I went to the Spurs game last night and life most of us, was very disappointed in the performance of the side, and the overall attitude - the players appear to be "on the beach" a little too early.
However, apart from what I though was an awful team performance, the whole experience last night was overshadowed for me by 3 incidents:
1. The singing section - we sat a few seats along from them and whilst I appreciate they keep the atmosphere going, the overall conduct of may of them was absolutely appalling. Many were standing & jumping on their seats throughout, and when they were challenged by the younger stewards, there were some, one man in particular, in his late 20's early 30's, screaming dogs abuse in the face of a young female steward. I think it was only the fact that it was the first game that the stewards let it go, or maybe they were just too young and inexperienced to deal with them. Are these really the type of fans we want representing our club, whose away fans have always had a great reputation at away grounds? This reputation will be irreparably damaged if this continues.
2. Towards the end of the game, there was a middle aged guy a few rows in front of me, who was clearly unhappy with the impending result, as we all were. He proceeded to abuse and threaten a fellow Palace fan whose personal and measured opinion was that we were beaten by a better side (probably fair enough). It got to the stage where it was almost getting to blows and other Palace fans had to step in.
3. To cap it all, I decided that when the clock hit 90 minutes, I'd had enough of all of this and decided to be on my way. On the way out, another younger Palace fan (I am in my late 50's) took it upon himself to start berating me for daring to take one of the flags with me, asking me what I thought I was doing and inferring I wasn't a real fan. I explained that I was taking it for my mate's young son who is a Spurs fan. This possibility obviously hadn't occurred to him.
All of this left a nasty taste in the mouth to be honest, I am not sure I like the way our fan base is developing and whether it will be a pleasant experience attending games in the future if this is the way we are going.
However, apart from what I though was an awful team performance, the whole experience last night was overshadowed for me by 3 incidents:
1. The singing section - we sat a few seats along from them and whilst I appreciate they keep the atmosphere going, the overall conduct of may of them was absolutely appalling. Many were standing & jumping on their seats throughout, and when they were challenged by the younger stewards, there were some, one man in particular, in his late 20's early 30's, screaming dogs abuse in the face of a young female steward. I think it was only the fact that it was the first game that the stewards let it go, or maybe they were just too young and inexperienced to deal with them. Are these really the type of fans we want representing our club, whose away fans have always had a great reputation at away grounds? This reputation will be irreparably damaged if this continues.
2. Towards the end of the game, there was a middle aged guy a few rows in front of me, who was clearly unhappy with the impending result, as we all were. He proceeded to abuse and threaten a fellow Palace fan whose personal and measured opinion was that we were beaten by a better side (probably fair enough). It got to the stage where it was almost getting to blows and other Palace fans had to step in.
3. To cap it all, I decided that when the clock hit 90 minutes, I'd had enough of all of this and decided to be on my way. On the way out, another younger Palace fan (I am in my late 50's) took it upon himself to start berating me for daring to take one of the flags with me, asking me what I thought I was doing and inferring I wasn't a real fan. I explained that I was taking it for my mate's young son who is a Spurs fan. This possibility obviously hadn't occurred to him.
All of this left a nasty taste in the mouth to be honest, I am not sure I like the way our fan base is developing and whether it will be a pleasant experience attending games in the future if this is the way we are going.
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