Trouble adds embarrassment to derby defeat
Swindon’s 2-0 defeat to Oxford United wasn’t just a disappointment on the pitch but also off it. Adam Johnson was there and recalls his view of the trouble in the stands.
Derby games, every football fan thrives off them. The local bragging rights, the passion, the atmosphere, the tension.
However, I draw a line and I’m sure 95% of fans also do and know that there is a line between mockery and violence. Sadly on Saturday, the game was marred with trouble and being right next to the ‘action’ wasn’t pleasant.
You know trouble is a possibility, and you know there will definitely be gesturing and chants that will rile each other up but this game went to the extreme.
There were smoke bombs, coins and seats being thrown, a few Swindon fans turning on each other and people not being able to watch the game because they had to watch what was happening to protect themselves.
What triggered this off? The rivalry was enough but everything was relatively normal in the build up and early periods. There was singing in the concourse, singing in the stands, chants going back and forth, the usual suspects.
This remained until the sending off of James Constable. The striker was deservedly sent off in my, what can only be described as, bias opinion but with that started the problems. What came first I can’t remember but out came the coins and with the 1st Oxford goal came the smoke bombs and seat throwing.
I wasn’t getting the adrenaline rush others obviously were and I actually missed the first goal as a coin had just hit me, luckily bouncing off my chest. Then the purple smoke came across my sight in amongst the shouting’s of fans and just as we were in the middle of the fracas, Oxford scored a second to raise the emotions further.
Oxford fans tried their best to break through the black sheet barrier between supporters, but were stopped. The saddest, but also sensible, moment was seeing a Swindon fan being calmed down and wrestled by other Town fans as he tried to go across and start his own trouble.
For the next 10 minutes the trouble did slowly fade as more riot police were gradually employed, but still the tensions were high as fans continued their best to chuck whatever was left of the chairs from the first bout of throwing.
During this period, when I felt like I was one of maybe 5 people watching the game, Swindon were on top and would be for the rest of the game. We were creating good chances but the fans were more interested in the fighting action than the playing action.
This is what got me more frustrated during the day was how the fans would react to a Swindon chance, by singing something about hating Oxford.
We needed the fans to support the team and push through the early disappointment, and that isn’t what the players got. As Matt Ritchie hit the post and Swindon went close, the response from the Swindon fans? A chorus of we hate Oxford. This is a normal frustration I have with Town fans and when needing a goal, how does chanting that help?
Another odd thing during the game was a load of what looked like, from the away end, Oxford teenagers stood in the car park watching the game. They weren’t just watching the game though, they were at times being chased by police horses and causing trouble. That’s not even in the ground.
After the game, Swindon fans were made to stay in the away end which is fair enough, but what I couldn’t grasp was Oxford fans waiting in the car park? You’d have thought they’d go home, celebrate their win but apparently they were more interested in us waiting in a stand.
The one redeeming feature of the Town fans was the reaction at the final whistle. The Swindon fans calmed down and were able to be rational in defeat. Yes aggrieved to lose to Oxford but one defeat in 11 isn’t bad going. We had to remind ourselves, as we kept singing, ‘we are Swindon and we’re top of the league’.
Anyways, it was a day full of disappointment. On the pitch for obvious reasons although we were the better team but Oxford defended perfectly and professionally.
Off the pitch it wasn’t an atmosphere to remember. Losing a derby is never going to be enjoyable but you can to an extent have a laugh during the banter and singing. You just couldn’t though on Saturday as the trouble made the away end tense. You had to keep your eyes out just in case and that isn’t how you should feel whilst watching a game.
I’m not going to go into blaming one side or the other as from my view I couldn’t tell who was throwing what, but both parties were obviously involved for scenes like I saw to happen. Also, to be clear, by talking up this violence I’m not trying to give publicity to those involved but to simply explain what I saw and condemn it.
I thought these problems had gone from football, but Saturday was the most hostile crowd I’ve been in. It’s never needed in life, let alone in football.
It was 45 minutes of mayhem that I’ll want to forget quickly and maybe this memoir should be the only existence of that time.
Our match report is available to view here
Here are some videos that have been brought to our attention post the author writing the article. TheWashbag is not responsible for the content. The videos include language and references that may cause offense.
View of the Oxford supporters instigating the violence by being the first to intrude into the black sheeted barrier
More footage of the events
Video of the fans arriving by bus before the match
The Washbag 
As an Oxford fan, I have to applaud the sensible, balanced view shown here. Derby atmospheres always have an unpleasant edge to them, but this seemed to go further and, whilst the banter and mockery usually adds to the occassion, this was in the realms of detracting from which was actually a good game of football.
Again, without wishing to try and point the finger at one side or the other (IMHO both sides have their unpleasant elements who would’ve been involved in some manner during the day), Oxford fans claim that the seats came from the Swindon side first and were being thrown back – no idea of the truth of this though and the location of the damaged seats will answer this in due course. Also, I didn’t notice any smoke bombs being let off at all?
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There was purple smoke bombs not sure which side they came from but the seat that hit the elderly lady in the head a row behind me deffinatly came from the Oxford side bout a min after constable was sent off…. Was embarrassing being there…. Don’t think either set of fans covered themselves in glory.
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If its one thing these events proved was the segregation at the Kassam was woefully inadequate. The fans were too close and the police should’ve been in the black sheeted zone from before the match.
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The whole ‘Swindon fans chanting about hating Oxford instead of supporting the team’ thing is something that I totally agree with and really, really bugs me. I can’t get to a lot of games, but probably my worst experience this season was at Torquay on Boxing Day. Okay, I’d expect a couple of choruses of ‘Yellow and Blue’, but there were a sizeable bunch of thirty/forty people singing about hating Oxford for the whole match, when they weren’t singing about how ‘We’re Swindon and we’ll do what we want’, or pushing and shoving to such an extent the single Steward in front of us was multiplied to a bunch of three. I felt neccessary to help the guy who was standing next to me protect his kids. I don’t think those involved were even aware of what was going on on the pitch, so interested were they in picking fights with stewards and singing about how they hate Oxford. We all get it, now just watch the game, let us do the same, and try and, I don’t know, SUPPORT the team as opposed to singing about one you hate for 90 minutes. I know this is just one incident, but, for a team who have such stiff competition for player of the month, we really don’t have many player-specific chants. I think a focus on singing the praises of our players and not how much we hate Oxford would be appreciated by all.
I’ve never had any problems at the County Ground. Admittedly, I’m too young to remember the 80’s and most of the 90’s, but to me it’s always seemed a very safe place to be. Unfortunately, these events are only going to mean that the Police are going to file some uncomplimentary reports, which means that there will be less room for sensible leeway than before, which will only effect the fans detrimentally. It really surprises me how narrow-minded some are when it comes to this sort of thing. It’s only going to bite us in the arse further down the line. Sorry about the essay, but I get to come to games so rarely I really hate it when I spend my time sighing at my own fans instead of enjoying the amazing football we have been playing lately.
3 points on Tuesday, and let’s put the result of this game and the behaviour of the fans back where it belongs, firmly in the past.
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I’d agree with the comment about the segregation being inadequate, but disagree that the fans were too close. If you look at any major fixture in the Premier League or Championship, they don’t have sterile zones between the fans as big as there was on Saturday. The gap was, if anything, more than adequate but needed to be properly policed on both sides to prevent the netting being moved and keeping fans in better check.
And, thanks for the vid – can see the smoke now, but can understand why I didn’t spot it from the other side of the pitch too!!
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Interesting that there is no comment about the racist chanting from Swindon fans – about 2mins20secs into the second video. I thought we had got past chants about monkeys at football, evidently not – maybe having a fascist as a manger is rubbing off. Will be forwarding the link to the FA’s anti-racist people…
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Just to confirm, the videos were brought to our attention after the article was written and were inserted. Hence why there are no comments on them directly in the article. Re the chants…my heart sank when I heard that, disgusting behaviour from a few so called fans. Best to report it to FA anti-racism people as you suggest so these individuals can be dealt with.
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The trouble came from the Oxford fans… It wasn’t our seats or coins that we’re being thrown. I was right next to it and we had to watch what was going on to see when the next coin, seat or bottle was heading our way!
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Also forgotten was the assult by Matt Richie on our ball boy.
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Not forgotten, this has been discussed elsewhere. This article comments on the trouble between fans.
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In defence of the Video I posted, I was not at the game so can’t really comment on the racist chanting, the person who recorded the video said it wasn’t meant in a racist way, more the colour yellow, banana’s and what not Swindon sing about Oxford. A song is sung “banana’s woahh, banana’s woahh…” Which isn’t racist and apparently even though the bloke who recorded it wasn’t actually singing he judged the mood not as a racist mood – more of a follow on to that song and just the normal derby banter if you like. But, if the chants were intended to be racist, I can understand your concern.
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How else is “you’re full of monkeys, you’re full of monkeys” going to be taken?
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Both fans – if that’s what you want to call them – were as bad as one another. On twitter, I was told to behave by stating you should go to football to support your team, not throw chairs and act like a twat.
Aiming this at the Swindon fans who caused trouble, I don’t care if you queued for hours, you took a seat away from fans that would have behaved and got behind the team.
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Why does it have to be a racist remark? You play in yellow, Yellows – Bananas – Monkeys. Don’t ask me why but that’s just the mentality of some Swindon fans, We sing about bananas and what not but its not intended as racist.
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I fail to see the harm in singing we hate oxford, you knew what to expect going, why sit next to their fans? dont tell me for a second that paolo dosent hate oxford and dosent want us singing we hate oxford, the early days of the county ground were just as bad singing paolo di canio after every 3 points yet no credit to the players.
I think alot of people are making a big deal out of this, rovers over the past seasons has had a fair amount of aggro. We didnt turn up but we move on.
as for people saying this more important that wembley I fail to see this, wembley comes around rarely, we can always smash rovers in the jpt next season.
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The bananna song is not racist, more of a reference to Oxford players previously ‘intiating’ youth players with them.
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Hey guys, thanks for all your comments. I have just moved house so couldn’t respond to you all. Hope this covers it.
1. About the racist chanting, I heard none. I can’t watch the video as I’m on my phone but if there was, I just missed it and didn’t hear it. Obviously I fully disagree with racist chants.
2. I know Ron has covered this, but the videos are seperate from my blog. I was going off what I heard and saw.
3. Matt Ritchie assaulting a ballboy? Hardly. That ballboy didn’t help the feeling in the game either. Sad really but I bet he was told to do that. I was when I was a ballboy at Swindon.
4. We all agree it was a disgrace and that’s good. Hopefully, this day can bring about good still for the next game.
Thanks for reading the blog! One of our most viewed ever.
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There was trouble at both the county ground and the Kassam. Rivalry and banter are a good thing but this ‘hatred’ crap..where does it really come from? Its utter crazyiness, I’ve started taking my lad to football when he was five years old and we have enjoyed the last three seasons watching Oxford (safely) together, but I knew not to take him to this,game from what I was picking up on the forums, what a shame that I had (and may other parents) to exlude him from one of the biggest games in the season just so his love of football isn’t polluted by this ‘false tribalism’ and to know he will be safe. Football is a sporting event…isn’t it? Good luck to Swindon, hope we both get to play each other next season, but please I hope the vast majority of decent supporters of both clubs can oust the idiots and create a proper partisan rivalry based on the team exploits and together celebrate what should be one of the sporting events of the year for both clubs.
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Very interesting posts here, and it is glad that this hasn’t turned just been turned into a forum about why one team is better than the other. I can say that these are the true fans of football, and have enough passion to be disappointed about the result but not violate other supporters safety. I was in the East Stand, and although expected a little bit of violence, i didn’t realize how much there was until after the game.
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