If you are interested, Huddersfield v Luton tonight

[Woolly Mammoth]

Pitch invasions used to be banned and draconian penalties imposed on teams whose supporters broke the rules....
Flares were banned

I am not sure how we have people bringing in the loathsome flares with impunity and why invasions happen. It is bound to end in tears because there will be serious injuries at some point, it is inevitable as any uncntrolled group capable of crushing or even if somebody stumbles and cannot get up then there will be a potential for trampling.

Best to stop it totally now. Why wait for the first life threating injury or death which unfortunately is inevitable just as was the Hillsborough fences.

You wouldn't allow an uncntrolled mass of people to stampede around anywhere else so why in a football stadium? and the billy sharp incident shows you cannot trust people to behave.

Totally agree, soft punishment never works with a certain kind of cretin, and there are plenty of them about who take good nature and woolly headed understanding as a weakness.
Get them off the streets where they cannot do any further harm to the public and incarcerate them in one of her Majesty's Hotels.

[Free Elvis Hammond]

The fella who punched Grealish was inside for 4 weeks, and said it was the best month of his life

You've got to wonder what's going on someone's life for that to be the case...and what's the point of jail time if it's not a deterrent and there's no rehabilitation?

[Woolly Mammoth]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

2-3 years in prison.
More like a slap on the wrist nowadays,and if he comes from a broken home,a trip to Disneyland.

Don't forget the usual pathetic liberal lawyers and social workers will bring out that old chestnut about being badly toilet trained when he was knee high to a grasshopper.

[Woolly Mammoth]

The fella who punched Grealish was inside for 4 weeks, and said it was the best month of his life

You've got to wonder what's going on someone's life for that to be the case...and what's the point of jail time if it's not a deterrent and there's no rehabilitation?

Then make his sentence longer and shove him on a chain gang, rehabilitation for some of them is just a game and a challenge to beat the system and pretend they are back on the straight and narrow by ticking all the boxes, and the gormless individuals who are not street wise or ever suffered a trauma of some kind themselves because they are pen pushers who think the world is made of ice cream who are in charge of rehabilitation actually are daft enough to believe these cretins because they who comitt a criminal act become good actors and they get let out and so many of them immediately reoffend.
Plus it probably was not that blokes first offence.
Chuck them on a Chain Gang and break their spirit.
You got to remember the welfare of the victim comes first, and the offender has to be taken off the streets to protect the public, that's what we pay our taxes for.

[Sammyffc]

Interesting debate here.

1 -  Metal barriers do prevent pitch invasions yes, however the matches i have been to which have these barriers are pretty lawless once you are in your seat. flares, smoking, bottles being thrown etc.
      Also, especially in Italy its insanely violent between fans, all the metal barriers do is lock people in a section like cages animals. However, what is the alternative? The hooliganism in turkey,italy,spain etc is next level.

2 - The current standard of stewarding is hilariously low. ( i do not blame the stewards btw), you can not expect a 10 stone college kid to be stopping 20 men running onto a pitch when they get paid miniscule salaries.

3 - Lets say the stewarding in games gets beefed up, who fronts the cost ? the club will just put it back onto the fans increasing our prices once again.

3 - Once again going off european football here but  when you have vast amounts of stewards anticipating something kicking off then all hell breaks lose.  I could imagine a new influx of hothead stewards clashing with fans on a regular basis, resulting in lawsuits galore.

4 - The most viable option is just to punish though who take things to the next level, hence the guy who hit grealish getting locked away.


We are in this pickle again where its collective punishment because of the behaviour of a few fans. People jump the gun massively when things like this happen. Its not like we have situations happen every single week where players are getting attacked etc. We need to get out of this mindset of small amount of people do bad lets punish EVERYBODY

[Somerset Fulham]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

2-3 years in prison.
More like a slap on the wrist nowadays,and if he comes from a broken home,a trip to Disneyland.

Don't forget the usual pathetic liberal lawyers and social workers will bring out that old chestnut about being badly toilet trained when he was knee high to a grasshopper.

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Jesus Christ.

[Donnie Lonegan]

The ignorant despicable thug deserves everything he gets.
I'd say 9 months in jail would be about right, if he gets more, I won't lose any sleep over it.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

The only consolation, if that's what it is, was that the thicko shouldn't be too hard to find,
He looked like a fat canary

[_Putney_]

Prison is a status symbol for many.  To have done time for people without much prospect in their lives is hardly punishment, as demonstrated by the Grealish attacker. 

Put them through work where they see the consequences of their actions and can help repair them.  There's nothing 'street cred' like about helping out at a physical rehab centre, or a children's hospital, etc.  Well, as far as I know.

[_Putney_]

The fella who punched Grealish was inside for 4 weeks, and said it was the best month of his life

You've got to wonder what's going on someone's life for that to be the case...and what's the point of jail time if it's not a deterrent and there's no rehabilitation?

Then make his sentence longer

At what point? Send him back because he said he enjoyed it? That's not a crime.

Make the sentence longer from the start? How do you know at what point he'll stop enjoying it?

[Woolly Mammoth]

The fella who punched Grealish was inside for 4 weeks, and said it was the best month of his life

You've got to wonder what's going on someone's life for that to be the case...and what's the point of jail time if it's not a deterrent and there's no rehabilitation?

Then make his sentence longer

At what point? Send him back because he said he enjoyed it? That's not a crime.

Make the sentence longer from the start? How do you know at what point he'll stop enjoying it?

When he stops bending over to pick the soap up in the shower i would have thought. 

[Kingjay81]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

To be removed from society for around 2% of your life for that seems harsh to me. A football banning order definitely seems appropriate.  A hefty amount community service, and not picking up litter, but working with people in need, would be good.

Can't believe I've just read that. Have you actually watched the incident?

A violent unprovoked assault on a totally innocent bystander who wasn't even looking in the same direction and ended up needing to stitch his face back together again.

You'd actually be happy with the bloke doing community service?

I do hope  you are in the minority with this view!

[ALG01]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

To be removed from society for around 2% of your life for that seems harsh to me. A football banning order definitely seems appropriate.  A hefty amount community service, and not picking up litter, but working with people in need, would be good.

Can't believe I've just read that. Have you actually watched the incident?

A violent unprovoked assault on a totally innocent bystander who wasn't even looking in the same direction and ended up needing to stitch his face back together again.

You'd actually be happy with the bloke doing community service?

I do hope  you are in the minority with this view!

I agree and wonder if Putney thinks perhaps he should reconisder. Billy Sharp could have been far more seriously hurt from an unprovoked attack from behind. Whether the intent was to cause harm is totally irrelevant, the assailants reckless behaviour certainly needs to be punished...and i am what would usually be considered to be a person that is a 'bleeding heart' and give them a second chance, but not for this type of thing, not when he absolutely knew what he was doing and the consequences were of no importance.

I don't know what the maximum penalty is but he should certainly be getting a harsh sentence. Imagine that it was not mr sharp but youtr brother/ father/child etc.

[_Putney_]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

To be removed from society for around 2% of your life for that seems harsh to me. A football banning order definitely seems appropriate.  A hefty amount community service, and not picking up litter, but working with people in need, would be good.

Can't believe I've just read that. Have you actually watched the incident?

A violent unprovoked assault on a totally innocent bystander who wasn't even looking in the same direction and ended up needing to stitch his face back together again.

You'd actually be happy with the bloke doing community service?

I do hope  you are in the minority with this view!

I agree and wonder if Putney thinks perhaps he should reconisder. Billy Sharp could have been far more seriously hurt from an unprovoked attack from behind. Whether the intent was to cause harm is totally irrelevant, the assailants reckless behaviour certainly needs to be punished...and i am what would usually be considered to be a person that is a 'bleeding heart' and give them a second chance, but not for this type of thing, not when he absolutely knew what he was doing and the consequences were of no importance.

I don't know what the maximum penalty is but he should certainly be getting a harsh sentence. Imagine that it was not mr sharp but youtr brother/ father/child etc.

Reconsider? Don't think so.

Clarify, perhaps.  2-3 years seems too much, based on what I know of the incident and based on what I know of other similar events, such as the Grealish attacker. 

Do I think he shouldn't spend any time in jail? Do I think community service should replace jail time? No, didn't say that.

Do I think he should do community service? Yes.  To actually start repaying the community for his actions and to help be a part of something that may prevent similar behaviour in the future would be a great 'punishment' in my view. 

But to just lock him up where he can be out in a couple years and brag about it with his pub pals without actually doing anything to repair the damage doesn't seem appropriate.

[Bill2]

The mindless idiot should be prosecuted and go to court, sentencing will be appropriate to any violent act of a similar nature. He should be banned from any football stadium for life and Forest should be kicked out of.the playoffs. Just joking about the last bit but mention it to any Forest fans you may know.

[Logicalman]

The attacker will probably get 2-3 years in prison to reflect on his actions. And a 10-year football banning order. And a lifetime ban from Nottingham Forest that they are unlikely to review.

Perhaps the answer to mass pitch invasion is the offending club gets match or two having to play behind closed doors. That would impact on both those that would enter the pitch and the home club financially.

To be removed from society for around 2% of your life for that seems harsh to me. A football banning order definitely seems appropriate.  A hefty amount community service, and not picking up litter, but working with people in need, would be good.

As a purely personal opinion, I feel this is the same genre as the one punch death scenario that has been seen in general society. The force the guy hit Sharp at was quite severe, totally unexpected not defendable & without reasonable provocation, and if Sharp had fallen back and cracked his head and it ended his career, would you be saying the same thing? The intent to injure was there, plain to see, and it deserves 5 years inside, plus lifetime ban from ALL football matches. If Forest were additionally banned from their fans attending the playoff final as well, then the guy would become a pariah to the Forest fan base as well.

As for the pitch invasions, there is little that can be done to stop them in reality, the return to the cages would not be accepted due to the (now so) obvious safety issues.

Without apportioning blame for the above incident in any way, the behaviour of the Sheffield manager last night was disgraceful in itself, and whilst managers & players can relatively get away with such actions, then it can be seen why idiotic fans also behave the way they do.

[bobbo]

Smart move by the assailant probably thought nobody would take any notice and now hopefully serious penalty for him and never being able to go to another game . Stick him in a dustbin and seal the lid.

[keithh]

Pre-meditated physical attack deserves prison sentence.

[Logicalman]

Smart move by the assailant probably thought nobody would take any notice and now hopefully serious penalty for him and never being able to go to another game . Stick him in a dustbin and seal the lid.

.. as in

[FFCFOREVER]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12616138/sheffield-uniteds-oli-mcburnie-accused-of-stamping-on-fan-during-pitch-invasion-at-nottingham-forest