Pitch incursion update

[Lincoln Rover]

There has been lots of comments, videos  & opinions on several social media sites since Saturday, so I thought I’d try to seek some clarification.
This is not meant to take sides, nor to try & & judge fans actions.
I have been liaising with our club today & have an update on the pitch incursion.
They've have identified several persons so far from CCTV & witness information at the time.
They-are working to identify all those who encroached onto the pitch in conjunction with South Yorkshire Police & additional CCTV footage.
The club are fully aware of the incident involving the Barrow goalkeeper, but the fact remains that no fans should have been on the pitch at all.
They will seek to impose maximum sanctions on those persons involved in terms of a club ban.
Doncaster Rovers thank the vast majority of fans who at no time entered the pitch & allowed the players to return shortly after the final whistle for their lap of appreciation.

[PDX_Rover]

There was no incident with Farman.

[drfchound]

The Barrow fans are talking about it on their Barrow.net forum.
Some are sticking to the “keeper was assaulted” theme.

[Colin C No.3]

The Barrow fans are talking about it on their Barrow.net forum.
Some are sticking to the “keeper was assaulted” theme.

To be fair he was.

Once by Adelukan, once by Biggins & twice by Joe!

[PDX_Rover]

He may have been violently insulted.

[Filo]

Did the club take note of the whole Barrow bench’s incursion onto the pitch, and will they be subject of a banning order?

There was no assault on the keeper

[Northants Nomad]

Thanks Lincoln. Regarding this bit:

“The club are fully aware of the incident involving the Barrow goalkeeper, but the fact remains that no fans should have been on the pitch at all.”


Does this mean the Club are aware of the bit where their keeper throws a fan to the ground but they don’t feel any action is warranted as the fans should not have been on the pitch? If so, I agree.
People seem to be interpreting this as meaning the Club being aware of their keeper (not) being assaulted, so I just wanted to clarify the meaning.

[The Beast]

So does this mean that they’re going to try and ban everyone who went on the pitch ?

[Thorney]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

[colincramb]

So does this mean that they’re going to try and ban everyone who went on the pitch ?

To be fair, they can’t have any complaints if they get a ban. The message from the club beforehand was very clear as to what the potential consequences would be. Play with fire and you’ll get burnt, as the saying goes. Serves them right

[The Beast]

I went on the pitch at Stoke and at Belle Vue numerous times when I was a daft youth, hope the fun police don’t come knocking at my door one day 

[glosterred]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

The Wrexham invasion was at the end of the game and they’d won promotion ours was just for scoring a goal.

There was no incident with Farman.

Maybe the club has more detailed video evidence of what happened with their keeper than some Twitter/X videos that we’ve all seen that doesn’t show the whole incident?


COYR

[Filo]

So does this mean that they’re going to try and ban everyone who went on the pitch ?

To be fair, they can’t have any complaints if they get a ban. The message from the club beforehand was very clear as to what the potential consequences would be. Play with fire and you’ll get burnt, as the saying goes. Serves them right

I agree with that, consideration must be given to the whole Barrow bench going on the pitch looking for confrontation, under the lie that their keeper was “assaulted”

[Bills view]

Not condoning anyone running on the pitch and they should never have gone to the opposition, our players to celebrate perhaps.

However, you have to look at the context. It was one of the biggest moments in our history, look how the game played out, consider what fans have been through for the past 3 years or so and the unreal winning streak that we somehow maintained you can see why some were over excited and did something they shouldn't.

Players getting a yellow card for celebrating with their shirt off with the crowd while not the same is similar.

Footy is emotional. And yes some fans stepped too far. But let's not forget the delirium on Saturday.

[i_ateallthepies]

I really don't get these attempts to excuse pitch invasion on the grounds of over excitement, if it really were the case I'd suspect every one of them would have also lost control of their bladder as well as the ability to make sensible decisions.

[TonySoprano]

I really don't get these attempts to excuse pitch invasion on the grounds of over excitement, if it really were the case I'd suspect every one of them would have also lost control of their bladder as well as the ability to make sensible decisions.

How do you know they didn't?

[i_ateallthepies]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

Where has that been said, Thorney?

[TonySoprano]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

Where has that been said, Thorney?

The complete overreaction on here, and by the club.

[IDM]

What you fail to see, is that if fans entering the pitch is condoned, then what happens when someone does assault a player, regardless of the reason for the incursion?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Separate incidents don't mitigate each other. Just because their subs ran on the pitch etc...makes no difference.

Post match invasions are one thing, but during a game is another when considering player safety etc. The club has to be seen to be complying with the law and taking appropriate action against those who deliberately transgressed and they will. There is no defence or justification for running on the pitch during the game. End of.

[Thorney]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

Where has that been said, Thorney?

Just the feeling im getting by the reactions i have seen from social media.
Personally im not one for pitch invasions whatever the situation whether thats a win to survive relagation, a win to gain promotion or in our case, a goal to keep playoff hopes alive after a dismal 3 years.

But should we look to ban all the ppl that entered the field? Or pin point anyone who approched a player whether it was a drfc or Bafc player? There would of been some young kids in there that ran on out of excitment and straight back off again without needs for restraint. Do we ban those also. 

[The Beast]

What you fail to see, is that if fans entering the pitch is condoned, then what happens when someone does assault a player, regardless of the reason for the incursion?

An assault can happen anywhere, if someone takes it upon themselves to assault someone on a pitch where there’s hundreds of cameras, they’ll get dealt with accordingly and rightly so. The truth is nobody got assaulted It’s a total over reaction by people who if they weren’t getting upset by this would be getting upset by something else.

[Thorney]

Separate incidents don't mitigate each other. Just because their subs ran on the pitch etc...makes no difference.

Post match invasions are one thing, but during a game is another when considering player safety etc. The club has to be seen to be complying with the law and taking appropriate action against those who deliberately transgressed and they will. There is no defence or justification for running on the pitch during the game. End of.

Surely all pitch invasions should be treated the same? Whether it be during or after the final whistle.

What is the difference between 50 people on the pitch for 1 minute after a late goal to win an important game and 5000 people running onto the pitch soon as the final whistle is blown when their is still 22 players on the pitch?
EFL should treat every incident the same shouldnt they

[IDM]

If wrexham take our stance that all should be banned then they wont be selling many tickets next year.

https://youtu.be/sN8v3sSU98Y?si=XMnVF5PrtCe2Rww_

Why was our fans pitch incursion deemed more threating??? It was over after a minute.

Where has that been said, Thorney?

Just the feeling im getting by the reactions i have seen from social media.
Personally im not one for pitch invasions whatever the situation whether thats a win to survive relagation, a win to gain promotion or in our case, a goal to keep playoff hopes alive after a dismal 3 years.

But should we look to ban all the ppl that entered the field? Or pin point anyone who approched a player whether it was a drfc or Bafc player? There would of been some young kids in there that ran on out of excitment and straight back off again without needs for restraint. Do we ban those also. 

I don’t know, but I think they would go for the main antagonists, the ones who maybe were threatening, or trying to fight stewards (if that happened?) and especially the adults who should have more responsibility.??

[IDM]

What you fail to see, is that if fans entering the pitch is condoned, then what happens when someone does assault a player, regardless of the reason for the incursion?

An assault can happen anywhere, if someone takes it upon themselves to assault someone on a pitch where there’s hundreds of cameras, they’ll get dealt with accordingly and rightly so. The truth is nobody got assaulted It’s a total over reaction by people who if they weren’t getting upset by this would be getting upset by something else.

I never said anyone did get assaulted.  The laws are there to prevent such a thing happening.  Of course they would get picked up by cameras, but prevention is better surely, especially for the individuals assaulted.??

[The Beast]

What you fail to see, is that if fans entering the pitch is condoned, then what happens when someone does assault a player, regardless of the reason for the incursion?

An assault can happen anywhere, if someone takes it upon themselves to assault someone on a pitch where there’s hundreds of cameras, they’ll get dealt with accordingly and rightly so. The truth is nobody got assaulted It’s a total over reaction by people who if they weren’t getting upset by this would be getting upset by something else.

I never said anyone did get assaulted.  The laws are there to prevent such a thing happening.  Of course they would get picked up by cameras, but prevention is better surely, especially for the individuals assaulted.??

No you didn’t say that to be fair, a lot of people are saying that though. I understand you’ve got to have a deterrent and if people went on the pitch and confronted their players or tried to get to the away fans ban them but personally I would be looking to ban kids for over exuberance.
If I was Barrow, I really wouldn’t push this, as if they do I think their keeper could be in very hot water.

[Colin C No.3]

Not condoning anyone running on the pitch and they should never have gone to the opposition, our players to celebrate perhaps.

However, you have to look at the context. It was one of the biggest moments in our history, look how the game played out, consider what fans have been through for the past 3 years or so and the unreal winning streak that we somehow maintained you can see why some were over excited and did something they shouldn't.

Players getting a yellow card for celebrating with their shirt off with the crowd while not the same is similar.

Footy is emotional. And yes some fans stepped too far. But let's not forget the delirium on Saturday.

Keep it in context then. It wasn’t “one of the biggest moments in our history”, it was a fantastic comeback ensuring we remain on track for the play offs.

No excuse for invading the pitch. Some on there looked about 14 years old, what ‘history’ do they have of the club.

[The Beast]

Not condoning anyone running on the pitch and they should never have gone to the opposition, our players to celebrate perhaps.

However, you have to look at the context. It was one of the biggest moments in our history, look how the game played out, consider what fans have been through for the past 3 years or so and the unreal winning streak that we somehow maintained you can see why some were over excited and did something they shouldn't.

Players getting a yellow card for celebrating with their shirt off with the crowd while not the same is similar.

Footy is emotional. And yes some fans stepped too far. But let's not forget the delirium on Saturday.

Keep it in context then. It wasn’t “one of the biggest moments in our history”, it was a fantastic comeback ensuring we remain on track for the play offs.

No excuse for invading the pitch. Some on there looked about 14 years old, what ‘history’ do they have of the club.

So if they are 14 years old it could well be the biggest moment in ‘their’ Rovers history!

[VivaRovers]

However, you have to look at the context. It was one of the biggest moments in our history, look how the game played out, consider what fans have been through for the past 3 years or so and the unreal winning streak that we somehow maintained you can see why some were over excited and did something they shouldn't.

I'd buy this, if we were talking purely about fans pouring onto the pitch to celebrate with our players – I can understand how emotion and excitement can lead to that; wanting to be so completely part of the celebratory moment.

But the issue is with fans running onto the pitch and heading specifically for Barrow players to goad them. That's not getting over excited; that's making a conscious decision and being a bell-end. And much as I don't want to see anyone banned from supporting their local club, if you're in this bracket of pitch invaders then you've no excuse really. You've brought a ban on yourself.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

This is not us taking a moral highground. This is about the club facing potential charges and a hefty fine. We can't just write that off. Citing other occrances at other grounds etc, isn't going to wash in our defence. The club have to investigate this thoroughly and take whatever actions necessary  to mitigate those charges. To show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it, took all reasonable actions to deal with it at the time and be seen to be applying the laws of the land plus all the safety regulations complied with including identifying the culprits and subsequent enforcement of bans for individuals. We are required to fulfil all of the above to be able to maintain our safety certificate.

If we want to take a moral stance, do we think the fine should be passed on to those who invaded the pitch?