As ‘planned violence’ broke out during Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League match against Legia Warsaw, I was left speechless
As ‘planned violence’ broke out during Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League match against Legia Warsaw,
I was left speechless.
Outrage over the visitors’ reduced ticket allocation was rampant on
Despite the prior major disturbance their fans caused in Alkmaar last month,
I personally received incensed letters from Legia supporters demanding to know
why precisely their allocation for the Aston Villa match was lowered to 1,002.
Following the injuries to numerous Dutch police officers,
UEFA prohibited Legia supporters from traveling to Mostar for their match against Zrinjski.
What might have been a spectacular night for the Wojskowi was tragically ruined for others
who traveled to the second city with no intention of stirring up trouble.
In fact, among the hooligans who decided to bring their team into disgrace
once more were about 200 fans with category A corporate tickets who were parked in a parking lot.
After full time, a Legia official stated, “For our players,
it was kind of disturbed because in the back of their minds,
they were thinking about their families and how they would come to this game.”
“They would have liked to take part, but the opportunity was canceled.”
The fact that Legia would not be playing in front of their own fans on
Thursday night became clear 45 minutes before kickoff as they crammed into
the empty parking lot next to Witton Lane following the missile attack on West Midlands police officers.
At that time, the significance of the match took a backseat as four police officers, two horses,
and two police dogs were hurt.
One of the police dogs was hospitalized due to burn injuries sustained from being struck by a flare.
Supporters of the Legia also hurled bottles, tree branches,
and other things at the courageous officers who refused to back down and
carried out their important mission. Later in the second half of the game,
Villa released a statement describing the incidents as “planned and systematic acts” of violence against the police.
Approximately 3,000 Polish fans, or about 1,000 without tickets,
were expected to travel to Birmingham for the match, according to a Legia fan site.
The UK Safety Advisory Group decided to lower their capacity inside Villa Park,
which was initially 2,100 according to UEFA regulations, after receiving a suggestion from the police.
Despite their history of success, Legia supporters did not take kindly to the decision;
some expressed their surprise at the request to lower their ticket allotment.
Legia said that Villa was “exacerbating” their supporters’ dissatisfaction with the ticket situation,
while violence outside Villa Park decreased as a result of the efforts of the West Midlands police.
Villa’s statement in response to those comments states:
“Despite multiple requests from Legia Warsaw for cooperation regarding their traveling supporters,
particularly in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending
Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club.”
“The club has expressed concerns to Legia on multiple occasions, including this morning,
about ticketless away supporters trying to enter Villa Park in coordination with UEFA and all pertinent authorities.”
Later in the first half, supporters of Legia attacked the home team from the outside of the stadium,
hurling bottles at supporters positioned in the Holte End,
which is the space between the Trinity Road Stand and the stand.
Any Legia supporters who were able to purchase tickets at the stadium’s
home ends were eliminated by Ernest Muci’s equalizer,
as spectators were observed being evacuated from sections of the Doug Ellis Stand,
Upper North Stand, and Trinity Road Stand.
During the opening twenty-five minutes of the play, there was an odd feeling in Villa Park as
thousands of Legia supporters were being herded out of the stadium and
some were being evicted from their seats.
Legia was deserving of all the praise they got in both games on the field.
I had nothing but praise to say while I was in Warsaw.
One of the nicest atmospheres I have ever experienced was created by
the enthusiastic supporters and the hospitable club officials that evening.
Even though many of them claimed to have been threatened by police on their
walk to and from the stadium, Villa fans also behaved perfectly.
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