Fans of Salisbury club Laverstock & Ford damaged perimeter fencing, let off flares and knocked an elderly steward to the ground during yesterday’s (Saturday’s) play-off final against Newport IW FC at Smallbrook.
Around 150 supporters of Laverstock & Ford attended Saturday’s play off final in a crowd of 500.
A police presence had been requested before the game, which is very unusual for a football match staged on the Isle of Wight. As a result, Laverstock supporters were escorted by police vehicles to Smallbrook Stadium, where officers had a visible presence before the game.
Police officers had left the ground when trouble fared in the 1st half when Laverstock supporters advanced aggressively towards Newport fans in the main stand, leading to a retired steward being knocked off his feet. At this point, the stadium announcer called for the police presence to return to the stadium.
Longstanding Newport fan and former Isle of Wight Ladies player Hannah Randall, who was present at the game, has described the behaviour of the Laverstock ‘fans’:
“It was horrendous, I was spat on, pushed, had drinks thrown at me and called names I cannot repeat. All in front of my children. Absolutely disgraceful. I’m glad the organisers thanked a lot of the Newport fans for not causing an issue even when the Laverstock fans were being so aggressive. It’s uncalled for, abusing Newport players when their own children were there and could hear everything.”
At the final whistle, a group of Laverstock fans badly damaged fencing when running onto the pitch. On 3 occasions pyrotechnics were thrown onto the pitch by the travelling support.
Around 12 officers attended the game in 5 police cars and 1 unmarked vehicle. A police van was also present to detain offenders if required. However, it is not believed that any arrests were made.
Newport supporters felt aggrieved after their visit to Laverstock in March when the wife of a senior Newport player was abused by a member of the Laverstock team. The Laverstock player – both foul-mouthed and foolish – did so in front of referee Robert Walczak, who immediately brandished a red card. The exact words he used were allegedly “inbred c***”.
The Hampshire FA regards calling Isle of Wight residents ‘inbreds’ as a form of racial abuse. The victim of the abuse was visibly upset and badly shaken by the incident. 1 Laverstock fan present at the game was unapologetic about the incident, claiming that the slur was ‘simply the truth’.
The term inbred is often used against Isle of Wight teams playing against mainland sides. 2 years ago, a game was abandoned at East Cowes after the insult was used as reported in Island Echo. This season, an opposing manager was red carded for referring to the Newport bench as ‘inbreds’.
This laverstock team sound like a bunch of thugs and they should be thrown out of the football league ….how come they get away with all this abuse
it’s simply not good enough !!
Up the BULLDOGS , we don’t want to come back or either will because, your not going up
Football is where louts go for a fight. Why don’t we just admit that some backward men want to fight and just give them a pit to fight in. With any luck they will remove each other from the gene pool. Will allow normal people enjoy a good game of footie.
poor old Fred, last to be picked at school
Notice how all the young lads got same shit haircut?
Don’t let the team and their supporters back on the Island!
Don’t worry we aren’t going back on the island because lavvy are going upppp and your not Up the bloody bulldog
Let us know next time
Ban these animals from the island we don’t want them
Oh for goodness sake it’s a ruddy game !!!! Winners losers no need for all this crap suck it up it’s called sportsmanship…
Cannot and will not ever understand why some idiots get so wound up ??‽?…
Totally idiotic….
The Port played well.
Good match. Proud to be there
what was the score in the end?
I drove the coach with yhe supporters on . What police escort ? There was a police car at the ground but that was all when we arrived !
No trouble on my coach at all , very polite supporters . And as for pyrotechnics ….. once the match had ended i saw one or two go off . Get your facts right nothing during the game , and the fence , the fans ran to praise their team !
Should you be driving if you didn’t see the police car in front of the coaches escorting them into the stadium?
I was there too support Newport , and all you lot who are making a fuss about the away supports don’t watch football , things happen, funny how nobody is talking about how the only people thrown out of the ground where Newport supporters for abuse
I was at the match with my elderly mum, husband and brother. We stood on the path infront of the stand supporting our team Laverstock. Our fans DID NOT run towards the fans when we scored, they ran towards their team who they were there for. When Newport scored, the fans ran aggressively towards our fans, knocking my mum and tipping a pint of alcohol all over her. The stewards were not helpful for us, quite rude actually. We witnessed the whole match and this report is totally untrue, it should absolutely read round the other way. The flares were thrown by Newport fans, we witnessed that as one of them went over my mums head. We are respectfu
lol shut up
I’m sorry, are newport forgetting their Vile mouths and Vile behaviour? I was getting a drink from the bar when a Newport FC COMITTEE BOARD member – who i won’t name on here – grabbed me by both shoulders in an attempt to push me down the stairs! absolutely disgraceful from a middle aged woman and a supposed respected member of the Club. should be removed from the board.