I got fined a tenner for parking on the pavement at a game against Southampton in 1978 if that counts.
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Just watching a video on YouTube and it went past Craven Cottage and reminded me when I got pulled.
That Friday night game live on Sky, think we won 4-1 97 or 98.
Spent the night in the cells with a right loon from Aberdare who just kicked the cell door constantly shouting “English Cunts” for at least 2 hours.
He was eventually taken out after a few hours and I was let go about 5am on the Saturday.
I got fined a tenner for parking on the pavement at a game against Southampton in 1978 if that counts.
Reasons why people get nicked: being "up for it"; tagging along with people who are "up for it;, D&D; breaking laws that are not specifically football related; innocent bystander caught up in the melee; being in a van with some friends on a road 50 miles away from any football ground; simply being in the West Midlands or South Yorkshire.
People can sometimes be completely innocent, sometimes pleading innocence even though they know they aren't.
That said, I managed to avoid being nicked in 50+ years following my team. Never looked for trouble and never found it.
I had the men in white coats take me away once.
They said the Bluebird disease wasn't curable.
Swansea away in 1984 - complained about a friend being arrested for no reason, also got arrested with him. That one went to court. Both found not guilty of the fabricated charges that were levelled against us.
Wigan away in 1989 - mistaken identity, released within minutes and allowed to enter the ground.
Chester home in 1989 - arrested due to alleged misbehaviour at a game against Bristol City a few weeks beforehand. Detained in the police box until half-time. Released without charge and sent packing after officers accepted my explanation regarding the Bristol incident.
Fulham away in 1989 - mistaken identity, released after about half an hour and allowed to enter the ground (and just as well, City won 5-2).
Swansea home in 1993 - arrested at my house during a so-called dawn raid a few days after the game. Eventually released without charge when it was established it was impossible for me to have committed the acts of hooliganism I'd been accused of and I wasn't the person officers had identified on CCTV.
I think there was another case of mistaken identity in 1989/90 at an away game, but I can't remember which.
Gloucester away, 1989? And Bristol City , either 89 or 90? For one of those games I was still an apprentice with the club.
Back in the Eighties, the police at away games used to have a book/flip chart with photos of City fans who had banning orders. One of them looked a bit like me, so I got pulled a few times as result. But once my ID was verified, I was released.
The case in 1993 was bit different. That was just one particular policeman being vindictive. He identified me on CCTV running across the pitch, fighting in the stand, etc. Problem was the guy concerned didn't look much like me at all. Beside which, I'd recently sustained a bad knee injury and was therefore in a knee brace and on crutches.
Once the truth had been established (and that took several hours), the guy who arrested me on my doorstep apologised, drove me to work and bought me lunch on the way.
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Ah, but you said: "Quite how anyone can ‘get nicked’ going to a football match is beyond me."
The fact is it doesn't matter how sensible or level-headed you were, if you were attending Cardiff City games in the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties and early-Noughties, you'd no doubt have witnessed people being arrested at football matches. A great many were and at very many matches for a whole host of reasons ranging from despicable acts of hooliganism to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I'm guessing in your opening post you were merely trying to present yourself in your regulation sanctimonious, holier-than-thou light, and what you actually meant to say was: "Quite why anyone would want to get themselves arrested at a football match is beyond me."