Bucharest - The Truth

[Zappa 0]

The following article is one I just read from NewsNow. It's been published by Vanguard Bears.

 

 

 

Bucharest - The Truth

Written by Bluebear67

Thursday, 05 November 2009

 

Bluebear67's Account of Bucharest Shambles

 

The following is my version of events from arriving at the ground onwards......

 

The official coaches from the travel club (which I was on) arrived at the request of police a full 2 hours before kickoff; I'm led to believe that the coaches operated by Flight Options were requested to be there even earlier than us. After being kept on the coach briefly we were allowed to disembark but we were still contained by riot cops in a fenced area between the coaches and the approach to the ground (a bit like Osasuna but not anywhere near as severe).

 

The cops were only allowing groups of Rangers fans to leave the fenced area and approach the ground in groups of around 100 at a time. At the ground we were faced with searches on entry at the 2 turnstiles (one at each end of the pen we were allocated). When I was going through it was about 1 and a half hours before kick off and there were no hold ups on entry. Once through the turnstiles you had to go up an unlit straight staircase about 6 feet wide and flanked by 20 foot trees on both sides all the way up, basically it was pitch dark.

 

On getting to the top of the staircase you were met with what can only be described as third world conditions. You found yourself on a mono-blocked walkway that ran the full length at the top of the pen. The walkway was very badly maintained and severely distorted in many areas with numerous tripping hazards. The catering facilities which were situated on the walkway consisted of a guy with a wallpapering table, a box of crisps and about 6 x 2 litre bottles of Pepsi.

 

Running down off the walkway you had two staircases dividing 3 areas of seating. Initially (bearing in mind that the Travel Club only took 2,200 tickets) Rangers fans were only being allowed access to the middle (larger) area of seats. We were stopped from entering the outer sections of seats by a row of stewards behind temporary barriers about 4 feet high placed on top of the seats. By kick off these barriers had been removed as it was clear there were far more Rangers fans then they had been expecting. We basically ended up with around 5,000 fans in an area that was only capable of holding about 3,000. The crowd figures contained within media reports are so far out because they are using the figure of official fans travelling with the club i.e. 2,200 (I'll speak more about this later).

 

The general state of the seating areas and staircases running between the seats was again extremely poor. The seating fixtures were extremely rusted and to be honest you would expect the seats to dislodge from these fixings if you accidently bump into them. I also spotted one seat with 1 foot high weeds growing around it. The staircases again were in a state of severe disrepair, many with corners and edges missing, very unsafe. On top of all this there was no roof overhead and it was pissing it down all night (not a UEFA requirement I know but shit all the same.)

 

You may find the next part difficult to believe but I can assure you it is true. It was not long after getting into the ground that a girl I recognised as someone who always travels with the Travel Club came and stood just in front of me. I noticed that she was looking pretty shocked so I asked her what was wrong. She said "I'm still trying to take in what I have just seen". I asked what had happened and she replied ââ?¬Å?I have just asked the stewards where the toilets are and the guy led me into the trees and pointed to a hole in the ground that I was expected to squat over". This it turned out was the only actual toilet facility for men and woman in our section.

 

As to the actual incident at half time, I was up near the back of the stand but still had a pretty good view of the areas in question at the front. I became aware of something being up when it was pointed out to me that Rangers fans were giving the stewards down the front aggro about something. I then noticed a Tri-colour which was hanging off the top of the perspex wall at the front of the pen. I personally didn't see how it got there but others around me were adamant that it was a result of a steward on trackside trying to throw it into the Rangers fans. Things quickly escalated as fans suddenly rushed forward and started trading punches with stewards who were still in our section down the front. I was later told from someone who witnessed it that it was the result of a elderly Rangers fan walking up to an steward to complain about them goading the Rangers fans with the Tri-colour, I was told that the guy was punched full in the face and then set upon by about 6 stewards as he hit the ground. From then on it was a free for all; chairs (I reckoned about 20 in total) were thrown as Rangers fans tried to get at the stewards who were now trying to get out to trackside for safety. However other stewards on trackside decided it better to come into the pen with batons and pepper spray and goad even more Rangers fans.

 

I was aware of some public announcement being made but this seemed to be inaudible due to both an inadequate PA system and the general noise going on in the Rangers section. The incident had calmed down by the restart of the second half and I then witnessed what was presumed to be either someone high up in UEFA or someone connected with Unirea come down the touchline and publically bollock the stewards (in clear view of all Rangers fans) for the part they had played in the incident. From what I actually witnessed and from what I had been told by others that witnessed it I cannot possible come to any other conclusion other than the stewards were to blame 100% for what happened in that incident.

 

The game ended without further incident and we were kept back for about 10 minutes before being allowed out the ground. So then we had around 5,000 fans shuffling towards the stairs which were totally unlit and covered with debris. Everyone was taking baby steps as they realised we were getting closer to where we thought the stairs would start and we were relying on the bears directly in front of you telling you that you are now at the head of the stairs. It is my opinion that should anyone have been unfortunate to fall on these stairs there would have been a pile up of several hundred bodies within about 10 seconds.

 

On reaching the coach park I spoke to someone in senior management at Ibrox and asked what was their take on events at half time from their vantage point in the corporate area of the main stand. It was confirmed that they witnessed the Tri-colour hanging off the perpsex wall at the front of the section. It was also confirmed that this individual witnessed the older Rangers fan being set upon by around 6 stewards as he lay defenceless on the ground, the comment was also made about "Under such circumstances it is no wonder the Rangers fans reacted as they did". Myself and others relayed our take on everything to this individual who said that everything would be passed on to Kenny Scott and Martin Bain. Therefore, Martin Bain has this information at his fingertips so that in turn gives me the opinion that the statement released in pretty weak, maybe a more forthright one will come out later? When the individual was asked about more fans being in our area than expected, the reply was that this was due to Unirea selling a number of tickets for the match to Flight Options for another section of the ground but the cops just deciding to lump everyone in together. It is a situation that Rangers do not particularly like but also one that is out with the club's control"

 

The statement has been made that both Rangers and UEFA visited the ground several weeks ago and comments are made about the turnstiles were not as had been previously agreed. While I do not doubt that the turnstiles were looked at some weeks ago I cannot for one moment believe that the area that Rangers fans were to be housed has been looked at by either Rangers or UEFA. The game should never have been allowed to have taken place at that venue for safety reasons alone. Had this been a British venue a license to operate would never have been granted and the ground would have been declared unsafe. It would have failed on every safety aspect it would be measured against. With this in mind, Rangers and Kenny Scott have failed in their duties; there is no getting away from that. Rangers have a duty of care to our supporters and once again this has been totally disregarded.

 

Bluebear67

[Frankie 8,151]

An excellent report from BB...

[chilledbear 16]

These sequence of events are the ones that the media should be reporting, and I have no doubt, if it were another British team, they would be.