West Ham to ban fans for life following violence

West Ham promise to ban fans for life following the violence at Upton Park

It’s your final farewell to a much-loved stadium, so what do you do? Get violent – apparently.

West Ham took on Manchester United in their final home game of the season, and somehow I’ve gone my entire life without realising how important Upton Park is as a stadium. Numerous clubs have changed grounds over the years, but none have made the showbiz drama that West Ham have conjured.

I understand to some extent, and I’d be sad to see my club move out of its current stadium, but that’s mainly because we’ve brought a wealth of trophies back there.

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The Manchester United coach arrived late (for the second time this season, I believe) and was greeted by a swarm of angry West Ham supporters. Several, not all, of the fans decided to launch things at the coach, while others recorded the chaos.

Then, during the game, Manchester United’s goalkeeper David de Gea was again target by certain fans.

I mean, I understand the frustration aspect of this, just not the physical aspect. If you’re late to a meeting or an interview, you expect the other person to be angry, however a punch in the face might be a little far – as would having a brick thrown at your car.

In this article for the Guardian, the clubs co-chairman, David Sullivan, seemed to almost defend West Ham, speaking to BBC radio 5 and saying;

“It is depressing really. It will be a late night for our fans and some of them won’t be able to stay. I don’t understand why United couldn’t get here at 4pm. They could have got here early. They knew it would be busy. It’s crazy.”

“There was congestion in the street and they couldn’t get the coach in. There were people around the coach, but there was no attack on the coach.”

“If you check the coach there won’t be any damage to it. If we arrived late at Old Trafford they wouldn’t put the kick-off back.”

The club itself however gave an official statement, promising to ban supporters for life. The statement said;

“It was an extraordinary night full of extraordinary moments in front of extraordinary fans, 99% of whom behaved impeccably and were a credit to the club.”

“We have already had thousands of tweets and emails from fans to say how proud they were to be a part of such a special evening in West Ham’s history. However, we are aware that there were some supporters outside the Boleyn Ground who didn’t act in an appropriate way when the Manchester United team bus was damaged.”

“That was not acceptable and we will work with the police to identify those responsible and ban them for life.”

This event was one that should be seen as shameful, especially considering the occasion. Football is a sport we all share a love for, and no matter how tense things get going too far should have consequences. The FA have chipped in, saying this;

“The FA strongly condemns the unsavoury incidents involving both the Manchester United team coach outside West Ham United’s Boleyn Ground and objects thrown from a section of the home support during the game. We will work closely with both clubs and the Metropolitan police to fully investigate these matters.”

Hopefully everything gets resolved quickly, and I can only feel for the supporters that weren’t involved. This was just a mild attack on a bus, and nobody seemed to be gravely injured, so it will be interesting to see how this is resolved.

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