The Cellar - View Single Post - 5/16/2002 [Extra]

Undertoad · 05-17-2002, 10:46 AM

Oh yes, there's another aspect here that Americans aren't as aware of. At least as it was a few decades ago, the stadiums are just as likely to have seats as not. I lived there as a lad (Sheffield United, 1977-78), and only the sides of the stadium had seats. The ends were standing only, and fans were tightly packed into a small area. Bad behavior was routine. This is Sociology 101 stuff, how to turn an unruly crowd into a mob: pack 'em in. As a kid, I didn't even realize how dangerous it really was.

After the Hillsborough incident (where many were killed due to that kind of crowding), I understand that there was an initiative to make bigger stadiums seats-only... no idea of how well that idea went over. Brits, help me out here?

I was also in attendance at one of the US's worst recent examples of fan behavior. It was 1999, San Francisco at Philadelphia, Monday Night Football. It was a night that helped to make Philly's reputation for ugly fan behavior. Fights broke out all over the stadium, fans ran out onto the field. The worst thing was when some dope fired a flare gun from one side of the stadium to the other.

After that night, the team instituted a practice of holding a courtroom in the stadium on game day, so that anyone caught would be immediately taken before a judge.

There were obvious reasons for the Monday night debacle. Yes, a Monday night meant that the usual bunch of south Philly people had all day to drink. The biggest problem was that the Eagles were just terrible that year. Amazingly, all of the fights ended in the fourth quarter, when the team put in the third-string quarterback, who actually woke up the offense. People stopped fighting and started watching the game!

But between Sheffield circa '77 and Philly circa '99, there's no question where I was safer: Philly. Everyone in fights there wanted to be in fights. If you didn't want to be in a fight, nobody would give you a second look. We were right next to a section where fights were breaking out. Anyone who wanted out could get out easily, and fights never spread to unwilling spectators.

05-17-2002, 10:46 AM	#10
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Oh yes, there's another aspect here that Americans aren't as aware of. At least as it was a few decades ago, the stadiums are just as likely to have seats as not. I lived there as a lad (Sheffield United, 1977-78), and only the sides of the stadium had seats. The ends were standing only, and fans were tightly packed into a small area. Bad behavior was routine. This is Sociology 101 stuff, how to turn an unruly crowd into a mob: pack 'em in. As a kid, I didn't even realize how dangerous it really was. After the Hillsborough incident (where many were killed due to that kind of crowding), I understand that there was an initiative to make bigger stadiums seats-only... no idea of how well that idea went over. Brits, help me out here? I was also in attendance at one of the US's worst recent examples of fan behavior. It was 1999, San Francisco at Philadelphia, Monday Night Football. It was a night that helped to make Philly's reputation for ugly fan behavior. Fights broke out all over the stadium, fans ran out onto the field. The worst thing was when some dope fired a flare gun from one side of the stadium to the other. After that night, the team instituted a practice of holding a courtroom in the stadium on game day, so that anyone caught would be immediately taken before a judge. There were obvious reasons for the Monday night debacle. Yes, a Monday night meant that the usual bunch of south Philly people had all day to drink. The biggest problem was that the Eagles were just terrible that year. Amazingly, all of the fights ended in the fourth quarter, when the team put in the third-string quarterback, who actually woke up the offense. People stopped fighting and started watching the game! But between Sheffield circa '77 and Philly circa '99, there's no question where I was safer: Philly. Everyone in fights there wanted to be in fights. If you didn't want to be in a fight, nobody would give you a second look. We were right next to a section where fights were breaking out. Anyone who wanted out could get out easily, and fights never spread to unwilling spectators.