Police keeping Ipswich Town supporters away from travelling Norwich City fans before their 5-1 humiliation. Picture: James Bass
Norwich City fans receive apology after derby night disorder
By Anthony carroll
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
5:47 PM
Norwich City supporters received an apology from Suffolk police yesterday after an internal investigation examined disturbances before the Canaries’ triumphant away win over bitter rivals Ipswich Town last season.
About 400 City fans, many of them women and children, missed the beginning of the 5-1 drubbing of Ipswich Town on April 21 because of a large presence of rival fans and pockets of disorder stretching police resources outside Portman Road.
Ipswich fans had tried to break through police lines to reach Canaries’ supporters and threw objects at them.
Yesterday Suffolk police released the results of an internal investigation and apologised to Norwich fans for problems they had encountered on the derby night, which saw 2,125 away fans cheer on their side.
As well as apologising for causing confusion by telling fans there was a delayed kick off time and the problems of crowd congestion, the report recommended that Suffolk police should deploy larger numbers of specially trained officers at derby games to prevent public disorder.
After the trouble, Norwich City and fans complained to Suffolk police about the way it handled the policing of the game.
Yesterday’s report praised officers for their courage and professionalism for “being subjected to danger themselves” before the game. Police also praised the majority of both set of fans for their impeccable behaviour on the night.
A Norwich City spokesman said: “We are pleased Suffolk Police agreed to carry out this investigation into issues which affected many of our supporters who attended our game at Ipswich last April.
“It is good to see the police have identified areas for improvement for handling any future derby games and that they have apologised to our supporters for giving misleading information on the day that kick-off had been delayed.
“We hope the lessons learned will lead to an improved experience for our supporters attending any future games at Portman Road.”
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13 comments
Why didn't the investigation conclude that it was a ridiculous decision - by the Police - to move the game to the Thursday night before Easter, when the game wasn't on Sky TV? Something to do with paying police overtime perhaps? We'd all love the game to be held at a 'normal' time, but there's always going to be a minority (of both teams) who want to cause trouble, so the safest solution is a lunchtime kick-off.
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richard1
Friday, September 23, 2011
C J Watling; you are right of course. It`s a disgrace that some football match attendees are more interested in causing trouble than in the game itself. Imagine going to the theatre or the opera or even cricket and finding mounted police, dogs etc are necessary. My missing contribution did re-emerge in the fullness of time! It all seems a bit random.
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Mad Brewer
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Its the fans that need to improve their behaviour-not the Police-why should they have to take the stick-it just makes Policing these games even more difficult for them.
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Colin James Watling
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Well, I waited but did not see.Not yet anyway. What I was trying to suggest, like others, it is unlikely NCFC and Gippeswick will be playing each other for a while. On the subject of policing, maybe recruiting from outside Suffolk might improve things. Mind you I guess most of their players are from outside that county. Maybe it`s the EFFECT Suffolk has on people? Suffolkation.
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Mad Brewer
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Don't be such a silly billy
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The Bloater
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
There`s no need to resubmit my last comment so I`ll wait and see.
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Mad Brewer
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
billie is an optimist. Just as likely we`ll be 2 divisions apart this time next year. Unless they recruit from outside Suffolk I see no chance of it improving anyway. Policing, I mean. Mind you the "football" team is largely, if not entirely, from outside Suffolk. It must be the EFFECT Suffolk has on people - Suffolkation? OTBC.
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Mad Brewer
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Cant see City being in league one again so it wont be a problem anymore !! OTBC
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yellows9blues2
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
reckon Billy was thinking we would be joining them!....No way, OTBC. ILWT
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Meds
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
How unkind BB, they're far worse teams than the mighty City in the prem....anyhow, I do believe the swede bashers down the road l are more likely to drop down a league.
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nrg
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Do you really think Town are in promotion form Billy? Think ur living in dream world.
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christoph
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Could be a lot longer billy boy
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Sherbert
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
only got 12 months to sort it out for when they meet again..
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billythebookie
Tuesday, September 20, 2011