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20 man brawl at Goodwood.

Home Forums Horse Racing 20 man brawl at Goodwood.

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  • #1353207
    BlackGold
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    https://www.racingpost.com/news/news/three-taken-to-hospital-as-20-man-brawl-mars-goodwood-s-opening-fixture/330300

    3 people taken to hospital, reports of at least one person being kicked in the head and the police make no arrests. WTF! Last I heard that was assault and grieveous bodily harm. :negative:

    #1353281
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    • Total Posts 31237

    There’s a video doing the rounds of the incident. So no reason why the police shouldn’t get involved. One chap looks like he is holding a plastic chair leg which could be deemed as an offensive weapon.
    I wonder what started it, maybe one of the lads was left in charge of putting on the life changing acca but didn’t fancy Victory Chimes chances and put it on another.
    Still I’m sure Goodwood made plenty of wonga on the pints sells to replace the broken chair

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #1353316
    BlackGold
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    • Total Posts 1471

    Evidently they were chanting at each other in one of the bar areas before the fight broke out.

    https://www.racingpost.com/news/news/goodwood-to-review-its-security-after-complaints-fight-went-on-unabated/330374

    #1353318
    Avatar photostevecaution
    Blocked
    • Total Posts 8253

    I remember a bad one years ago when questions were raised about where the police were during the fracas. It was reported that they were having a cup of tea on the other side of the racecourse. That seems fairly typical.

    Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

    #1353319
    LD73
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    • Total Posts 2882

    Heard police are only on site for the Glorious Meeting, racecourse security were there but dressed in plain clothes.

    Goodwood General manager Alex Eade said: “I was right there where the incident happened and there were many security guards but they wear suits, so they look like customers. That’s something we’re looking to review.

    “Of the six people who received medical attention, two were members of my staff – one was a security guard and one was a member of the catering team – so to suggest that we didn’t do anything to stop it is completely false.

    Not sure who’s genius idea it was to have security guards dressed in suits but that has to be the first thing to change – surely you must have them in yellow or orange fluorescent waistcoats with security written on the front & back in bold black lettering.

    At least that way the public can clearly tell who they are and not actually mistake them for members of the general public involved in the fighting. Maybe this wouldn’t have escalated quite as badly if those involved had seen them around rather than assuming they were trying to get their own shots in.

    #1353327
    wordfromthewise
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    • Total Posts 477

    Anyone who has been racing on a big day will probably know how easy it is to encounter increasing numbers of gobby,chavvy morons who can’t help themselves from either spoiling other people’s enjoyment by readily exposing as loudly as possible how stupid and annoying they are or even worse can’t wait to start a fight at the earliest opportunity …..all such behaviour aggravated more or less by over consumption of alcohol.
    There is a misconception that having to wear smart clothes to race meetings can take the edge off of the kind of behaviour normally associated with football thugs but I’m afraid that Racing is becoming less and less immune to the influence of yobs and scum is still scum no matter where it goes.

    #1353329
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    That’s p!ss poor having Security not in proper clobber

    Goodwood is overrated imo
    I went to Goodwood the year Toronado won the Sussex… :whistle:
    I asked if they had a shop to buy my son a jumper or a jacket as he was feeling cold
    Yes, they did but it was in the area of those who pay for the highest priced tickets and they wouldn’t let us past the gate.
    Fancy not opening the shop to all customers, if they were on the apprentice they’d be fired on that one

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #1353340
    Avatar photoBigG
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    • Total Posts 12715

    It absolutely beggars belief that their security didn’t have a visual aspect
    for prevention, even if it were clear arm bands, although jackets with “security”
    emblazoned across them would seem the obvious choice. If this has been the standard
    procedure at Goodwood, then it was an accident waiting to happen :wacko:

    #1353384
    Avatar photoChivers1987
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    • Total Posts 1592

    I’ve seen the video of the man getting kicked in the head and it was a shocker. Apparently that was outside the course after the original brawl inside so I’m not sure if a bunch were thrown out or made their way out to continue the festivities.
    Liquid courage and powdered invincibility. All for the craic. No regrets, GBH and ABH is the new banter.

    As the fighting was going on around you can hear someone jubilantly announce in the background “haha he’s out mate, he got banged” as if this action had no consequence. He might just have witnessed the death of a young man but he doesn’t care, it’s Saturday, time to paaaarrrtttyyy.

    #1353401
    Richard88
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    • Total Posts 2619

    Threaten, and then start actually enforcing, alcohol licence suspensions if there’s repeated trouble and I’m sure they’ll soon find a way of stopping it. No doubt many of those involved were also cramming Bolivian nose candy up their nostrils all afternoon too. There must be ways and means of detecting that on the way in.

    #1353406
    wit
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    • Total Posts 2171

    as i understand, anyone so inclined is free to make representations at any time to the Licensing Team at Chichester District Council, contact details here:

    http://www.chichester.gov.uk/article/25491/Alcohol-licensing-advice-and-guidance

    the stated objectives of the licensing legislation are:

    The prevention of crime and disorder;
    Public safety;
    The prevention of public nuisance; and
    The protection of children from harm.

    #1353412
    Avatar photoMiddle_Of_March
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    • Total Posts 2851

    The video of the bloke getting punted in the head on the floor is sickening. Should be arrested for GBH.

    I’ve heard it was a fight between southampton and Pompey fans.

    #1353497
    Avatar photoGladiateur
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    “I’ve heard it was a fight between southampton and Pompey fans.”

    So racing gets a bad name due to football hooligans? Typical.

    #1353498
    Avatar photoCav
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    • Total Posts 4833

    Sickening and shocking video alright.

    Hope this is a big wake up call for Goodwood and racecourses in general, the busier/boozier ones in particular, before someone gets killed.

    #1353504
    % MAN
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    • Total Posts 5104

    Having security in “plain clothes” is common at most large events, including most football stadia.

    They are better trained than the more general security staff, many of whom are casual staff and who do not have an SIA licence.

    The “men in black” are the most experienced (usually ex-police and military) and are the ones generally used for ejections and, in my experience, are very good at it, as well as defusing situations as well. On more than one occasion I’ve been glad to know they’ve been watching my back when I’ve had to deal with something at a football match.

    Although in plain clothes they can easily be identified because they’re normally wearing earpieces and, if they have time, they will put on their SIA armbands before going in to sort out a situation or they will be accompanied by a security supervisor who will be in hi-viz. They also identify themselves before taking any action. Plus they tend to look like brick outhouses and not the sort of person any sane person would want to argue with.

    As regards the police not taking any action, generally they won’t take action if the fight is taking place inside the venue or the stadium, unless the event has been deemed to be high risk and the event organiser has paid for them to be there. Police involvement comes into play after the event has been dealt with.

    I’ve been involved in the organisation of a couple of hundred league and cup football matches and can only think of four of those games where police have specifically been bought into the stadium to deal with any potential incidents and, even then, they would only get involved if club security lost control of the situation and I’ve only seen that happen once. (That’s based mainly on League One, Championship and FA Cup matches)

    If someone is ejected from a stadium as a result of a suspected arrestable offence then security will arrange for the police to meet them at a stadium exit and the individual will be handed over to the police and arrested.

    CCTV will be reviewed by the club / course and police at the time or afterwards for evidence gathering. There is usually a police presence in the control room, certainly for any “high risk” events and if not in the control room there will be a liaison officer who can be there within minutes.

    I don’t think most people realise just how much CCTV coverage there is at sporting venues. Certainly at football league grounds about the only areas without CCTV coverage would be the cubicles in the toilets.

    I can’t speak for smaller racecourses but at the large Grade One courses CCTV coverage is probably as near to 100% as you can get it …. taking into account the toilet privacy issue again.

    The other thing to note is the CCTV at sporting venues is not the grainy image you see in Crimewatch. The first time I was in a control room for a football match I was shown a shot from a camera at one end of the stadium where they zoomed the camera onto someone in the back row at the opposite end of the stadium and the image was HD crystal clear.

    The point being just because nothing appears to happen when a fight is taking place don’t assume nothing is done about it.

    It’s sometimes safer to let a fight run its course and deal with it later than to go in and potentially make it worse.

    The usual approach in football stadia (and I think it also applies at racecourses as well) is, if possible, let the fight peter out of its own accord and deal with those involved later. I recall one incident where there was trouble at a football match and the ringleader was quickly identified but it was deemed too risky to deal with him whilst he was surrounded by his friends. Eventually, due to the amount of booze he had consumed, he had to go to the loo and as he came out of the loo he was quietly and quickly surrounded by half a dozen men in black and “ushered” out of the ground into the hands of the police without anyone nearby even realising what was going on. Watching his reaction on the CCTV I don’t think he actually realised, until he was halfway down the stairs, what was happening to him.

    #1353545
    Richard88
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    • Total Posts 2619

    Interesting read Paul, thank you.

    #1353781
    Avatar photoCav
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    • Total Posts 4833

    More violence at Ascot today by the looks of it…

    https://twitter.com/okaysdmn/status/995358989922832384

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