Post by Macmoish on May 1, 2011 12:39:10 GMT
Watford Official Site
CLUB STATEMENT: QPR MATCH
Sun 01 May 2011
FIRST and foremost, Watford Football Club would like to apologise to its supporters and offer its sympathies towards anyone whose matchday experience was adversely affected at Vicarage Road yesterday.
The Hornets prioritise the safety and security of all supporters in the stadium and as such, immediately after the match, a meeting of senior club officials - including Laurence Bassini - took place to agree on both the club's response and the ways in which Watford FC can learn from yesterday's events to better prepare and execute plans at future matches of this nature.
This will include a review - ahead of the 2011-12 season - of the 'tolerance' policy currently applied in the Rous Stand, as well as the strength of the limitations on ticket purchasing by which Watford fans would be bound.
At no point at any time leading up to yesterday's match was the club making judgements based on anything other than the safety of all those attending.
We would also like to thank the vast majority of Watford fans, who acted with restraint and dignity to help avoid further unwanted incidents inside Vicarage Road.
The club took a number of actions in the lead-up to the QPR fixture, and these are explained below:
- FACT: The club rigorously enforced its ticket purchasing policy, for games of this nature, which means that only Watford supporters with a regular ticket-buying history - and whose names are held on the club's database - were able to purchase additional tickets for this fixture. In addition, the facility to create a new ticket-buying account was disabled online.
- FACT: No additional tickets - other than their original allocation in the north-east corner - were made available to QPR FC. This means that any Rangers fans which were in home parts of the stadium would have had tickets bought for them by Watford supporters.
- FACT: The club acknowledged there would likely be some QPR supporters in home areas of the ground. This message was consistent with previous visits of QPR, even for matches of less significance.
- FACT: The club did briefly consider allocating the full Vicarage Road Stand to QPR fans, however this would have meant once again moving 1,300+ Watford season ticket holders - something the club felt would be inappropriate to action.
Before the match, there were numerous instances of refused entry and refusal to offer ticketing solutions to QPR fans who had travelled without match tickets.
The club also has evidence of instances of Watford season ticket holders openly buying additional tickets in home areas of the ground, and immediately re-selling them to QPR supporters. These matters will also be dealt with separately.
During the match, there were several ejections of QPR supporters in home areas of the stadium, where their behaviour went past what would be considered reasonable.
Aside from an incident in The Rookery Stand, which the club intends to deal with in the strongest possible manner available, Rangers fans in home areas of the ground migrate towards an area of unsold seats at the Vicarage Road end of the Lower Rous Stand.
Given sheer weight of numbers gathered together, a decision was taken at half-time to corral those supporters, as to attempt mass ejections would have been futile. The club accepts this decision could have been sooner i.e towards the end of the first half, as numbers began to build. However attempted ejections at this point would have proved both futile and dangerous.
A minority of QPR fans entered the field of play after the final whistle, most of which simply to share their joy at promotion with their manager and players - much as Hornets' fans did at Fulham in May 1998, for example.[/u]
And while this behaviour in itself is an arrestible offence, a fact spelled out clearly over the PA system before full-time, some went past a point at which celebration turned to unreasonable and unwelcome behaviour.
The Hornets, using both photographic evidence and that of a images captured by its own on-pitch broadcast cameras, will seek to assist police with prosecutions and football banning orders where apt.
Thankfully, the deployment of mounted police quickly restored order and, after this point, Watford's staff and players were able to emerge for their lap of appreciation.
Watford FC will not hide from its responsibilities and accountabilities arising from yesterday's events, and there will be further communication in due course.
As stated earlier, senior club officials have all contributed to this statement and no further individual comment will be made for now.
WATFORD FC ACTIONS:
- To review ticket purchasing policy for high-profile matches and communicate same ahead of 2011-12 season
- To review 'tolerance' policy operated in Rous Stand and communicate same ahead of 2011-12 season
- To assist police with prosecution and football banning orders where appropriate
- To identify and take action against Watford supporters relating to the incident in the middle of the Rookery Stand
- To identify and take action against Watford supporters who bought tickets for QPR fans in 'home only' areas of the ground
www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~2350683,00.html
CLUB STATEMENT: QPR MATCH
Sun 01 May 2011
FIRST and foremost, Watford Football Club would like to apologise to its supporters and offer its sympathies towards anyone whose matchday experience was adversely affected at Vicarage Road yesterday.
The Hornets prioritise the safety and security of all supporters in the stadium and as such, immediately after the match, a meeting of senior club officials - including Laurence Bassini - took place to agree on both the club's response and the ways in which Watford FC can learn from yesterday's events to better prepare and execute plans at future matches of this nature.
This will include a review - ahead of the 2011-12 season - of the 'tolerance' policy currently applied in the Rous Stand, as well as the strength of the limitations on ticket purchasing by which Watford fans would be bound.
At no point at any time leading up to yesterday's match was the club making judgements based on anything other than the safety of all those attending.
We would also like to thank the vast majority of Watford fans, who acted with restraint and dignity to help avoid further unwanted incidents inside Vicarage Road.
The club took a number of actions in the lead-up to the QPR fixture, and these are explained below:
- FACT: The club rigorously enforced its ticket purchasing policy, for games of this nature, which means that only Watford supporters with a regular ticket-buying history - and whose names are held on the club's database - were able to purchase additional tickets for this fixture. In addition, the facility to create a new ticket-buying account was disabled online.
- FACT: No additional tickets - other than their original allocation in the north-east corner - were made available to QPR FC. This means that any Rangers fans which were in home parts of the stadium would have had tickets bought for them by Watford supporters.
- FACT: The club acknowledged there would likely be some QPR supporters in home areas of the ground. This message was consistent with previous visits of QPR, even for matches of less significance.
- FACT: The club did briefly consider allocating the full Vicarage Road Stand to QPR fans, however this would have meant once again moving 1,300+ Watford season ticket holders - something the club felt would be inappropriate to action.
Before the match, there were numerous instances of refused entry and refusal to offer ticketing solutions to QPR fans who had travelled without match tickets.
The club also has evidence of instances of Watford season ticket holders openly buying additional tickets in home areas of the ground, and immediately re-selling them to QPR supporters. These matters will also be dealt with separately.
During the match, there were several ejections of QPR supporters in home areas of the stadium, where their behaviour went past what would be considered reasonable.
Aside from an incident in The Rookery Stand, which the club intends to deal with in the strongest possible manner available, Rangers fans in home areas of the ground migrate towards an area of unsold seats at the Vicarage Road end of the Lower Rous Stand.
Given sheer weight of numbers gathered together, a decision was taken at half-time to corral those supporters, as to attempt mass ejections would have been futile. The club accepts this decision could have been sooner i.e towards the end of the first half, as numbers began to build. However attempted ejections at this point would have proved both futile and dangerous.
A minority of QPR fans entered the field of play after the final whistle, most of which simply to share their joy at promotion with their manager and players - much as Hornets' fans did at Fulham in May 1998, for example.[/u]
And while this behaviour in itself is an arrestible offence, a fact spelled out clearly over the PA system before full-time, some went past a point at which celebration turned to unreasonable and unwelcome behaviour.
The Hornets, using both photographic evidence and that of a images captured by its own on-pitch broadcast cameras, will seek to assist police with prosecutions and football banning orders where apt.
Thankfully, the deployment of mounted police quickly restored order and, after this point, Watford's staff and players were able to emerge for their lap of appreciation.
Watford FC will not hide from its responsibilities and accountabilities arising from yesterday's events, and there will be further communication in due course.
As stated earlier, senior club officials have all contributed to this statement and no further individual comment will be made for now.
WATFORD FC ACTIONS:
- To review ticket purchasing policy for high-profile matches and communicate same ahead of 2011-12 season
- To review 'tolerance' policy operated in Rous Stand and communicate same ahead of 2011-12 season
- To assist police with prosecution and football banning orders where appropriate
- To identify and take action against Watford supporters relating to the incident in the middle of the Rookery Stand
- To identify and take action against Watford supporters who bought tickets for QPR fans in 'home only' areas of the ground
www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~2350683,00.html
