the stewards, myself included, as there was quite a lot of smoke pouring from the roof of the stand. Eventually, though, it eased off, though the smell that drifted across the pitch was quite intense.

Among the fans in the Putney Stand were a number of skinheads, which didn't come as a surprise to me and, while they created a lot of noise, they didn't really pose much of a threat to public order. Actually, the stewarding of the away supporters was a little heavy handed, in my opinion, as there was an attempt to create a "sterile zone" at the end of the stand. All it seemed to do was irritate supporters who were forced to sit there.

As I am writing this a couple of months later, the game would turn out to be my last Europa League fixture, as I missed the crucial game at home to Odense in December, when Fulham crashed out on the last kick of the game. Such a shame to miss out on a possible glamour tie after having to endure teams from some of the less fashionable leagues in Europe.

LUIZ MAGIC ALL IN VAIN

LUIZ MAGIC ALL IN VAIN

Sunday 23rd October 2011

Fulham 1 (Ruiz 67) Everton 3 (Drenthe 3, Saha 90, Rodwell 90+3)
25,646

                                                           Photo by Stephen Taylor

The good news about today's game was that I was back in the vomitories. The bad news was that the Everton fans didn't quit live up to the reputation they earned for themselves last season when, apart from Blackpool, they were the best behaved away supporters I encountered in the Putney stand.

To be fair, the majority of them did sit down, which is always a relief with visiting fans, but some of them were a bit obnoxious compared to their counterparts last year.

Other than that, there wasn't much to report on the game, except for an excellent from Bryan Luiz in the first half, when he executed a perfect lob over goalkeeper Tim Howard from the edge of the area.

WAS THAT GREG DAVIES IN THE CROWD?

WAS THAT GREG DAVIES IN THE CROWD?

Sunday 2nd October 2011 (Premier League)

Fulham 6 (Johnson 2, 38, 59, Murphy (pen.) 20, Dempsey 65, Zamora 74) Queens Park Rangers 0
Attendance: 23,766

Not only was the opening derby game of the season at Craven Cottage, it was the first time Fulham had met their west London rivals since the 2000/01 season, so the police were on full alert for the first time in a while. We were told that a good deal of acrimony exists between the two sets of supporters, so we had to be prepared for the worst.

Well, from my position at the corner of the Riverside and Putney stands, their fears appeared to be a little unfounded, though the 3-0 scoreline in favour of the home side at the interval might have helped to dampen the enthusiasm of the Rangers fans. Fulham's demolition only reinforced my belief that QPR are not good enough for the Premier League and will be occupying one of the relegation berths in May.

I couldn't help noticing that there was a bloke among the Rangers fans who looked remarkably like the comedian Greg Davies, though his hair seemed too short. I haven't seen anything about him being a QPR fan, so I'll have to conclude that it wasn't him. But if that guy ever wants to sign up for a celebrity lookalike agency, he could earn himself a bit of pocket money.

DUTCH DELIGHT

DUTCH DELIGHT

Thursday 15th September 2011 (Europa League Group Stage)

Fulham 1 (Johnson 19) F.C. Twente 1 (Schwarzer o.g. 41)

Attendance: 14,110

Another game pitchside, though I was beginning to get used to my new position. To be fair, it’s not as bad as actually being on the track, as I don’t have to sit down with my back to the pitch during the game. As there are no seats directly in front of “Yellow Gate P8” I could stand up and watch the game so, in some ways, it was better than being in a vomitory. However, it’s so boring, as there is very little contact with other people. For all the hassle that accompanies vomitory stewarding, at least you get to meet people and see most of the game, if you’re lucky.

Not that there was a lot to see after Andy Johnson had pounced on a poor pass across the F.C. Twente defence to open the scoring. And considering that F.C. Twente started the season in the European Champions’ League they were not much better than Fulham tonight.

PITCHSIDE BLUES

PITCHSIDE BLUES

Sunday 11th September 2011 (Premier League)

 

Fulham 1 (Zamora 38) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Rochina 32)

Attendance: 24,856

After the rigours of the international on Monday night, I was looking forward to a relatively quiet game against Blackburn. Unfortunately, it was a little too quiet, as I was positioned at the pitchside, one of the worst places to bem especially as I had been established as a vomitory steward for the past six months.

As it happened, I don’t think I missed too much on the pitch, as it was a pretty dour encounter, though there was a nasty clash of heads between Mark Schwarzer and Junior Hoilett in stoppage time of the second half. I didn’t see the incident, of course, and I had to rely on asking the Canadian guy wearing a Toronto F.C. shirt who was sitting in front of me.

I suppose the only benefit of being pitchside is that you get fairly up close with the opposition goalkeepers when they’re warming up. Paul Robinson, the Rovers keeper, was very good with the fans and happily signed autographs for those crowding the front of the stand.

I must admit that if I don’t get my place back in the vomitaries I will seriously consider resigning, as it’s not really worth me doing the job if I’m just going to be pitchside.



Balloons were handed out to everyone entering the Putney Stand for the game

against Blackburn.                                                                       © Stephen Taylor



INTERNATIONAL MAYHEM

INTERNATIONAL MAYHEM

Monday 5thSeptember 2011 (International Friendly)

Brazil 1 (Leandro Damiao 45) Ghana 0

Attendance: 22,700 (official figure)

Photo by Stephen Taylor



This was easily the most difficult game I have ever stewarded at Craven Cottage. It started off OK, though a few people turned up with tickets for the wrong section of the stand, and even the wrong stand altogether.

I noticed that, as kickoff approached, the stand was still not full, which surprised me as we had been told that about 20,000 tickets had been sold so, with walkups, the game should have had close to a sellout crowd. It soon became clear after kickoff that a lot of people were still outside and that they had tickets for seats that were already occupied. This was partly because people had just sat down anywhere, ignoring the number on their ticket, but in one particular case a couple supporting Brazil had exactly the same tickets as a gentleman with his son. I should have sorted out the problem immediately but decided to wait until half-time.



Photo by Stephen Taylor

Usually, this would not have been a problem but, as I was told by one of the supporters, there were ticketing problems outside the ground, meaning that there were huge delays in gaining entry. Unfortunately, the rush of people meant that I didn’t have a chance to help my Brazilian couple though, thankfully, my superviser was able to sort it out.

 

I was constantly required to sort out some sort of misunderstanding, and my job wasn’t helped by a small number of uncooperative supporters. There was no trouble, but they were not a well-behaved crowd at all and I’ll be happy to deal with the relatively angelic Blackburn Rovers fans on Sunday.

Since Monday, there have been a lot of articles in the press about the congestion outside. It seems that if, like my brother in the Hammersmith end, you paid cash on the gate, there was no problem. However, anyone who booked online and had to collect tickets on the night was faced with a severe lack of ticket office staff and very little crowd control. By all accounts, the crush was quite serious at times, and many people missed the first half, while some didn’t even get in at all.

As many of these late arrivals had tickets for the Putney stand, it would been a great help if we’d been given some kind of warning that there were still many ticket holders outside the ground at kickoff. Why on earth the kickoff was not delayed is a very important question that needs to be answered.

Needless to say, I didn’t see much of the game and wasn’t even sure of the result, never mind that one of the Ghan players got a red card in the first half and that Brazil scored quite a good goal on the stroke of half time. Towards the end of the game, I saw a few magic moments from Brazil as, luckily, they were attacking the Putney end in the second half, and it was good to see Ronaldinho at such close quarters.

After the match, there was a bit of a commotion as I was walking towards the school to sign out, when Danny Alves was spotted walking to a car on Finlay Street, closely followed by the Chelsea defender David Luiz.

Before leaving the Cottage, I walked down to the players entrance to see what was going on to see Neymar milking the adulation from the fans outside the Brazil team bus.

FULHAM FINALLY QUALIFY

FULHAM FINALLY QUALIFY

Thursday 18th August 2011 (Europa League playoff 1st leg)

Fulham 3 (Hughes 39, Dempsey 43, 49) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 0

Attendance: 14,823

Photo by Stephen Taylor

 

A comfortable victory for the Black and Whites that should be enough to get them through to the group stages of the Europa League. Aaron Hughes opened the scoring after turning in a cross from youngster Matthew Briggs.

Clint Dempsey doubled the tally five minuted later and rammed home the difference in quality between the two sides with Fulham’s third goal less than five minutes after the break.

Dnipro showed some attacking prowess towards the end, with centre forward Nikola Kalinic looking quite impressive. I found out later that he had spent some time with Blackburn Rovers and had only moved from the Lancashire side last month.

The next game at Craven Cottage will be an international between Brazil and Ghana, which should be a fantastic experience, especially if the Brazil fans are accommodated in the Putney Stand.