Grown men running on the pitch??

Quoted from aldi_01

But then you have the debate on how to actually deal with it…this is a small incident being turned in to a full scale riot.

I’d argue banning orders don’t work (few punitive measures do) so what’s the solution…you also couple that with some heavy handed police work in certain situations and the whole thing becomes a pressure cooker.

They run on, the jump up and down, they dive back in. Less then 30 seconds, no harm done, the end.

exactly aldi, like I say its hardly crime of the century is it a few people buzzing and jumping on to congratulate the players, no harm done at all but the fickle people of the fishy turn anything into a massacre, yes its illegal and fully understand that but for me its one of the pettiest of crimes and the outcome possible ban, fine and exclusion order within radius of the ground is ridiculous punishment in comparison to 'real' criminality.

Quoted from OneLove

exactly aldi, like I say its hardly crime of the century is it a few people buzzing and jumping on to congratulate the players, no harm done at all but the fickle people of the fishy turn anything into a massacre, yes its illegal and fully understand that but for me its one of the pettiest of crimes and the outcome possible ban, fine and exclusion order within radius of the ground is ridiculous punishment in comparison to 'real' criminality.

So how many people are allowed on the pitch until it becomes a problem?

Quoted from jamesgtfc

So how many people are allowed on the pitch until it becomes a problem?

none because its illegal but my point is I carnt see a problem with celebrating with players, there is literally zero harm being caused!

So answer this, last game of the season town get promoted and everyone runs on the pitch like against notts county what would your opinion be on that is everyones a male private for doing it, celebrating promotion or staying up.

I wonder how many people on here claiming it’s all harmless will be complaining about the police et al when we have a kick off moved to 12.30 which is very inconvenient for not just them but all concerned.

Look at the club statement, even when a few people do this it goes towards the police making an excuse to bring forward kick offs.

If you condone it then don’t complain when there are consequences.

UTFM

Quoted from OneLove

none because its illegal but my point is I carnt see a problem with celebrating with players, there is literally zero harm being caused!

So answer this, last game of the season town get promoted and everyone runs on the pitch like against notts county what would your opinion be on that is everyones a male private for doing it, celebrating promotion or staying up.

None are allowed on the pitch until it becomes a problem, so you've just confirmed it is a problem.

Pitch invasions have previously prevented players doing laps of honour. Thousands of people running onto the pitch must be scary for the people on there too.

How long until a nutter gets onto the pitch?

Quoted from MarinerWY

Don't get me wrong it's pathetic that grown men can't control themselves, but jumping up and down in celebration on the pitch is not hooliganism. It's illegal, and given the potential consequences for the club, pretty indefensible, but it's not hooliganism.

Football hooliganism constitutes violent or belligerent behaviour perpetrated by spectators at association football events.

It's illegal ffs. I bet the people arguing for fans running on the pitch are the ones that moan when they get a speeding ticket

Quoted from Posh Harry

I wonder how many people on here claiming it’s all harmless will be complaining about the police et al when we have a kick off moved to 12.30 which is very inconvenient for not just them but all concerned.

Look at the club statement, even when a few people do this it goes towards the police making an excuse to bring forward kick offs.

If you condone it then don’t complain when there are consequences.

UTFM

Police will move kick offs whenever they fancy it based on the flimsiest of evidence or intelligence, historical factors that are 20/30/40 years out of date and when they can’t find a justification, they’ll just completely fabricate something (like Chesterfield a few years back). As for making it harder for the club to argue against, I’d like to see them try for once!

This whole thread, which has dragged on for half a week now, demonstrates why it’s so easy for football fans to have their rights taken away, en masse, and face poor treatment at the hands of the police - because people will justify anything if they think they’re better than the those they’re calling for action against. The thread’s been an illuminating, if depressing, exercise in dehumanising language, stereotyping, straw-man arguments and a weird form of classism.

Some seem to be justifying their abuse by stating it’s illegal to be on the pitch. Being drunk in a football ground is also illegal, but we have a thread on here every week talking about which pubs to visit. Should we start hammering everyone posting in there? I’d imagine almost everyone on here is guilty of that. Last year standing outside with 2 other people was illegal. If you think you can justify abusing people based on what’s legal or illegal this week or next, you’re on a slippery slope.

Nobody’s said pitch encroachment is fine, but people have asked for a bit more of a proportional response rather than the sentences being handed down from the Fishy kangaroo court where everyone who brushes a blade of grass shall be hung, drawn and quartered. Some of the strawman arguments on here are laughable - it’s some reach to go from someone being on the pitch (for 5 seconds, by about 2ft) to then “swinging for a steward” or “a nutter” getting on the pitch. Also saying “if one person does it, everyone will do it” sounds like the kind of argument you’d have with a 2-year-old. It’s an offence if one person or a thousand do it - it’s up to the authorities to police it and charge people if they want, it doesn’t become less of offence through the number of people doing it.

A lot of the behaviour - pulling nets, giving grief to stewards or club staff - is embarrassing and reminds me of that bullying attitude FC Utd had when they first started out and had stands full of Man Utd fans. But it would be a lot easier to weed that out if the reaction to every little infringement wasn’t the “shoot them and drown their kids” we get on here.

I think Ska Face has this spot on. It's about a proportional response.

A little over exuberance and spilling temporarily onto the side of the pitch, jumping about for a few seconds, and then going back may technically be illegal, but it's a minor infraction.

Deliberately damaging the ground in whatever way is criminal damage, it also shows a distinct lack of class. That should be punished.

Actually crossing the white line onto the pitch should be punishable also. Although even that is about context - as others have pointed out, a full-scale end of season pitch invasion to celebrate promotion has no malice in it and should be taken in that context.

What I personally don't like to see is fans running on the pitching and running up to join the huddle of players in celebration. It's the players' celebration as a team - you aren't part of that team. So celebrate it with other fans, but not with the players - that's not your place and is out of order.

Quoted from EvilFish

I think Ska Face has this spot on. It's about a proportional response.

A little over exuberance and spilling temporarily onto the side of the pitch, jumping about for a few seconds, and then going back may technically be illegal, but it's a minor infraction.

Deliberately damaging the ground in whatever way is criminal damage, it also shows a distinct lack of class. That should be punished.

Actually crossing the white line onto the pitch should be punishable also. Although even that is about context - as others have pointed out, a full-scale end of season pitch invasion to celebrate promotion has no malice in it and should be taken in that context.

What I personally don't like to see is fans running on the pitching and running up to join the huddle of players in celebration. It's the players' celebration as a team - you aren't part of that team. So celebrate it with other fans, but not with the players - that's not your place and is out of order.

You have contradicted yourself there haven't you? We should indeed celebrate with other fans - on our side of the barriers.  It is totally wrong for spectators to be on the field of play - ie over the barriers- for all sorts of reasons. There was a scourge of this sort of thing with football and cricket but that was decades ago. Let's not give people any more stick to beat the name of Grimsby with.