The Holmesdale Fanatics have been in the spotlight since Saturday’s victory over QPR after the group reduced their support at the game, due to two members being banned by the club until the end of the season due to “moshing” during the previous home game against Arsenal.
On Sunday night, I produced a show on Holmesdale Radio that included a discussion about the support of the Holmesdale Fanatics during the game and how it caused mixed emotions among supporters. Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish contacted us on Tuesday morning after listening to the podcast and asked if he could clarify why the bans were imposed by showing us the footage of the incident that resulted in the bans being applied.
I arrived at his offices in London this morning to be shown the footage and can clearly understand why the bans were handed to the two members that “organised” a dangerous situation towards the end of the game against Arsenal in Block B of the Lower Holmesdale. One person was injured as a result of the incident and struggled to get back up after holding his leg in agony which was clear by his facial expressions.
Speaking to Steve Parish, he explained after showing me the footage from three different camera angles, why the two members were banned until the end of the season:
“I think they were banned for creating a dangerous situation where people would get injured and we can’t get to a point where there’s almost anarchy, we’re not seen to be in control of the ground and people are doing what they want,” he said.
“You’ve seen it, it’s people throwing themselves in the air from three rows back, to land on somebody is not permitted behaviour in a football stadium. It’s quite clear what we have to do and people need to understand that we have a higher masters – we have a safety council that can shut our stadium, if we’re not in control of it.
“Our first obligation is towards the safety of people. We’ve got to make people safe and one kid has got hurt, you’ve seen it – there’s a guy that was pretty badly hurt and it could have been a lot worse. People on the periphery could have easily been caught up in it, a flying boot and lose sight in an eye.
“It’s not even normal body surfing is it? I’ve been to a gig and somebody crowd surfs but everybody looks after them. Nobody’s looking after anyone, it’s just diving onto seats.
“It is so far away from what you’re allowed to do in a football stadium, this is not celebrating a goal.”
On a number of occasions throughout the interview, Parish discussed how important safety is for him and the requirement for the club to take action against individuals that behave in an unacceptable manner. He did however, say that he didn’t want to pick on the people who behave unacceptably or the group itself but wants them to understand the consequences behind the actions that they carry out, during the game.
The co-chairman, a supporter of the club himself had a message for the two fans that have been banned from the ground following the incident at Arsenal last month.
“They’ve crossed the line and there is a couple of people organising it, this is a message to them: It won’t be tolerated, you’re going to see out bans until the end of the season and then as long as you’re remorseful, we’ll let you back in. Come back and enjoy the game, give us the best you have got,” Parish continued.
“Are they criminals? No. I’m not going to demonise these two guys, they’ve not hit an opposing fan. They’ve organised and been in the center of behaviour that is not allowed in the stadium and could injure somebody. They are putting their own safety and the safety of others at risk in quite a major way.
“We’re going to target the people who do things wrong, not the group as a whole. We’re not going to tarnish everybody with the same brush because there are a lot of people in there that are not. I haven’t got any problems with what they are doing, so I don’t want to demonise the group or target the group but clearly they can’t self-police because they’re all watching it and nobody is stopping it.”
Support for the Holmesdale Fanatics has always been mixed with more Palace fans than not, appreciating the work that they do for the club and also the campaigns that they carry out for fans in respect of ticket prices and the support of safe standing. Parish is a supporter of the group himself, alongside Alan Pardew who spoke highly of the group after his appointment in Janaury. The co-chairman continued by saying:
“We love them! I love them! They’re great, I think they create a great atmosphere – you should be allowed to come to football, express yourself and enjoy yourself. I’ve been there and I know what the excitement is like but sometimes you don’t know what is good for you, sometimes you need somebody looking out for you and just saying “boys, that’s a bit too far. You’re going to injure yourself or someone else.”
You can listen to the full interview with Steve Parish on Holmesdale Radio on Sunday from 8pm where we will be discussing these recent events alongside reaction from this Saturday’s game against Stoke City.
