A Millwall view on the away fan ban
It seems that some Millwall fans are as hacked off
as we are with the decision to ban selected away fans, including Clarets, from the New Den.
We received the following e-mail from Steve Frangou, Secretary of the Millwall Supporters Club. We're happy to pass it on.
Just read some quotes from Burnley fans upset about this away fan ban imposed at our club. I ask your fans to read our statement sent out after this release on our site at
www.millwallsupportersclub.co.uk.
A Secretary of the Millwall Supporters Club I can assure you we did not suggest this ban. We were and still are totally against any sort of an away fan ban.
All this does is to penalise the good fans of any club.
We know we have our idiots, as do most clubs, but we were convinced we had come up with an idea to help our club get rid of more of ours.
Not sure at this moment in time how we are going to fight this, but I can assure we are not happy about it just as you and the other clubs' fans won't be.
If it's possible, could you pass this on to your fan base, as this decision has been forced upon Millwall Football Club by the police, who have said that they will withhold giving a safety certificate for these six games unless no away fans are admitted. We know it's the local council that issue these certificates, but if the police say that they will not police an event, the local council cannot issue the certificate.
Yours in sport.
Steve Frangou
Secretary
Millwall Supporters Club
Their statement is reproduced here
Millwall Supporters Club Committee Comment, 11 June 2002
The MSC Committee would like to say how disappointed they are with the police / Millwall Football Club Statement sent out on Tuesday June 11.
Our disappointment comes from suggestions we put to club officials in a hastily arranged meeting that the club asked us to attend at the Den on Thursday May 9. During this meeting we were asked not to divulge information given to us at this time and we have adhered to this stringently.
Since the above date we have not been informed by anyone at the club on whether or not our suggestions were going to be used or incorporated into other measures that the club were looking to implement along with the police. This is very disappointing as the club were quick to consult with us and look for our / supporters' suggestions. We would have thought that there would have been more consultation from the club to the MSC as things moved along up to today's date.
We felt that we came up with reasonable suggestions that would not have resulted in an away fan ban, whether it was away supporters travelling to Millwall or Millwall supporters going into away grounds.
We were at the meeting and still are vehemently against any sort of an away fan ban, as this penalises the VAST MAJORITY OF DECENT FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS, and we put this point to the club very strongly and will continue to do so.
We do realise that the measures introduced could have been a lot worse, with the police insisting that we have a complete away fan ban.
We did however suggest to the club that all Millwall supporters wishing to attend matches at the Den become members of the club, as after gathering information from letters, e-mails and conversations with fellow supporters this seemed a popular idea. It was felt that by implementing a membership scheme, the club could continue to appease the relevant authorities that they are still very serious about ridding itself of the hooligan element that continue to use our club and drag its name through the mud.
We have agreed in principle today (11 June 2002) that the new membership will be reduced from its present £15 a season to £5 for adults and OAPs and £2 for children (under 16). The club has informed us that existing MSC Members will be sent new forms by the club. Anyone else who is not an existing MSC member will have to apply with a self-addressed envelope to the club for an application form. The following requirements will be needed by the club for your application to be processed:
1x passport sized photograph
Proof of identity (either your passport or birth certificate)
Proof of address (either your bank statement, driving Licence with photo or a recent utility bill)
We are also in negotiation with the club at this present time in trying to allow supporters to book match tickets over the telephone. Please note that if this facility is brought back you will only be able to purchase one ticket per membership over the telephone giving the relevant details.
We have also asked Theo today (11 June 2002) for a Fans' Forum to be arranged as soon as possible and he has agreed to this. It is hoped that as well as club officials the police will attend this meeting to further explain the measures that have been implemented.
As with all articles on the site, the
views expressed in the comments section are those of the individual contributor, and do
not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club
