RESPONSE TO MEDIA REPORTS ON CROWD TROUBLE AT GOSFORD 10/12/11

We are saddened to read media reports and opinion articles in the local media and online regarding crowd trouble in the Newcastle end of Bluetongue Stadium against the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday 10th December, 2011.

While the Herald article doesnt directly link the trouble to The Squadron (even though we are mentioned in relation to a youtube clip), the letter to the editor entitled “Low Flying Squadron” certainly does smear the name of The Squadron with the random idiots that caused issues on saturday night.

The Squadron is made up of Newcastle most active supporters, however it should be reiterated that most Newcastle supporters are not members of The Squadron, even if it is easy to tar all supporters with the same brush when its convenient simply because we are the most visible section of the Newcastle supporters.

The Squadron has worked tirelessly with the Jets, FFA and stadium security at all venues since the A-Leagues inception to enable all Newcastle fans to enjoy a relatively hassle-free gameday experience whether at home or away, and in the past there have been a number of incidents which The Squadron has denounced and actively worked to eradicate from our support.

The Squadron has enacted for the past three seasons a self-policing policy in our active area at Ausgrid Stadium where troublemakers are dealt with by senior members of the active support, if this fails to work they are then pointed out to security for a quiet word, and then if necessary to be removed. This has worked quite well and no incidents such as what happened saturday night have occurred at Ausgrid Stadium for a number of seasons. The Squadron has also worked to decrease the levels of offensive language in our chants to promote a more friendly image to the general public.

However, regardless of the work done behind the scenes in the leadup to all derby matches at Gosford with Bluetongue management, Jets administration, security and police it is unfortunately quite difficult to self police to the same extent as at home simply due to the large number of random people that stand in the active area during games in Gosford.

The security bag searched Jets fans upon entry via our own gate to search for flares, several people were refused entry for being too intoxicated, security and police were spread throughout the bay to provide a strong visual presence to deter idiots and the President and capo Tim Verschelden was on the mega before the game started to specifically warn people against throwing missles, flares, etc and causing trouble.

However, towards the end of the game there were a number of intoxicated random fans aggressively abusing Tim while he was guiding chants, which caused a number of ejections, three plastic cups and a meat pie were thrown at Troy Hearfield by people that were not spotted by security or police and a flare was dropped in the middle of the bay again by an unknown person.

We do attempt to self-police and guide supporters at derby days in Gosford, however it is rather difficult to provide any sort of guidance to people we have never seen before who are drunk and openly aggressive when you attempt to correct their behaviour and stop them from bringing disrepute to the majority who are simply there to support their team.

We do strongly denounce the actions of the small number of random idiots who have tarnished the good image of all Newcastle supporters that we have worked tirelessly towards over the last couple of years.

We will liase with the Jets, FFA and police to identify the culprits so that punishment is brought to the people responsible, not to the vast majority of well behaved supporters that were simply there to vocally and visually support their team, loudly and passionately.

The Squadron will also continue to work within our own bays at Ausgrid to continue the good image we have fostered with the general public and supporters in Newcastle.

Grant Furner - Vice President