[Archived] Rovers vs NEC Nijmegen

[Ste B]

Started 20 min ago.

[Hasta]

From the Independent website:-

A statement on the Gelderland-Zuid section of the http://www.politie.nl website read: "The deputy mayor of Nijmegen has decided to cancel the exhibition game between NEC and Blackburn Rovers. That match was due to be played today at 2.30pm during the annual open day of NEC.

"Supporters of the English club Blackburn Rovers were involved in rioting in Deventer on Friday and on Saturday there was a confrontation with supporters of NEC Nijmegen in the city.

"On the basis of serious signals to the police that a confrontation would take place again today, deputy mayor Henk Beerten in consultation with police, judiciary and mayor Hubert Bruls decided to cancel the match this afternoon.

"Today, some 8,000 visitors are expected at the open day of NEC which starts at 12.30pm, including many families with children.

"With the serious threat of unrest in the Goffertpark around the exhibition game, it is not sensible to play this game today."

[promoted2001]

Rioting? I thought we were past all that after the Stoke incident?!

[Ste B]

There was no rioting at all. Calm down. A few ppl got chased out of town.

[Ricky]

Love the way the press release blames our travelling fans!!

[Stuart]

Love the way the press release blames our travelling fans!!

I wouldn't be at all surprised if "the club" endorsed these claims and demonised their own fans! Certainly don't expect them to put any kind of counter statement out.

[Ossydave]

I doubt anyone with half an ounce of sense believes Rovers fans would be in the thick of a 'riot' anyway so I wouldn't worry bout it too much!

[alexanders]

Any updates ?

[Stuart]

I doubt anyone with half an ounce of sense believes Rovers fans would be in the thick of a 'riot' anyway so I wouldn't worry bout it too much!

I don't know. Kean needs a bodyguard don't you know.

[Glenn]

I doubt anyone with half an ounce of sense believes Rovers fans would be in the thick of a 'riot' anyway

It's not the reaction of people with half an ounce of common sense that bothers me. We got a few fixtures next year that certainly won't benefit from the locals thinking Blackburn Youth are active again.

[Guest]

Full time 0-0

[T.J.Newton]

All the UK media and press already demonising rovers fans before season even starts without even having any facts about what supposedly happened, pathetic.(Kean will be loving it, you bet).

He's already got three excuses lined up before a games even been played- 1. Long term injury to his main striker Leon Best, 2. "Fan violence" disrupting pre-season preparation, 3. Not being allowed to pick all his own signings(Simon Cox, + a few others i bet).

[Ricky]

Do you know if Etuhu played MG?

[glen9mullan]

All the UK media and press already demonising rovers fans before season even starts without even having any facts about what supposedly happened, pathetic.(Kean will be loving it, you bet).

He's already got three excuses lined up before a games even been played- 1. Long term injury to his main striker Leon Best, 2. "Fan violence" disrupting pre-season preparation, 3. Not being allowed to pick all his own signings(Simon Cox, + a few others i bet).

You get bet your bottom dollar he is totting them up just as you say.... but this time who will he report his smoke n mirrors to? As it wont be India

[A cup of beans]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if "the club" endorsed these claims and demonised their own fans! Certainly don't expect them to put any kind of counter statement out.

That was my over-riding feeling too, Stuart.

IMO The press will be manipluated throughout the season - This is just the warm up.

[T.J.Newton]

.... but this time who will he report his smoke n mirrors to? As it wont be India

Thats the only glimmer of light im holding on too, Hopfully Shebby will be true to his word.

[Roverjoyed]

Looks like the Dutch fans were the main culprits, although two idiots (presumably also rovers fans) started a fight in Arnhem last night... bit.ly/R1k28T

[Tom]

It's not the reaction of people with half an ounce of common sense that bothers me. We got a few fixtures next year that certainly won't benefit from the locals thinking Blackburn Youth are active again.

Some people aren't helping dispell that illusion though to be fair from a pic I saw on twitter

[Glenn]

All the UK media and press already demonising rovers fans before season even starts without even having any facts about what supposedly happened, pathetic.(Kean will be loving it, you bet).

It's amazing for a club headed by a "PR Guru" and now fronted by a media pundit that this is just one in a very very long string of negative press reports that have gone un-addressed. Back in John Williams' day, any kind of negative incident (genuine or not) would be met with a quote on the website, a story in the LT or even on occasion a call in to Radio Lancashire. These days, on everything from Kean's driving driving ban (and subsequent acknowledgement that he lied to the police) to the Hong Kong video, to "the fans spiked my drinks", to actually acknowledging the club and owners got it wrong and got us relegated ... all met with no acknowledgement at all.

[T.J.Newton]

It's amazing for a club headed by a "PR Guru" and now fronted by a media pundit that this is just one in a very very long string of negative press reports that have gone un-addressed. Back in John Williams' day, any kind of negative incident (genuine or not) would be met with a quote on the website, a story in the LT or even on occasion a call in to Radio Lancashire. These days, on everything from Kean's driving driving ban (and subsequent acknowledgement that he lied to the police) to the Hong Kong video, to "the fans spiked my drinks", to actually acknowledging the club and owners got it wrong and got us relegated ... all met with no acknowledgement at all.

In a sense though their ploy is working, its only us fans that remeber this stuff(and what does our opinion matter!), its just yesterdays chip wrapper to the rest of the footballing world.

[DannyKeg]

Just back from Hoenderloo (via Nijmegen), to be honest it's not that far from where I live so much less of a waste for me than the other Rovers fans who have travelled from the UK.

Hoenderloo is an isolated forest area in the middle of the Veluwe national park, between Arnhem and Apeldoorn, it is one of the main training complexes for the Dutch National team so it is completely screened off from the public.

However, we thought if we turned up they would take pity on us and let us in. No Chance !! The gates were locked with a number of police vehicles strategically positioned behind them. There were about four or five cars parked along the roadside, NEC fans ? Journalists ? And a mini van with Belgian plates carrying about five Die hard Blackburnians, one of whom had managed to climb up a tree. We could hear the game progressing and the shouts of the players behind the screens, we even saw the ball as it went up into the air and back down again.

Eventually the (armed) police got tired of us blocking the road and moved us on, and so the Rovers pre season tour of Holland came to an (aptly chaotic) close. It seems that these days Rovers never do anything easily.

Living on the continent we have followed the Rovers on pre season tours in Austria, Germany and also here in Holland in the past without any incidents or even the whiff of trouble.

Who was to blame for this fiasco ? Certainly it sounds like Rovers fans were attacked in both Deventer and Nijmegen, how the fights developed I don't know as I wasn't there. In Arnhem on Saturday night it sounds like the problem was non football related and erupted over a dispute regarding money changing ? The Dutch involved in that fight were from the town of Breda nowhere near either Deventer or Nijmegen, it is reported that the Rovers fans were a 19 year old from Accrington and a 25 year old from Blackburn.

All in all a very sad end to the tour, it was something my two sons and myself were really looking forward to ever since it was announced, I have no idea when we will get to watch the Rovers again, what a pity.

[Stuart]

In a sense though their ploy is working, its only us fans that remeber this stuff(and what does our opinion matter!), its just yesterdays chip wrapper to the rest of the footballing world.

It's true. Only yesterday I had to put up with comments from "an outsider looking in". Not Kean's fault, blah, blah. Why should he walk away? Blah, blah.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

It's true. Only yesterday I had to put up with comments from "an outsider looking in". Not Kean's fault, blah, blah. Why should he walk away? Blah, blah.

It's a shame because I never used to really care what other fans thought of us. Now I feel myself being compelled to write in comments sections in the hope I can convince a few people otherwise. The problem is I have too much to say and it's hard to whittle it down to an acceptable length that the majority will read.

I'm just glad that Spurs game was on Sky, that woke a few people up.

[davulsukur]

Full time 0-0

Must be the first 0-0 draw under Kean?

[Pitty]

Must be the first 0-0 draw under Kean?

Arsenal away