Sloper Road yesterday

The situation on Sloper Road after the game yesterday was both avoidable and unacceptable, and is something that I think the club should be made aware of.

I think that most fans were aware that the police intended to close Sloper Road to traffic for twenty minutes, after yesterday's game. Not too much of a bother, surely? A lot of fans park in Grangetown, and use the local pubs and food outlets, and although you might ponder the need for it, waiting a short while to get back to your car shouldn't really be too much of a hardship. However, as it turned out, we were kept there for well over an hour (until six o'clock - I checked the time), in the cold and wet, and the situation could have turned very nasty on more than one occasion, as tempers frayed, and items were thrown. Even when we were allowed to proceed, the road was narrowed considerably, using police vehicles to channel everyone through narrow gaps, with dogs and horses on the sidelines. All designed to intimidate and annoy the everyday fan.

The amount of police on duty was simply staggering. There must have been close to a hundred men and women on duty (maybe more), all the way down Sloper Road and beyond. There were half a dozen police dogs, at least six horses, maybe twenty or more vehicles, and many many policemen, all in full riot gear. Is this really necessary?

Why did it need such a presence to allow twenty or so coaches to leave the ground? How long does that actually take? Why not let them (the away fans) sit and wait, while WE all go home? Okay, I know that vehicles can end up sitting on Sloper Road, waiting for the lights to change, but if they had all those police on site, it wouldn't have been too hard to stop the traffic while they let them all out in one go. They (Bristol) should have been gone within 15 minutes of the final whistle. So why, with all those police present, did it take an hour longer, and come close to causing serious public disorder? Was that their plan?

We have had two of these road closures before, when Leeds and Bristol came last season. Then, the delays were a sensible twenty minutes, and I think most fans are reasonably okay with that. This time it went on too long, and was too heavy handed. It's time for a rethink.

Someone with disabilities complaining on Twitter about the treatment of fans after the game https://x.com/withpatience98/status/...ZQyp-iO2wYo4Kg

It’s not about coaches, it’s about 2000 Bristol fans having a hopefully safe access to the Central Train Station.

Most fans knew about the closure, so why didn’t they make alternative arrangements for this game.

Your last sentence “It’s time for a rethink” could be applied to you

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

It’s not about coaches, it’s about 2000 Bristol fans having a hopefully safe access to the Central Train Station.

Most fans knew about the closure, so why didn’t they make alternative arrangements for this game.

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Like what, exactly? You miss the point, Tony. No-one minds waiting twenty minutes. But an hour, in the cold and wet, was out of order.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

It’s not about coaches, it’s about 2000 Bristol fans having a hopefully safe access to the Central Train Station.

Most fans knew about the closure, so why didn’t they make alternative arrangements for this game.

Your last sentence “It’s time for a rethink” could be applied to you

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The OP says the closure was for an hour not the 20 minutes stated. Hanging around for an hour is a lot different than a 20 minute wait which I think most folk would be OK with.

South Wales Police have always said they are very experienced in dealing with crowd control at major events

I think that's a bit of a wishful boast

Having half an hour to clear around 3000 fans from a stadium with an easy walk to a nearby train station and still managing to cock it up is ridiculous

The bubble trip for fans for fans from Cardiff and Swansea could easily be made a lot easier

Even train travel between the two cities can surely be considered on match day

They really have got it easy

Imagine if Cardiff City had a ground surrounded by terraced houses and with no major roads close by to aid dispersal ?

Whilst the walk back to Cardiff Central can sometimes see confrontations it's far easier to police than many

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

It’s not about coaches, it’s about 2000 Bristol fans having a hopefully safe access to the Central Train Station.

Most fans knew about the closure, so why didn’t they make alternative arrangements for this game.

Your last sentence “It’s time for a rethink” could be applied to you

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There were a few skirmishes yesterday but it didn't need an hour to clear

I don’t go shopping if I’ve got somewhere to go !

So I certainly wouldn’t wait at a road blockage , when I could take an alternative route

I'm glad I opted to walk to Cardiff Central instead of waiting for the road to reopen to get to Grangetown Station.

Why couldn't the Police do the same as they did pre-game and walk the Bristol fans between the ground and station. I only just got out of Grangetown Station as they were about 100 yards down Penarth Road heading to the ground. Surely they could have done the same post game after the law abiding City fans got to their cars and trains.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PontBlue

I'm glad I opted to walk to Cardiff Central instead of waiting for the road to reopen to get to Grangetown Station.

Why couldn't the Police do the same as they did pre-game and walk the Bristol fans between the ground and station. I only just got out of Grangetown Station as they were about 100 yards down Penarth Road heading to the ground. Surely they could have done the same post game after the law abiding City fans got to their cars and trains.

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It's easy enough to police with foot escorts from the stadium to the back of Central station

A heavy police presence is fair enough , spaced out between the ground and the station to keep order and deal with any trouble

But the overkill on sloper road is ridiculous

The coaches go the other way , they don't need much protection

Keystone Kops

Is it possible to get out of the car park directly onto Leckwith Road?

Shouldn’t have taken this long, from what I could tell most Bristol fans were ready to leave 15 mins before home fans

The delay was totally the fault of arseholes congregating to throw bricks/stones, at Bristol fans.

Here is what the police say:—-
As Wayne said, this was 100% the Police Commanders decision. I know it’s frustrating, but he prioritised dealing with what was a pretty serious public order situation where police officers were injured above getting the home coaches out. Wayne had little to nothing to do with it. I can give you the Supt email address if you’d like to give him some feedback?

If the tossers would have just gone home, none of this would have taken place.

People have got to accept some responsibility for the chaos

There have already been 4 arrests, and I’m told one of those, is facing jail time

I was at central before and after the after the game. There were plenty of tossers and a fair few scuffles. So I can well imagine that the police had a lot to deal with around the ground.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

The delay was totally the fault of arseholes congregating to throw bricks/stones, at Bristol fans.

Here is what the police say:—-
As Wayne said, this was 100% the Police Commanders decision. I know it’s frustrating, but he prioritised dealing with what was a pretty serious public order situation where police officers were injured above getting the home coaches out. Wayne had little to nothing to do with it. I can give you the Supt email address if you’d like to give him some feedback?

If the tossers would have just gone home, none of this would have taken place.

People have got to accept some responsibility for the chaos

There have already been 4 arrests, and I’m told one of those, is facing jail time

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People knew and should have made alternative parking arrangements which is what I did.

Where the police were clearly wrong, was not rushing the Bristol fans out and marching them on their way within twenty minutes, with fifty in front and behind, then it would have all died down, it's so simple.

I do think they wanted to antagonise fans and get a few arrests and give the inexperienced knobs a bit of experience of an angry football crowd, otherwise why do it?

Did anyone see a group of 15 yr old kids attacked by grown Brizzle supporters who jumped off a bus on Sloper Road?