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A Blue amongst the red mist

By Chris Fisher :  02/02/2011 :  Comments (21) :
After visiting the Emirates last night I felt I needed to get some things of my chest and so?

At around midday Sunday I received a call from an old friend down in London asking if I would like his friend's ticket and to go to the Arsenal Everton game with him on Tuesday night, the only thing was I would be sitting in the Arsenal end? "No matter," I thought, "it can't be that bad!" And so I booked the day off and headed down to London on Tuesday.

I have been to many grounds watching Everton and have sometimes found myself having to sit with the Home fans in order to get in to the match. I have got to say that last night I have never had the misfortune of having to spend 90 minuets with the most vulgar, moaning bunch of pricks in my life.

In the first half, as Arteta was receiving treatment after Fabregas raked his studs down the back of his calf, a voice from behind me shouts "Fuck off, you Spanish twat (strange thing to say as the same bloke confessed his undying love for the Spanish Fabregas to anyone who would listen to him), I hope your son goes totally blind!" This received rather a large amount of laughter from those in ear shot and made me realise that I was in for a long night.

Phil was talking to the ref while an Arsenal player was laying dying on the floor and this riled these bunch of twats up even more "Fuck off, Phil Neville don?t have a go at him, your daughter can't even walk!" (Obviously in reference to Phils daughter who was diagnosed with Cerebral palsy and told she may of not been able to walk.) I was actually stunned!

I no longer wanted to be there and I just couldn?t believe that this sort of abuse was deemed as funny by the people around me. There?s normal football banter but this was sick, like they had actually made the effort to find things out about these people and use it to abuse them with. (I know the players couldn?t hear it but that?s not the point.)

My friend who could visibly see that I had gone from my usual happy self to quite and uncomfortable, said "I'm really sorry mate its not usually like this."

From then on there was no more disgusting abuse but the moaning began!! Saha scored and everyone was certain it was offside! Uproar all around me, the man sitting next to me assuming I was an Arsenal fan asks me "How the fuck is that not off side? He?s miles off!" I say "Not really, mate ,your defender played the ball so by the book he?s actually on side," and smiled broadly letting him know I was a bluenose.

I didn?t hear a peep out of him for the rest of the game but as for the other?s!! That was it, moaning, bitching little bastards!! As Distin launched into Song who landed in the box... "Penalty!! Penalty it has to be look at where he landed!" ? the tackle was clearly out side the box.

Walcott tries to break away and is challenged by Rodwell first and then Baines, it?s a foul but nothing more: "Red card, you have got to send him off for that, it's deliberate!"

Bilyaletdinov in there box shields the ball and the Arsenal defender kicks the ball from between his legs and off for a corner: It's clear, I'm staring straight at it, you can see it as clear as day, it's not even debatable, but all around me is uproar "How the fuck is that a corner? You wanker ref," A chant of "You don?t know what your doing" goes out around the ground. Bilyaletdinov looks at the crowd in confused amusement as if to say "For fuck's sake, come on lads, it couldn?t of been any clearer! Not one Arsenal player complained!!"

As Baines goes to take the corner, he places the ball quite close to the edge of the corner box but we all know the rule, it just has to be touching the line, that?s all, but not with this bunch of dicks! "Ref, ref, ref ? please, PLEASE look at the ball, he?s cheating, he?s cheating!!"

And so it went on for the rest of the game. I was so desperate for the boys to hang on for the 0-1 win because these fans around me deserved to have their team lose but unfortunately after their first goal, there is truly awful defending for the corner that results in the second goal and we all know the end result.

I must say though the subs Moyes made were baffling again, Neville signalled he was struggling so fair enough, he had to go off, but surely as we had gone 2-1 down, the thing to do would have been to bring Anichebe and Beckford on and push Coleman back to right back, Anichebe on the right and two upfront?!!

But instead he went like for like, Jags to right back, Anichebe to right wing, stick with 1 up front? Baffling really... but that?s not why I wanted to write this. All I know is that the next time we are at the Emirates and my mate offers me a ticket to sit with him in the Arsenal end, I will politely decline.

Reader Comments (21)

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Robert Elliott
1 Posted 02/02/2011 at 14:28:07
Like you Chris, I've sat with the home fans at various grounds watching Everton over the years. As I'm from the Midlands, they've tended to be the likes of Villa and Birmingham, and Forest and Coventry as well when they were in the Prem, normally with mates who happen to support the other team.

Happy to say I've never had an experience quite as bad as yours, but isn't it funny how your mate, whose football opinion you used to rate, suddenly turns into a know-nothing moron when your team plays his!

As for the comments you refer too, they are a total disgrace, as was the behaviour of a lot of the Arsenal players after we scored last night. Moyes obviously highlighted the Fabregas incident, and whatever Moyes heard...
Robert Elliott
2 Posted 02/02/2011 at 14:35:30
Maybe, he's not a liar, yet Wenger comes out and says it didn't happen! I suppose every team gets the supporters it deserves.
Graham Holliday
3 Posted 02/02/2011 at 14:42:00
So you sit in the Arsenal section of the crowd and it's not neutral, but biased towards the home side? Shocking!

Whilst not condoning the offensive remarks, I don't think we could claim that this is Arsenal-specific. All teams have fans who are dickheads... including Everton.

Also, by the book - he's still offside.



From the laws of the game: "?gaining an advantage by being in that position? means playing a ball
that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an
offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent
having been in an offside position"
Julian Wait
4 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:07:57
@Graham - was not a rebound, the defender played the ball deliberately. Onside.
Steve Guy
5 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:18:21
I was at the game too. Let's face it if Saha's had been awarded to the opposition at Goodison park we would have been up in arms too. However, the kind of abuse you say was given out to Arteta and Neville cannot be condoned. I seem to remember the RS doing something similar to Lee Carsley. You do indeed get the supporters you deserve.

On a separate note, what a wonderful stadium the Emirates is. I was lucky enough to be in the Club level via a mate's invite. I tell you, we will never compete properly until we can have these kind of facilities.
Eugene Ruane
6 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:21:13
Me and a (blue) mate sat in the North Bank when Kanchelskis got that last minute winner.

We both went nuts (as did a few other blues hidden away in there).

One feller behind called us "Scaarse scam" but we were so happy we didn't give a fuck.

Laughing, I said to him "you can call us aaaaaanything you fucking want, 2-1!".

Nobody else said anything and later on, I thought they actually weren't a bad lot and had it been one of them jumping around in the Park End at a last minute winner well....ex-ACTLY.

I was also (with quite a few other blues) in with Spurs fans years ago at their place when, from 3-0 down, we came back to draw 3-3.

We kept quite when we got one back, even when the second went in, but the third?

Again pure happiness and we went nuts.

Rather than us get beaten to fuck, our reaction created panic as nobody knew who was who, or how many.

I think there's a psychology to being an away supporter in with the home fans.

As much as they don't want you there, when you go completely nuts at a goal, most of them are thinking "these fellers must be insane" and most steer clear (that's what I'd do)

Or..maybe we were just lucky.
James Thomas
7 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:43:15
Being a Londoner I for years spent my time watching Everton in the home section with opposition fans before joining ESCLA. The level of contempt and abuse directed at ?bloody scousers? is something one becomes resigned to and is symptomatic of the fact that most Londoners have never spent any significant period of time outside of London and view anyone north of Watford as scum. Spurs fans are the worst, followed closely by Chelsea, then Arsenal. West Ham engage in friendly banter and Fulham are just too darn polite to insult anyone.

The personal attacks on the children seems out of line but considering how much we chant "the baby's not yours" at a certain cheating, diving, whining, DJ assaulting, media darling with a messiah-complex, I'm not sure you can take the moral high-ground on that one. By a similar token, sitting with the Everton fans last night there were two incidents that stood out last night regarding the twattish behaviour of which our own fans can be capable.

The first was when my father returned from the toilets at half time and told me about the young black lad in the toilets to whom some wag commented ?hey it?s Beckford?s brother?, a comment that had him and all his mates at stitches. Now I?m sure the kid was more annoyed and simply rolled his eyes, but it reminded me of the other racist comments I?ve heard at previous Everton matches; the monkey noise someone made at Brentford, the gas chamber hisses at Spurs, the world?s fattest and angriest man at Fulham screaming ?coon? at a steward and calling Jo a ?useless bone idle black c***? to the amusement of his family.

The second was when Sagna took one of his many dives in front of our fans, claiming that hulking beast of a man Leon Osman has hurt him in some way. Like everyone else I vented my fury at him and the ref with some choice expletives ? however, some pillock thought it would be a good idea to hurl a coin at him instead. He missed, as the coin smacked me on the back of the head instead.

I should point out that I am not absolving Arsenal fans of blame. The things you heard were despicable and people like that should be banned from grounds. Most of my friends are Arsenal fans and one of them for years sat behind a genuine Alf Garnett style racist for years at Highbury. And indeed most of them whinge and moan incessantly at the world being against them every time their players go to ground softly and don?t get a free kick. However, the abuse that the minority of their fans shout is no worse than what the minority of our fans have been heard to shout.
Mike Hughes
8 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:40:36
Sorry to hear about your experience at Arsenal. I can't stand them either now and add them to my growing list of clubs I can't stand - incl Spurs (mainly due to Redknapp); Newcastle (pseudo-kopites); Man City (no-mark mancs) and, of course, the RS - our whining, precious neighbours. Come on Stoke City!



Brian Waring
9 Posted 02/02/2011 at 15:55:50
Hang on, have you ever been to Goodison? The abuse that gets thrown at the away team players at times is disgraceful. To tell you the truth, the abuse that actually gets hurled at our own players is terrible. Steven Gerrard gets terrible abuse when he comes to Goodison, but is that okay because he is a redshite?

I went away to Fulham a couple of seasons ago with my little lad
who was only 10 at the time, one of the black players ( Can't remember who he was ) went over to take a corner for Fulham, he was racially abused something terrible, he actually looked shocked, not as much as my little lad though.

Every game I have ever been to Chris, there has been abuse, whinging , moaning from our own fans, it happens at every ground in the country, not just at Arsenal.
Guy Wilkinson
10 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:00:14
Emirates > Highbury. Means that 20k dickheads who never used to go to the match now do. Hence no knowledge of rules of game.
As James says, let he who is without sin.....
Peter Webster
11 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:03:20
Less of the Emirates stadium; more like the Emiroids.
Brian Waring
12 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:06:35
James, you only have to look at some of the posts on here, the mentality of some people is the same, everyone in the world is against us, the refs, the fa, sky, EUFA.

Next time you get the chance,, have a look at the live forum, for abuse, it wins hands down.
Peter Webster
13 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:16:13
I was in the Bristol City end when we played them in the cup a few years ago. I was getting a lot of abuse so the stewards thankfully moved me into the pitch level section perpendicular to their goal. There was only me, some wheelchair users and the pom pom girls.
We scored two in the first half and I made the most of displaying my pleasure to their supporters. At half time the stewards 'suggested' that I go the Everton end to avoid a lynching. I think we eventually won on penalties.
Brian Waring
14 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:31:18
By the way lads, heres some abuse that has been posted on other threads on Toffeeweb " My little prayer about Alan Green getting cancer "
" I hope he dies in his sleep "

One aimed at Harry Redknapp
" Melted candle face "

By the way, this isen't having a dig at you lads who posted them, I'm just as guilty as the next blue for hurling abuse. I'm just pointing out that we are as bad as the fans of other clubs.
Chris Fisher
15 Posted 02/02/2011 at 16:47:26
Fair points by all, i was just saying that this was the worst i had come across when sitting with away fans, i just found the personal abuse unnecessary. I understand the usual abuse and i wasnt expecting the Arsenal fans to support Everton i just found the abuse and the level of moaning by them to be the worst i had experieced. I've sat with Man City fans, Spurs fans, Aston Villa fans, Millwall fans, Fulham fans and a few others but nothing compared to this i just found it uncomfortable. Some of the abuse or banter that i have heard when sitting with fans of opposing teams has actually made me laugh and its usually pretty basic stuff but this was just nasty. I would of been disappointed if that was my own fans doing that.
Jon Cox
16 Posted 02/02/2011 at 19:23:53
Chris, It's a tribal thing. No more no less. It's like you slagging one of your family off. No problem but just let anyone do the same who doesn't belong to your famaily. Nuclear war anyone?
Barry Thompson
18 Posted 02/02/2011 at 20:50:59
Arsenal=shithouse club, shithouse manager, shithouse players, shithouse fans. Great stadium though. Went there last season, never again though.
David Hallwood
19 Posted 03/02/2011 at 00:03:10
Graham Holliday#3 Erm... If you read law 11, a player is offside when he is in an active position AND receives a pass from a team mate, so Sahs wasn't offside, y'see And & Richard it isn't only girlie linesmen (or should that be linespersons) that don't understand the offside law
Roman Sidey
20 Posted 03/02/2011 at 00:26:03
While we're telling war stories...

I was watching the 09 FA Cup Final in the Pig n Whistle in Brisbane, where Toffees outnumbered Pensioners about 2-1. The pub had gone to all the effort with team songs on the sound system and banners everywhere.

As we were many and they were few, we all took stand in the front section, with the Shepherd's Bush Homecomers taking their rightful position at the back of the pub.

My mate brought two pints back just in time for kick-off, so, needless to say I still had a good half left by the time Louis got THAT goal. By the time Chelsea kicked it off for the restart, I was drenched, two thirds of the pub was ecstatic, and my pint was empty.

I was at the bar getting the next one when Drogba got his equaliser, and came back to all sorts of nonsense ...

One of the Chelsea scum in the front of their section had thought it a good idea to throw an empty pint into our group, from behind no less.

The girl it hit in the back of the head had been standing right in front of where I'd been standing, and her bloke (kitted out proudly in the Lescott no.16 shirt from when he was the king!) and his mates were right in the middle of the Chelsea fans, going hell for leather. Fucking Chelsea Scum!

They showed their true colours at half time though when the sent a delegate over to us and said, "We didn't see who it was, but he's gone."

Out reply: "If you have no idea who did it, how do you know he's gone, you fuckers!"

Ruined the whole night.
Roman Sidey
21 Posted 03/02/2011 at 00:26:03
While we're telling war stories...

I was watching the 09 FA Cup Final in the Pig n Whistle in Brisbane, where Toffees outnumbered Pensioners about 2-1. The pub had gone to all the effort with team songs on the sound system and banners everywhere.

As we were many and they were few, we all took stand in the front section, with the Shepherd's Bush Homecomers taking their rightful position at the back of the pub.

My mate brought two pints back just in time for kick-off, so, needless to say I still had a good half left by the time Louis got THAT goal. By the time Chelsea kicked it off for the restart, I was drenched, two thirds of the pub was ecstatic, and my pint was empty.

I was at the bar getting the next one when Drogba got his equaliser, and came back to all sorts of nonsense ...

One of the Chelsea scum in the front of their section had thought it a good idea to throw an empty pint into our group, from behind no less.

The girl it hit in the back of the head had been standing right in front of where I'd been standing, and her bloke (kitted out proudly in the Lescott no.16 shirt from when he was the king!) and his mates were right in the middle of the Chelsea fans, going hell for leather. Fucking Chelsea Scum!

They showed their true colours at half time though when the sent a delegate over to us and said, "We didn't see who it was, but he's gone."

Out reply: "If you have no idea who did it, how do you know he's gone, you fuckers!"

Ruined the whole night.
Chris Fisher
22 Posted 03/02/2011 at 10:07:24
James Thomas, fair shout then mate. I must've been lucky with where I sit at Goodison then because, although I have heard some close to the bone remarks, I've never heard anything like that but I suppose every team has them kind of fans unfortunately!

I've learnt from my mistake though because I won't be sitting with Arsenal fans again, if I can't get a ticket with my own fans then that's just my bad luck!


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