Posted by Cajun Claret on 10/10/2003, 9:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Crowds"
It's hard to see how the Turf will ever recapture the atmosphere and cameraderie of old.
And the police are very happy to have the ground subdued and fans dispersed the way they are.
The CF end debate has gone round in circles many times in recent years. Unfortunately, there is no way the stand as it is will ever house Clarets again on a regular basis, stupid and sad tho that is to many fans. The arguments for giving the CF to home fans are sound and strong - atmosphere, gathering area for 'noisy' fans, worth a few points a season etc etc etc etc and these have been well made in many places before. It could still house visiting fans as well. Before the Longside went, the few hundred seats to right of gangway nearest the away section of terrace were allocated to away fans, and the stand corridor was divided by the large door to segragate fans. This was perfectly acceptable for years but is deemed unsafe now. The CFS could be divided in several ways using gangways and blocks of seats, but the club will not go back on its decision, I suspect mainly due to the influence of police and the daft "rest of the ground is not being filled" reasoning that is constantly used. Police will not allow visiting fans to be housed elsewhere in the ground (although a few hundred Wrexham fans were put in the BLS for the last match of 91-92 season when all Longside and CF was given to Burnley). And police want visitors in the CF end due to main access routes to ground for visitors.
The police influence over football is very sinister, switching kick-off times as they wish for instance. My dad used to be a cop, and at times was involved in crowd control at Bloomfield Road in the early to mid 70s. He was at the B'pool v Bolton game in early 70s, as was I, when the accepted first death caused by crowd violence at an English football ground occured - 18yr-old B'pool fan was stabbed by 14-yr-old Bolton fan at tea-bar at back of old Kop. He always said from then that the days of the big terraces were numbered, and that if police chiefs had their way, all football games would probably kick-off at 6am! The lower the gates, the better for police. He reckoned that over the years a way would be found to split terraces and crowds up into smaller sections (cue, fences) and eventually get rid of the big open 'stampeding areas' altogether. Of course, it eventually came to pass. My dad was a huge Clarets fan who hated sitting down at a game - in all the times we went to games together we only ever sat down 3 times at the Turf, 2x in BL and once in CF - and only due to getting 'comps' on those occasions.
You're right that away matches are now the times that Clarets get together and create real backing for the team.
Even if the CF end is eventually rebuilt with the planned split tier format for both home and away fans, season ticketing etc will make it very hard to create a 'home' end atmosphere. I think that has gone now.
Quite simply, Turf Moor is a different environment and experience now. I am glad I was able to grow up watching the Clarets from Longside with my dad, - I even remember the CF end being covered terrace before the Longside became the BFC stronghold - I'm glad I was able to give the lads my full volume passionate support from the terraces. I have fantastic memories of events and games home and away with my fellow Clarets over the years, being part of a Longside in full cry really was something, the noise swaying and surging, and even some of my wilder days at back end of 70s and early 80s now just seem like part of life's experience.
Tom Hark makes me cringe, even tho my young lad loved it. I always used to come back from the Turf hoarse - think the only time I did that in recent years was the renewal of clashes with Woevers in Dec 2000.
Do't get me wrong, I'm still as passionate a Claret as ever despite being across the Atlantic. Miles don't change that nor will they ever. It's just the way of expressing that passion which evolves I guess. Me and my lad virtually live in our BFC shirts and bite nails at "match time" which is 10am Sats over here.
Just read thru this, rambling again, but will post anyway, keeps the site crawling along.
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