Whilst this site does not condone violence at football matches, it has to be said that the reporting of the banning of these six Saints fans does not match what actually happened in the square in Arnhem.
The Daily Echo has reported that six Saints fans have been banned after their involvement in trouble before the game against Vitesse Arhnem in Holland back at the start of August.
But what the Daily Echo describes is not what actually happened and their is a feeling amongst Saints supporters actually present that these supporters have been made a scapegoat for a situation that was not instigated by Saints supporters who whilst stood peacefully in a square in Arhem suddenly found themselves under attack from a sizeable contingent of Vitesse supporters who were allowed by Dutch police to enter the square unchecked.
The Echo says
"fans became embroiled in what was described as ‘a mini-riot’ as rival groups clashed ahead of Saints' Europa League tie with Dutch side Vitesse in August last year."
"Chairs were thrown and fights broke out as trouble flared before the historic clash. "
"It is believed that the six men were arrested separately by Dutch police as they were involved in the brawl between Southampton fans and those from another Dutch team, Feyenoord."
The truth is this.
The bulk of Saints supporters were gathered in a square around 100 metres from where the trouble flared, that square was the official fan zone whilst other Saints supporters who wanted a less raucous afternoon gathered in the nearby Korenmarkt where they mingled happily with Vitesse supporters. Both areas were well policed by both the Dutch police and the Hampshire Constabulary who usually accompany Saints on the road.
As the afternoon wound on more Vitesse supporters started to arrive in the square, but the atmosphere was still friendly, there were Feyenoord supporters in the square, but they were there to support Saints and indeed some had been present at the pre season friendlies in Europe including Salzburg as due to Ronald Koeman and Pelle many Feyenoord fans have adopted Saints as their second team.
There was not a hint of trouble until the very moment it happened and it was if not orchestrated by the Dutch Police, was ignored for what turned out to be ulterior motives.
What happened was this.
A large contingent of Vitesse fans possibly numbering around 50 (Not Feyenoord fans as reported) had gathered at their usual meeting point, a bar around 1/2 a mile from both squares, they left this bar in full view of the police monitoring it and made their way to the Korenmarkt.
Along the way they passed the Saints fanzone, again heavily policed and were allowed to walk unchecked into the Korenmarkt where they immediately tore into the Saints fans standing outside the first bar they came to.
The Saints supporters in the immediate vicinity had no choice but to defend themselves, the Vitesse fans hit anyone and everyone in what was a hit and run attack, within seconds the Dutch Police suddenly sprung into life and the Vitesse fans who seemed to have the attack well planned departed en masse from the Korenmarkt into a waiting group of police who arrested them again en masse and detained them on a bus parked very conveniently for that purpose.
What did the Dutch police have to gain from allowing their hooligan contingent free reign to walk half a mile in full view and start trouble in the Korenmarkt ? After all they had plenty of opportunity to nip this in the bud from the very start, they could have prevented the Vitesse fans from leaving their bar, given the time it took for them to walk to the Korenmarkt they also had plenty of time and man power to block off both the Saints fan zone and the Korenmarkt.
But they chose not to and according to Vitesse fans after the incident and I should say here, that the moment the Vitesse hooligan contingent left the square, trouble ceased and both Saints and normal Vitesse fans continued to drink and converse in a friendly manner, that the Dutch Police had let the situation develop so they could detain the Vitesse hooligan contingent and prevent them causing trouble after the game and in the bars long after the game had finished.
In short they were prepared to let a short period of disorder happen so that they had an excuse to take out their known trouble makers and therefore lessen the likelihood of issues after the game.
This is all well and good and judging by reports that stayed in Arnhem after the game, it was a quiet evening, however the down side is that a number of Saints fans who had not set out to cause trouble were embroiled in it and not by their own choice.
Having witnessed much of the situation from a bar very close to the centre of the Korenmarkt, I have to say that when faced by Vitesse fans punching out indiscriminately, what choice did those Saints supporters have but to defend themselves ?
Yes as the Daily Echo reports, some had previous banning orders, but in contrast some didn't, their only crime was not to stand by and let innocent people around them be assaulted indiscriminately by a contingent of Vitesse fans, who had been allowed by Dutch Police to assault Saints supporters for their own means.
Yes a few chairs flew in the air, I can't say I knew which side threw them, but what I can say is that once the Vitesse fans had ran out of the square, trouble stopped almost immediately, there were no attempts to seek vengeance on the majority of Vitesse fans who were in the square peacefully and for the hour or so after the incident before both sets of fans left for the game, there was not any sort of tension.
In fact the Vitesse fans were very apologetic about the behaviour of their hooligan contingent, although they did seem unsurprised that it should have happened and unsurprised that the Dutch Police had seemingly manufactured a situation.
As mentioned earlier some of those banned had previous records for involvement with trouble at Saints games, but that does not mean they were guilty at this one and indeed there are some who had no previous record who now find themselves banned.
This is wrong, I am not condoning trouble in any way shape or form at a football game, but the fact is that it could have been ANY Saints supporter in the Korenmarkt that day who could have found themselves either assaulted or forced to defend themselves, every Saints fan in the Korenmarkt was put at risk due to the Dutch Police deliberately failing to prevent an incident and indeed wanting it to happen for their own reason.
Most Saints supporters were untouched, they viewed a fairly minor skirmish that was controlled by the Dutch Police quickly, too quickly to prevent any doubt they were not expecting it some would say, some Saints supporters found that they had minor injuries from being punched, but these six find themselves banned from attending football games through no fault of their own, if they had been arrested for going to the Vitesse bar then there would be no excuse, they would have courted trouble and deserve their punishment, but they didn't and surely they have the right as we all have, to be able to stand outside a bar without the fear of trouble.
There are those who will say that there previous behaviour record means they lose that right, but that is wrong, no one should be convicted of a crime that they did not commit and everyone has a right to use reasonable force to defend themselves.
But there is some doubt as to whether any of these people have been convicted of a crime, either in Holland or here, this seems to be a situation where they have been banned purely on the evidence of Dutch police identifying them in the Korenmarkt.
Video footage was used to pursue banning orders according to the Daily Echo, yes perhaps the video footage does show these people throwing punches or in confrontation with Vitesse fans, but what it probably does not show is the circumstances that led to them being in the position where they had to do that.
We do not know that due to the sketchy reporting from the Daily Echo, the fact that they report it was an attack by Feyenoord fans, shows that they have done little research into what actually happened in the Korenmarkt, they do not seem to have tried to delve any further into what happened only to report the sensationalist headline
"Six Saints fans were given banning orders after a 'mini-riot' before a game against Vitesse Arnhem"
They have no report on why it happened and they embellish their story with pictures of the six presumably lifted from the six men's Facebook pages unless the Echo by chance had photographers present at the same time these people were stood on canal bridges in Amsterdam, in clothes shops, or in a casino.
There are some who will not like the fact I have stuck up for these six, they will say they are troublemakers, however there are two sides to every story and in this case it is the supposed side of law and order that stinks or at least the Dutch version of it that has inadvertently led to this.
Stop Press
In contrast to the Daily Echo's reporting of this, the report from "thebreeze" sheds a lot more light on the situation and the fact that these people have not been convicted, but banned due to the fact that they have been identified in videos as being involved.
I still stand by my account and the fact that they had no choice but to defend themselves as did many other Saints fans that day.
http://www.thebreeze.com/southampton/news/local-news/six-saints-fans-given-footb