Alcohol At Cardiff

[lastword]

What the !!!Is this sort of thuggish bigotry allowed on here?

 

Granted some of the comments do sound like veiled racism.......but there are some truths being expressed. It should be appreciated that speedway in Poland equates with football in this country, and has a lot of the same problems.

 

Segregation at big matches, 'Ultras' that collect in their own section of the stadium, and a large following of ''young men'' who like a drink or twelve.

 

Move some of these fans to a foreign environment en masse and you get the same sort of issues that many England football followers have created across Europe for years.

 

I attend league football regularly in England and rarely see trouble these days, but there is always that underlying threat, (and it would be more than that without the segregation of opposing fans.) Equally, I have been fortunate at Cardiff to avoid any problems of the kind recorded by others in this thread, but people don't make this kind of thing up for fun........and perhaps thoughts should be given by the organisers as to how these things could be avoided in future.

 

Cutting down on the provision of 'six pints at a time' sales at the bars would probably help, but I cannot see the stadium wanting to lose that revenue.

Edited June 28, 2009 by lastword

[Nevs]

Bit silly to confiscate air horns

 

This is why-started last year.

You could buy the official ones at the collectors fayre but they were soon sold out.

Big Al that I went with just stuck his canister down his sock before he went in last year.

 

Air horns at Cardiff

Edited June 28, 2009 by Nevs

[Kermit]

Last night was a disgrace as far as i'm concerned, I was sat in the top tier between bends 3 and 4 and ended up being stuck in the middle of a huge fight when a polish chap was set up on by anumber of people after the Nicholls/Emil handbags , and I must say the way that certain british speedway riders conducted themselves was nothing short of shocking, there was a huge group of 'fans' all their for a good time which is what we are there for but the amount of alcohol consumed by this group and then the way they acted climbing all over seats, beer being spilt left right and centre stood up all of time, just made it awful for us around. Alot of riders were involved in this group and once again after last year Ben Barker having a huge falling out with an elderly gentleman and being spoken to by stewards on numerous occaisions.

 

Truly awful

Edited June 28, 2009 by Kermit

[bone]

couldnt agree more morons from edinburgh as usual

[SuzieQ]

Last night was a disgrace as far as i'm concerned, I was sat in the top tier between bends 3 and 4 and ended up being stuck in the middle of a huge fight when a polish chap was set up on by anumber of people after the Nicholls/Emil handbags , and I must say the way that certain british speedway riders conducted themselves was nothing short of shocking, there was a huge group of 'fans' all their for a good time which is what we are there for but the amount of alcohol consumed by this group and then the way they acted climbing all over seats, beer being spilt left right and centre stood up all of time, just made it awful for us around. Alot of riders were involved in this group such as Paul Cooper, Jamie Robertson, Andrew Tully plus a few more, I know these guys are here for a good time but surely they need to set an example, and once again after last year Ben Barker having a huge falling out with an elderly gentleman and being spoken to by stewards on numerous occaisions.

 

Truly awful

 

At last someone names Mr Barker! he did nothing but offend people all weekend! the lad needs to hold off on the drink if he can't hold his tongue! Must admit I would not know the other three if I tripped over them (which by all accounts I could have done ) we were sat just behind and to the left of the major errrrrr "kerfuffle" after the heat 5 incident and it seemed to take only seconds for Ben Barker to launch in there!

 

Most of the evening we had many security and police and attendance around our area after that and they were well aware of Ben and his friends!

[Beeone]

They are still taking away plastic bottles of anything (soft drinks & water) claiming it is for health & safety reasons and also got told that they would confiscate food if we'd had that as well. On a previous visit, they did give you plastic cups so you could transfer out of the bottles to the cups in order to take it. This year they had nothing and suggested as it was still early enough we could walk around and drink what we had and come back later and then go in! If anything, I would have thought that wooden flag poles would be more of a health & safety issue than an empty plastic bottle - but perhaps maybe keep quiet on that one in case this could cause a new rule for next year!! What annoyed even more was that once sat down inside someone who was sat 2 rows in front had gone off somewhere and came back with a plastic bottle of soft drink - she never had any bags with her so i'm assuming it must have been from a vending machine.

 

Slightly off topic but still regarding do's and don'ts, I did feel sorry for the little lad at the next check point who was there with his dad/grandad who had 2x airhorn canisters (still in the sealed packaging) took off him as they didn't conform to their rules. They got told it was because there had been a fire last year - not quite sure I can believe that one!!

 

The bottles of soft drinks were being sold from the refreshment outlets on the concourse, I asked for a large coke and was told that they only sold it in bottles, which cost me £2! I was stuck on cokes as I was driving back to Coventry later.

 

As for the air horn canisters, it really is a fire risk issue. Some of the canisters on sale outside are highle flammable so I guess not to allow hundreds of them to be used in a confined area is sensible. The ones on sale from the stands inside and some from ouside are filled with a non flammable material. Incidentally the same policy was enforced last year.

[davidba]

Granted some of the comments do sound like veiled racism.......but there are some truths being expressed. It should be appreciated that speedway in Poland equates with football in this country, and has a lot of the same problems.

 

Segregation at big matches, 'Ultras' that collect in their own section of the stadium, and a large following of ''young men'' who like a drink or twelve.

 

Move some of these fans to a foreign environment en masse and you get the same sort of issues that many England football followers have created across Europe for years.

 

I attend league football regularly in England and rarely see trouble these days, but there is always that underlying threat, (and it would be more than that without the segregation of opposing fans.) Equally, I have been fortunate at Cardiff to avoid any problems of the kind recorded by others in this thread, but people don't make this kind of thing up for fun........and perhaps thoughts should be given by the organisers as to how these things could be avoided in future.

 

Cutting down on the provision of 'six pints at a time' sales at the bars would probably help, but I cannot see the stadium wanting to lose that revenue.

 

I've no doubt there were some out of order Polish fans, and some British ones too by the sounds of it, but what kind of idiot posts comments advocating violence against Poles per se, i'm sure the Polish people who post on here feel disturbed by these comments. I always hoped the many comments on here along the lines of 'No more Poles' was purely out of frustration at some Polish riders not being able/willing to appear full time for their British clubs, but this incident has let all kinds of bigotry out onto the forum!

Sure i've been disturbed by people drinking too much at Cardiff, sort it out by all means but don't let some turn it into an excuse to create divisions.

[crazysue]

We were absolutely fine again...not sure why but I have never had a major problem with drinks being spilt or too rowdy fans. I would agree a fair few would be pretty much pickled with alcohol before they even set foot in the stadium, I know I had a few or three before I got there! (Stuck to water during the GP).

 

We had a great group of Poles a few rows in front of us, not at all over the top rowdy, well behaved and just having fun waving their flags, banging their drum to the music and taking pictures.

 

We were top tier just at the start of the home straight coming off the 4th bend....oh and plenty of space to move around in if needs be! (we were supposed to be one section over but my seat was the middle of the row and the steward found us end of row seats instead)

[deanozoff]

We went last night with our 11 month old son and didn't experience any problems even though we had some slightly drunken British fans behind us, they were great at keeping our son amused to be fair! I know a family a few seats on from us had problems with them though about beer been spilt over them from behind.

 

Why don't Cardiff take a leaf out of football books where you can only drink behind the stands, no drinking in the seated area. You could even make it that you can only return to your seat after every block of 4 heats that way you either miss 4 heats or do without?

 

Also was it just me or did more fans seem drunk this year than last year even though we had the earlier start time?

[UnitedUnitedUnited]

anyone starting to think the stadium is a dump floors extra sticky, seats awful....means nice! Coat got soaked in Beer by a dippy, tipsy blonde bird behind, didnt say anything till tried standing at the end, and was stuck to the floor

[westhamboy66]

I thought drink is what Cardiff is all about, speedway's biggest pee up! If peed up pirates are causing problems in the stadium of course it should be banned and those who turn up drunk not allowed entry ...................

I thought Cardiff was about speedway and a great atmosphere. If you need to have a drink to enjoy it then I suggest you have a problem that requires treatment

[shaleslider]

Went through this in 2006 , haven't been since. The louts sat behind us were offensive & drunk & I had a full pint of lager poured down my back after about heat 8.

 

Cardiff is just a drinking competition now, families should be able to get tickets in an alcohol free zone & the stewards enforce it.

[iris123]

I thought Cardiff was about speedway and a great atmosphere. If you need to have a drink to enjoy it then I suggest you have a problem that requires treatment

Think that one has gone right over the top of your head.......

[SCB]

Until last night, I had never experience a problem at Cardiff with any nationality and had in fact had a good laugh with the Poles many times. After it kicked off last night and subsequently settled down I had a tap on the shoulder an had this big Pole bearing over me, he held out his hand and apologised for the Poles and said he only wanted to have a drink and support his guys, I shook his hand and then another Pole leaned over and did the same.

 

I don't like the anti-Pole attitude on here, the majority do just want to come over an have a good time, have a laugh and meet up with others. That generally happens. If one or two people have kicked off, then it's a shame but I'm sure most of the Poles are ashamed by it. Does anyone know how started the spat on the 4th bend after the Sayfutdinov/Nicholls? We're hearing the Poles this, the Poles that but they may not have started it.

 

 

I see Andrew Tully is being accused of being around when it kicked off, I did not see him until AFTER it had all gone mad, I may be wrong and I apologise if that's the case but I don't think he should be judged as guilty by association.

[Phlipphlopp]

I thought Cardiff was about speedway and a great atmosphere. If you need to have a drink to enjoy it then I suggest you have a problem that requires treatment

 

No-one NEEDS to have a drink to enjoy it. But , myself and many posters on here work our nuts off all week , and enjoy a beer or two in our spare time, and combining the two made for a very enjoyable day out. a coachload of us came up from Exeter , had more than a few , had great fun , met up with a few old mates not seen for ages , and had no problems. Dont mix up the idiots that cant hold their pop , with the ones that enjoy a few pops and can. No matter where you go , you will always find a few idiots that shouldnt touch a drop

[Guest thetiger2799]

The names mentioned on this site had NOTHING to do with anything that happened. To me it appears that whoever posted it originally saw some riders and thought....

 

..o0o0o I could get some attention here for naming and shaming.

 

But here is THE TRUTH. From myself, no handed down info, no agenda to badmouth riders just for the sake of it, BUT THE TRUTH.

 

There was a goup of Polish fans (2 men and 2 woman) One of the woman was having a laugh with our group (ie everytime a Pole was out she would dance and shake her bahookie, which was very nice)

 

When the fight broke out on the track. Like everyone else did they stood up and got excited. Then from nowhere a young boy in the row in front of us grabbed a pint, drank half of it, and then spat it all over the four polish fans.

 

Now at that point Gary Flint was in the row in front chatting to me and Andy Tully. Because of the way he was blocked in, one of the polish fans climbed into this row to get to the young boy.

 

The mans girlfriend was pleading with him to leave it, and sit down, but he was a big big lad, with mustles coming out of everywhere....So Gary Flint tried to calm him down along with the girl...Whilst we all blocked his path so he could not get to the boy at 14.

 

At this stage the stewards came in, but whilst everyone was trying to explain to them that it was in fact the young boy who should be thrown out (who was now in floods of tears, the little idiot) four English men came down from the back of the stand and jumped the polish man from behind punching him repeatedly on the head to the extent where he actually fell 2 rows forward.

 

This is when it actually got really ugly with people jumping over seats to get to the polish man (Who they assumed was the instigator going after a young boy)

 

Now at this stage, a steward who was trying to get in fell in front of us, and it was Gary Flint and Jamie Robertson who grabbed him to his feet before he got crushed.

 

Then everything went quiet and the four thugs from the back were told to go back to their seat. The young boy was moved to another part of the stand AND THE POLES WERE EJECTED Totally unfairly.

 

Now after a few heats passed. The head steward came up to our group and thanked us for our quick reactions...(They know they reacted too slowly, and if he hadn't, then that young boy was going to get a right pounding) It took them between 45 secs to a minute to get to the situation...

 

Now later on a police woman was then posted at that stairwell for the rest of the meeting, thanked us for acting responsible and not doing anything foolish.

 

Now here is the part that tears the original post to threads....

 

Aaron Summers, Adam McKinna and Kieran Morris were not sitting with us at this point of the meeting, and only came along at around heat 10 -11.

 

John Gray was 3 rows behind so unless he flew over my head, was well out of the trouble.

 

There is no way I am going to allow these guys names to be dragged through the muck, for something they did not do.

[obrien48]

Didn't realise it had kicked off so badly - we were sat L15 4th bend and sure a bit of beer got spilt and it was a bit gross - but someone complained and within 5mins a cleaning team arrived - so we all shuffled out of the ailse for a min and voila! More beer got spilt later tho had to stop jumping around when scotty won cos some poor girl in front of me was getting splattered!

 

First time at Cardiff and had a great day out - my little one even managed to get onto the end sequence of the sky coverage! Pity bomber got excluded but you can't have everything

 

How many days until cardiff?!

[jim the whipper]

The names mentioned on this site had NOTHING to do with anything that happened. To me it appears that whoever posted it originally saw some riders and thought....

 

..o0o0o I could get some attention here for naming and shaming.

 

But here is THE TRUTH. From myself, no handed down info, no agenda to badmouth riders just for the sake of it, BUT THE TRUTH.

 

There was a goup of Polish fans (2 men and 2 woman) One of the woman was having a laugh with our group (ie everytime a Pole was out she would dance and shake her bahookie, which was very nice)

 

When the fight broke out on the track. Like everyone else did they stood up and got excited. Then from nowhere a young boy in the row in front of us grabbed a pint, drank half of it, and then spat it all over the four polish fans.

 

Now at that point Gary Flint was in the row in front chatting to me and Andy Tully. Because of the way he was blocked in, one of the polish fans climbed into this row to get to the young boy.

 

The mans girlfriend was pleading with him to leave it, and sit down, but he was a big big lad, with mustles coming out of everywhere....So Gary Flint tried to calm him down along with the girl...Whilst we all blocked his path so he could not get to the boy at 14.

 

At this stage the stewards came in, but whilst everyone was trying to explain to them that it was in fact the young boy who should be thrown out (who was now in floods of tears, the little idiot) four English men came down from the back of the stand and jumped the polish man from behind punching him repeatedly on the head to the extent where he actually fell 2 rows forward.

 

This is when it actually got really ugly with people jumping over seats to get to the polish man (Who they assumed was the instigator going after a young boy)

 

Now at this stage, a steward who was trying to get in fell in front of us, and it was Gary Flint and Jamie Robertson who grabbed him to his feet before he got crushed.

 

Then everything went quiet and the four thugs from the back were told to go back to their seat. The young boy was moved to another part of the stand AND THE POLES WERE EJECTED Totally unfairly.

 

Now after a few heats passed. The head steward came up to our group and thanked us for our quick reactions...(They know they reacted too slowly, and if he hadn't, then that young boy was going to get a right pounding) It took them between 45 secs to a minute to get to the situation...

 

Now later on a police woman was then posted at that stairwell for the rest of the meeting, thanked us for acting responsible and not doing anything foolish.

 

Now here is the part that tears the original post to threads....

 

Aaron Summers, Adam McKinna and Kieran Morris were not sitting with us at this point of the meeting, and only came along at around heat 10 -11.

 

John Gray was 3 rows behind so unless he flew over my head, was well out of the trouble.

 

There is no way I am going to allow these guys names to be dragged through the muck, for something they did not do.

No defense for mr Barker then .

[loyal royal]

To be fair it is not just a Polish issue, there were as many pissed up Brits as there were Poles, in fact respect to the group of Poles to the left of me on turn four top tier who did look like they would be trouble from the moment they unfurled thier huge Leszno flag.

They drank but behaved admirably, despite the goading and gesturing from the English idiots in front of them who actually had a mini ruck amongst themselves!

[Guest Ashie Smashy]

So in short what you're all reporting is that in general speedway's big day out attracts the same type of muppets that regularly frequent this online forum?