Why bring a knife to football?
(Crimestoppers)
I remember being a kid of about fifteen or sixteen and told by friends there'd be a fight after the game; it made me both nervous and excited! My main memory was running with the rest of the fans after the other team; it was like running with a wolf pack and I felt like I really belonged. A major thing that hadn't crossed my mind was, 'what if you catch them?'
On my third 'run' another element was added, the Police! Myself and a couple of friends lost the rest and (still wearing our colours) we found ourselves surrounded by the fans we were after. The hunters had become the hunted; it wasn't like a school fight!
From nowhere the Old Bill turned up and I have to say they timed it well or we would have had a good battering.
While it was a wake up call it hadn't put me off and a few weeks later I was back chasing again only this time I was angry; I was going to give out the beating instead of being on the receiving end!
We were told where they'd gone and it meant climbing a small wall; as I'd just pulled myself up I felt a force on my leg and I was on the ground again. This really made my blood boil; I thought it was another fan pulling me back!
"Give me a good reason not to arrest you? Breaking and entering is a start," the copper said and I still remember thinking he must have stood over seven feet tall!
It was the reality check I needed and from then on I've followed football for all the right reasons.
Looking back I suppose I wanted to uphold the name of the club; show we were 'hard!'
That was twenty five years ago and a lot has changed; sadly now some so called 'fans' carry knives or a blade.
While there is no excuse to carry a weapon, people say they carry a knife or gun for different reasons:
*Protection
*Self defence
*Fear
*Peer pressure
*to gain power and respect
A football hooligan who smirked after plunging a knife into the chest of an innocent Everton fan was jailed.
Queens Park Rangers supporter Leon Hughes, 24, had travelled up to Liverpool on a coach from London with the fish knife in his pocket before committing the horrific attack after a Premier League game at Goodison Park.
Simon Duncan, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court the stabbing happened at around 4.45pm on April 13 this year while hundreds of fans, including women and children, were flooding home along Priory Road near the ground.
He said: “Several QPR fans, including the defendant, used the emergency exit to leave one of their buses to confront Everton fans. The QPR fans appeared to be drunk and spoiling for a fight.”
QPR fan Leon hughes, 24, of Eastleigh Walk, London jailed for five years with an extended license period of three years after stabbing Everton fan Nikolas Lintott outside Goodison on April 13 2013
He described how 20-year-old season ticket holder Nikolas Lintott saw one of the QPR fans picking on a woman in an Everton shirt and tried to step in but was then punched and kicked.
While skirmishes developed between fans on both sides Hughes approached armed with the knife and stabbed him.
Mr Duncan said: “He recalled seeing the blade being thrust towards his chest and that the male grinned and put the blade back in his pocket.
“It appears the defendant was pleased with what he had done. The complainant saw the smirk and another witness saw a smug smile which soon turned to laughter.”
Mr Lintott was helped by a passing paramedic and taken to hospital with a punctured lung, but miraculously suffered no lasting damage and was discharged the next day. https://myevertonnews.com/qpr-fan-who-stabbed-everton-fan-gets-5-years-in-jail/
https://news.sky.com/story/1139189/england-fans-injured-in-ukraine-knife-attack
A group of England football fans has been attacked in Kiev ahead of the World Cup qualifier with Ukraine, according to local media.
Around 30 hooded Ukrainians armed with knives brawled with England supporters in a coffee shop, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.
The attackers then fled, and no one has been arrested.
Three of the England fans were taken to hospital - one with a stab wound, one with a head injury and a third with severe bruising.
It is understood all three have been released from hospital and have decided not to help the police with their investigation.
Amateur video showed one of the injured men lying on the pavement with other people attending to him while police and ambulances arrived.
The Foreign Office said: "We are aware of incidents in Kiev involving British nationals. We are providing consular assistance."
My question is 'why take a knife to a football game?' I really don't and never will understand any reasoning as to why anyone needs to carry a knife in any walk of life but even more to a game!
A game, that's all it is at the end of the day. A game where your team will either win, lose or draw. Human emotion is at its best when your striker can't buy a goal, the keeper can't catch a cold and the Manager definitely plays with himself! After ninety minutes of singing, shouting, swearing and cheering it’s all over. So why would you then want to seriously wound or try and take somebody's life because they support a different team?
What satisfaction can you get in 'cutting up' another human being?
Stabbing one person can have a 'ripple effect' on so many people. The family, friends and fans of the club as well as the club itself. Then there's the 'ill feeling' that will take a long time to get over.
The only loser in all this is football; with all the good that community groups do in the local area in and around the football club it only takes one idiot with a knife and all the work that club has done is down the toilet!
The game also suffers even if a 'stabbing' isn't at the game itself!
Kiyan Prince was such an exciting talent
Kiyan Prince was a 15 year old British boy who attended the London Academy in Edgware. He was fatally stabbed on 18 May 2006, receiving a single lethal knife wound, while intervening to prevent the bullying of another boy. Described as "an outstanding and upstanding boy", Kiyan was a prodigious footballing talent, and represented the Queens Park Rangers youth football team.
Today he would be a successful twenty two year old footballer but for one thing, a knife!
https://www.kiyan.org/ was set up after his tragic death.
Nobody has the right to take another human being's life; carrying a knife is just stupid.
Some carry them 'for protection', sorry but that is just a worthless excuse. If you carry a knife it means you are prepared to use it; using football as a vehicle is just as bad.
Every single football fan should be able to go to a football game without fear; it’s the best game in the world!
There is a simple rule that should be introduced at all football clubs; any person found in procession of a knife should get a life's ban from football; no exceptions! By that I mean every single football ground in the country!
The message has to be clear: bringing a knife to football won't be accepted.
If every club did this the game of football, its players and more importantly the fans, would feel a lot safer and the world would be a better place.
- Almost half of all knife crime in the UK takes place in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands
- 60% of knife crime attacks in London are carried out in a gang context
- In 2010-11, one in seven of all emergency hospital admissions for assault among 13-24 year olds involved a knife or sharp object
- The Government has identified 32 priority areas where gang and youth violence is most prevalent
(Sources: Metropolitan Police, Home Office)
This is written by Paul Moore, a football fan.