A Worrying Week At War Torn West Ham

Football is a relatively easy game to understand. It can of course be unpredictable, but usually within the realms of feasibility.

Human behaviour though can be a struggle, much like the mystery of women and advanced physics. An example of this was Tuesday nights crowd trouble that erupted during West Ham’s League Cup tie with Millwall at Upton Park.

Understandably there was a tense atmosphere in the ground as the two eastenders lined up for the start of the match, but the trouble that followed is unforgivable and should be confined to shit clichéd films, such as Green Street and Football Factory. The only silver lining to an evening that does nothing for the reputation of English fans and proposed 2018 World Cup bid, was that Frodo didn’t appear to be at the ground doing a Dick Van Dyke like imitation of a local thug, as he did in Green Street.

The game itself was tense and interesting with Millwall taking the lead in the first-half before West Ham equalised late on and took the game to extra-time, eventually coming out as 3-1 winners thanks to a brace from Junior Stanislas and a Zevon Hines strike.

The game though was repeatedly interrupted by fans streaming onto the pitch and jumping up and down with pathetic delight like a toddler who has managed to steal a biscuit in between meal times.

I’m in danger here of sounding like one of those boring old farts who continually ask you to sit down during the course of the game, as they much their way through a carefully prepared picnic, but this is more than just banter that’s got out of hand, it’s idiocy. A stadium shouldn’t be a playground for demented fans to rampage around like a bunch of ferial beasts at the expense of a good game of football.

The result of this violence and twatish behaviour was that a 44 year old man was stabbed in the chest.

The behaviour of the retarded few was put into sharp context by West Ham’s 20 year midfielder Jack Collison who battled through the entire game despite the death of his father in a motorcycle accident just 48 hours before hand. Having spent much of extra-time urging fans to go back to their seats, the occasion proved too much for him as he was escorted from the pitch in floods of tears, but in doing so he highlighted the difference between bravery and being a twat.

An investigation by the FA is bound to follow, although if history is anything to go by the penalty for this will probably be an insignificant fine at the expense of a gutsy and just decision.

This though is just the beginning of West Ham’s worries, as last week central defender Calum Davenport was stabbed repeatedly in each leg, leaving him in a critical condition following an argument outside his mother’s house.

It was reported that he lost half his blood in the attack and that one of his legs was close to amputation. He is now thought to be in a stable condition, but there is still considerable doubt as to whether or not he will return to football.

In a bizarre Hollyoaks-like twist, the boyfriend of Davenport’s sister has been charged with the attack and if the tabloids are to be believed his sister is unbelievably standing by the actions of her demented fella.

Even for an episode of Eastenders, the true life events that have surrounded Upton Park are too bizarre even for the fantastical soap.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Wednesday August 26, 2009.
Tags: West Ham United, Millwall