The tv programme from the 70’s had them as ‘bastards’ but this was just a sensationalist view, a title intended to shock and probably attract those who thought that the title might justify the side of the law chosen by them; isn’t it? I always thought that at worst the word would be ‘irritating’ or ‘inconvenient’ especially as the closest I found myself to dealing with police was when the traffic versions stopped me by the side of the road to check on the possibility that I might have committed some moving traffic offence or other, particularly when I was younger and rode a two-wheeled vehicle. I only recounted to my wife the other day an occasion when I was a late teenager riding my motorcycle back from a friends house at 1am on Christmas Eve only to be stopped for absolutely nothing. The officer in question pointed out that I was a) young, b) riding a motorcycle, c) on Christmas eve, d) at 1am, e) on a very cold morning and those in combination made him suspicious. I respected him motives.

Now, I am an avid football fan; I didn’t go to football matches in the 70’s when a lot of my friends did because I didn’t want to expose myself to the possibility of violence: fights, stabbings, darts being thrown etc. But, in these enlightened days of sensible family entertainment and sky television I attend every home game and have done for years. I take my wife with me and my eldest son is a steward in the away stand. What, you might think has this got to do with the title of this blog entry you might ask yourself. The incident that happened yesterday changed my opinion of some of our ‘boys in blue’ and immediately brought to mind the title of this 70’ tv drama.
I always park my car about half a mile away from the ground and walk to the match. My wife walks too and we usually discuss the coming game. (This may be a point of jealousy for some men who go through grief each week as their wives don’t understand of care about football). The game was absolutely fantastic and we left the ground on a high. Each week my wife waits for our son to collect his steward’s pay while I walk back and to collect the car. Things were different this week.

There were about 24 thousand in the ground and the buses grouped outside couldn’t cope. About 40 home fans were waiting to catch a bus and getting rowdy. The opposing team’s fans were leaving at the same time and things started to get ‘difficult’. The home fans were jeering at the passing cars and minibuses. All at once a minibus carrying away fans stopped and its occupants decided to remonstrate with the 40 home fans waiting for the bus. Enter the attending police officers. They succeeded in preventing the away fans from getting out of the minibus and tried to contain the home fans by surrounding them, pressing them against a fence. All well and good; the problem I have with this is where my title comes from. My wife is 5’ 1” tall, doesn’t wear colours and normally stands near the police while I get the car as it makes her feel safe; or it used to.

As the home fans were being pushed back towards the fence, my wife moved to one side to escape the crowd and the hostile environment. She was accosted by one of her former protectors, he said, ‘Where are you going?’ her reply was ‘I’m trying to get out of the way of this lot.’ A reasonable answer given that those being pushed back were male, each over 6’ tall and baying for blood. His response to this was wrong in every possible way. ‘Oh no your not, you can get over there!’ He took out his baton and pushed her into the crowd where she was jostled and kicked. The crowd was eventually dispersed and the police left laughing and joking among themselves. About 10 minutes later, I arrived in my car and my son came round the corner, both of us finding my wife in tears, traumatised and disillusioned forever in her ultimate protectors.

She failed to get the number of the officer who caused this reversal of a lifetime of supporting the police but he was large power crazy, indifferent, insensitive, stupid, possibly sexist and very likely a ‘bastard’.

Ok, I can’t generalise. I’m sure that most coppers do a good job and are very conscientious but I would just like to know why this one did what he did. Mistaken identity? After all I wouldn’t want to be accused of generalisation. Perhaps the title of this blog entry should read ‘All football fans are… Hooligans’.