Carling Cup 1st Round: Games off as London riots!
FIVE football matches have now been postponed, including the England v Holland friendly Wednesday evening, and concerns over other sporting events after a third successive night of rioting in London with police needing to concentrate their resources elsewhere.
West Ham United, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace & Bristol City have all postponed Carling Cup home matches which were due to take place on Tuesday evening on the request of police after three days of rioting in London and now spreading to other parts of the UK.
The Hammers were set to host Aldershot at Upton Park, Reading were scheduled to travel to the Addicks, Crawley Town to Selhurst Park, close to Monday's trouble's in Croydon, something even their money couldn't put off, and now, a real sign how events have gone beyond the M25, Swindon's short trip to Bristol will not take place.
The Hammers game was the announced as the first to be called off, with the Championship side saying on www.whufc.com: "West Ham United have been asked by the police to postpone the Carling Cup first-round tie with Aldershot Town tomorrow night. The club were contacted this evening and told that all major public events in London were to be rearranged because of the need to focus police resources elsewhere. Whilst neither the club or police anticipate any issues around the game itself, the club has to comply with the police request. No date has yet been set for the rearranged match but the club will be in contact with the Football League and Aldershot."
www.theshots.co.uk said: "We understand many supporters will be disappointed with this announcement but confirm that the matter is out of the control of both West Ham United and Aldershot Town Football Club."
(That game will be re-scheduled on Wednesday, August 24th)
A statement on www.cafc.co.uk read: "Given the events in London, the police have taken the sensible decision and postponed the match at The Valley, with Greenwich Borough Police Commander Richard Wood advising the Addicks at 2255 BST on Monday that the match should be called off on safety grounds."
Addicks chief executive Stephen Kavanagh said: 'We've been monitoring the situation as it's been developing all evening and have been in constant contact with police. Clearly the most important factor is the people's safety. The police have told us they believe the match should be postponed on safety grounds and obviously we have taken that advice."
(That game will be replayed on Tuesday, August 23rd, the date re-scheduled for sexond round ties.)
Bristol City chairman Colin Sextone spoke to BBC Radio Bristol: "It's a local derby and they'll be fans coming from up the road. This would have been a police-controlled match so once that was not possible then we had no choice but to postpone the game. There's quite a heavy presence coming down from Swindon tonight, up to 2,000 fans, and it's quite sensible to decide it's something they didn't need tonight. We're very disappointed as we had a disappointing start to the season last Saturday and we were looking forward to trying to get a good victory tonight. Hopefully this will be a short-term issue. We all hope, football or not, that it will resolve itself and we can get back to normality."
(That game re-scheduled for Tuesday, August 23rd.)
There is no reason to be concerned about the Southend United v Leyton Orient cup tie not taking place at Roots Hall Tuesday evening, something which the official site has now confirmed.
BBC Sport have now reported that after a meeting with police the Football Association have called off England's friendly with the Netherlands. (England Game Off: http://news.bbc.co.uk)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/ wrote: 'Shops were looted and buildings, among them a furniture store in Croydon, set alight as police clashed with youths. Police in riot gear were also deployed in Birmingham city centre after scores of youths rampaged through the shopping area, smashing windows and looting from shops.'
The England cricket team are currently based in Birmingham ahead of the third Test against India, which begins at Edgbaston on Wednesday. BBC sports news reporter Joe Wilson said that nearby hotels had been advised to lock their doors.
He wrote on Twitter:"Helicopters circling over Bull Ring, about half mile from England hotel. Spoke to England head of security, confident all players safe."
Meanwhile, BBC sports news reporter Leon Mann tweeted: "Organisers of Ghana v Nigeria tell me game still set to go ahead tomorrow at Watford FC as planned."
What a state of affairs, and Shrimpers defender Mark Phillips has certainly made his view quite clear on the matter.
Here's a small selection of the Phillips greatest hits:
'These riots r embarassing-just an excuse for low lifes to cause some trouble-id pass a law to let the police act like them and smash them up'
'Then see how tough they are picking a trunchion out there jaw.....pathetic our country is a mess.'
'Maybe the goverment will finally wake up and see what kind of country they have allowed England to turn into'
'Last rant...just dawned on me our troops r fighting & dying abroad to protect this country & these scum bags...rant over....night'
Blimey Mark, stop sitting on the fence!
Still he ended on a conciliatory note........
'Thats enough about them loosers,bring on the carling cup tomoro---I hope to see all u shrimpers making some noise down roots hall'
Your Guardian subscription is in the post Mark.
Just for good measure Barry Corr has now added: 'These people rioting and looting r absolute scum, such an embarressment for the country. I cant believe wat I'm seein wen I watch the news.'
Talking of the paper, here's the latest position as disorder spreads to Liverpool and Bristol: www.guardian.co.uk/