Trust no one by Chairman Mao
The annual “Christmas Jumper” trip was one of the highlights for Martyrs fans in any season; a chance to be silly, wear daft festive fashions, meet exiled fans and lately raise money for local charities.
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In 2020 hundreds of Merthyr fans donated toys for the fans on the Christmas Jumper to take to Harrow Borough to distribute to children affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster. As usual the people of Merthyr Tydfil rose to the occasion and the supporters’ bus to London was rammed with toys, teddy bears and games. The local organisers had to make special arrangements to get the donations transferred from the Earlsmead stadium to their warehouse.
The news of dozens of football fans travelling up to London to donate toys dressed as elves must have spread far and wide as that game attracted local lads, QPR apparently, who managed to spoil the day with confrontational scenes after half time. The police are called, the party is over and everyone leaves disillusioned.
Maybe we should have read the signs and stopped the yearly carnival but the feeling was that Harrow was an isolated incident and why should we stop dressing up for Christmas? I had a box full of beard baubles and an elf hat to wear in 2021.
Farnborough isn’t an unknown ground for us, we’ve been visiting the Cherrywood Road stadium for years. Many of us had a brilliant afternoon during one season there supporting Dorchester Town when our game at Fleet had been postponed.
Social media is never a reliable conduit for information but the pre-match gossip was of issues at Farnborough for other visiting fans earlier in the season but to be honest no-one thought anything of it. For decades we’ve been travelling away in large numbers but with very few significant incidents to report. It was going to be a fun, family event for everyone following a team that was heading towards an inevitable relegation.
Southern League matches are at the apex of the unregistered non-league game in that alcohol can be consumed on the way to the stadium and pints can be drunk on the terraces. It’s probably one of many attractions of watching football at this level, the social side of the event is equal if not more important than the game itself. Punk football at its most pure.
I remember the bus to Hampshire having the usual noisy atmosphere as jumpers were compared, packed lunches shared, drinks consumed, songs aired and plans for the festive season discussed. The hold was full of cuddly toys and we were off to hopefully see the Martyrs win a corner, that’s the type of season it was in 2021.
I don’t remember the name of Hampshire charity chosen for our fundraising but a raffle for a few items of memorabilia was sorted for before kick-off with tickets on sale in the Farnborough clubhouse to both sets of fans. The atmosphere was fantastic, the bar staff were welcoming and the beer was flowing. A few impromptu Welsh language lessons were being sorted for some younger members of our diaspora.
The game itself was, in the context of that season, brilliant. Our team was finally delivering a game to match the players’ collective talents and for a fan base starved of any success was loving every minute of it. Plenty of songs and even celebrations as the Martyrs scored twice in front of the impressive Prospect Road End Stand (Refell and Jemmett-Hutson) to lead 2-0 at half-time.
Merthyr Town FC has a fan culture unique to our current level of the non-league pyramid. A repertoire of inimitable songs that echo around any ground we visit with a collection of flags that sometimes seems to even outnumber us at times.
Cherrywood Road is, as previously mentioned, one of the better grounds we visit and the “PRE” Stand behind one of the goals is perfect for the larger banners that often accompany us on away games. One of the stairwells offered a prime location for one of these flags and the usual relocation of the banner to the opposite side of the ground provided the backdrop for the first incident of the day as Merthyr fans were challenged by young lads who had shadowed us in the first half. One of their lads was even on crutches such was the absurdity of the situation. They were ignored of course and the jubilant Merthyr fans congregated again in the home team clubhouse. The hospitality was first class despite the unlikely scenario of a Martyrs’ away win. We checked with the bar staff that we would hold our usual football quiz after the game to raise a few more quid and a very hopeful Merthyr crowd returned to the terraces.
The second half was a changed game with the hosts on top and the Martyrs defending well across the pitch. The away fans were in good voice and after a goal back after 53 minutes so were the home supporters behind the opposite goal. Merthyr Town continued to hold on though and were still dangerous on the counter-attack but on 82 minutes Elis Watts got an equalizer to set up a big finish.
A few minutes later with the hope of a precious away point, Merthyr fans
start the slow walk to the only available exit gate to get to the clubhouse for
a beer and the subsequent quiz. It’s the non-league version of leaving
the ground to avoid the traffic but this exit entails still watching the game
as you walk around the pitch.
Meanwhile the home team score in the 93rd minute sparking a minor pitch invasion by the home fans opposite us, a moment which in a normal season would provoke heartache in the travelling support but after such a poor start to the campaign it was met with a collective shrug as our heroes had performed well and expectations for the travelling fans had been low from the moment we all boarded the bus from the Law Courts that morning.
Those fans that had reached the terraces at the side of the pitch were now confronted by three hooded men who attacked them with fists, an iron bar and we later found out, a knife.
This confrontation resulted in the mass of Merthyr fans walking towards the only exit gate now being hemmed into that area as Farnborough players joined in the melee both pitch-side and also on the terrace. Merthyr fans now had to push past this group to reach the exit and many ignored the attackers while some had no choice but to defend themselves from the Farnborough fans and players.
Whilst two big lads with yellow vests, I won’t bother to call them stewards, stood on the pitch and made no effort to intervene it was left to two other stewards (a young woman and an older man) to try to stop the violence. They were both magnificent with the young woman getting clubbed on her forearm in the later violence as reward for her bravery in that exit area.
It was at this point that the shouts from the exit gate became frantic and the rumour started that a Merthyr fan had been stabbed by one of the hooded men. The two stewards on the pitch still did nothing even as families from Merthyr were being escorted by fellow fans across the pitch to safety in front of them.
The scene at the exit gate was horrific, one of our fans Chris was left unconscious for four minutes, lying in a pool of blood from a head wound when one of the attackers smashed a house brick over his temple. Meanwhile another fan, Carl was sitting on the floor with blood pouring from his skull after being struck over the head with a walking crutch by the earlier mentioned Farnborough fan in the car park outside of the exit gate. Others were being looked after for cuts and bruises from the ambush at the exit gate.
Merthyr fans quickly took control of the situation in the absence of any leadership from the home club. One home club official refused to accept the obvious serious nature of the ongoing situation. A nurse travelling with the away fans and a home fan who was an army paramedic tended to the injured and tried to stem the blood flowing from Chris’s head, as the area became a field hospital.
The attackers had by now disappeared but not after they made an attempt to cut the brake pipes on the supporters’ bus. Luckily for everyone travelling back to Wales that evening, it was only the water pipe to the toilet that had been severed.
The first police presence was two young officers who were very quick to recognize the severity of the injuries and an ambulance arrived very soon afterwards. So far so good for those of us who believed that the police served the people and more importantly the victims of any crime.
The pre-planning for the attack was now evident as numerous sources including the home bar staff confirmed that the iron bar and house-brick had been stored at the ground prior to the game starting. Subsequent video footage shows the iron bar stored in a wheelie bin near the exit at the eventual confrontation area. The brick had been placed in the short tunnel through the exit gate. The connection of the attackers with the home team players was also already becoming evident as outraged home fans tried to offer comfort to stunned, upset Merthyr fans.
The connection between the Farnborough number 3 Medford-Smith and the three attackers had been noted by the Merthyr Town coaches & substitutes as the player allegedly joined the men on the terrace behind our bench when he had been substituted after 62 minutes. Was he the player who was centre of the post match melee? If so, why can't he identify the attackers who were clearly known to him?
A sign of the things to come with Hampshire Police occurred when a senior officer arrived at the scene to completely ignore any discussion with the injured fans as he had evidently already decided that this was a “football incident” and therefore not worth his time. One of the Farnborough players was arrested for a short time but then released. Was it the one who threw the punch?
Two Merthyr fans were arrested for being drunk, an offence that seemed insignificant in comparison to the carnage on display around the arresting officers.
Most Merthyr fans now boarded the supporters’ bus or left in their own cars to relieve the numbers around our injured colleagues. Meanwhile the junior police officers took statements and stayed around to reassure anxious fans while the ambulance crew assessed the injured fans before taking Chris away to the local hospital for further treatment. Within a few hours he was released and returned home to his relieved family early the next morning.
The bus made the long journey back to Wales with many fans nursing injuries. The mood was of confusion as to how such an innocent, joyful day had been ruined by thugs who seem to have been intent on attacking us no matter the context of the game. Also, there was frustration that the attackers seemed to had gotten away into the night.
The final insult on this sorry day was the emergence of the “story” via BBC Wales social media outlets who had obviously not tried to reach out to Merthyr Town FC to seek the truth. We were stunned to discover that WE had been part of a pitch invasion. No mention of the context of the story. No attempt was ever made to seek our side of the day so maybe this article will help voice the truthful version of these events.
The next day Chris and Carl both visited Prince Charles Hospital to get checked over. Chris required scans, X-Ray and some glue to put his head back together again, he was off work for two weeks and wasn’t allowed to play Merthyr League football for another four weeks. Carl swallowed pain killers for a week and was back on the terraces the following Saturday.
For other Merthyr fans however, the issues were only just starting.
Within a couple of days, a video filmed from the Main Stand adjacent to the exit gate was in circulation on social media. It showed the general panic around the terrace and some Farnborough players escalating the situation by getting physically involved in the melee on the supporter’s terrace. Why would they get involved if they didn't know the attackers is a question I'd like to have an answer to.
That mobile phone footage, however, did not show the brutal attack on Chris and Carl but only our initial contact with the three thugs and the Farnborough players.
Hampshire Police initially seemed determined to investigate the incidents at Farnborough Town FC and during the following week they sent two detectives to Merthyr Tydfil from their football division to interview our fans regarding the violent scenes on that December day.
Our fans were happy to talk to the officers as the questioning was mostly aimed at identifying the three attackers however that line of enquiry was soon to change dramatically as out of the blue the club’s Vice-Chair was summoned to Basingstoke Police Station to be interviewed under caution about the incidents.
That person is ME and it was a shock as I’m on the video wandering about, shouting at the ineffectual stewards to help but doing nothing violent at all. I had to hire a local solicitor to represent me during the interview. Hampshire Police wouldn’t tell me why I was being questioned under caution so although I had video evidence of doing nothing at all I began to question my own recollections of the day but everyone in my social circle agreed that I was right in that I wasn’t involved any of the violence.
Nobody from Merthyr Tydfil had mentioned me in interviews with Hampshire Police so why did they want me to travel to Basingstoke for an interview?
So, I travelled up with my wife for the interview and met my solicitor at the police station who seemed bemused by the need for me to be interviewed as he had also seen the video footage of me wandering around doing nothing illegal although maybe I had too many flashing baubles in my beard and that was an offence over the border in England. You never know, do you?
Eventually a police officer entered the reception area, called my name, looked at me and then did an immediate retreat inside the station.
Another 15 minutes went by until my solicitor appeared to advise us that I wasn’t the person they wanted, and it was a case of mistaken identity.
Weeks of stress for absolutely nothing. I was asked to be interviewed anyway, which I was obviously very happy to do to help the police with their enquiries. No apology though for the anxiety experienced or expenses incurred.
If you were to speak now to any Merthyr fan involved in the police enquiry and subsequent legal proceedings, you would be surprised by the reaction from people who were brought up to respect the police and trust the judicial process. British justice, after all, is the best in the world, isn’t it? Now we know different and for me speaking on behalf of the majority I will never trust the police again. I feel cheated by the Hampshire Police by their conduct during my interview and their subsequent actions with my fellow fans.
It seems that the Hampshire Police had not contacted Merthyr Town to ask identification of our fans in the video but had asked Farnborough Town instead as I had introduced myself to their chairman after the incident it seems they identified me as being the only Merthyr fan involved. That’s fantastic detective work by them.
So to my interview. Was I the person identified in the video? It’s obviously not me as the person doesn’t have a big fucking beard on his face so I innocently said that it was actually my mate Nigel being pushed into the Farnborough players and then being punched in the face. I’m thinking they want to speak to Nigel about being attacked. Who is the other fan being confronted by the substituted Farnborough player in the video? Again, naïvely, I identify the person as Andrew to help the police’s enquiries.
I’m assured that it’s just procedure as they’re building a case against the attackers. They ask for my help in identifying the Farnborough players even though they’re wearing football shirts with numbers on the back. A quick text with our secretary and I’m able to provide that information too.
I’m back home, relieved that it’s all over and in the hands of the police to make further enquiries to identify the culprits.
Then a week or so later, Nigel and Andrew are summoned to Basingstoke for an interview under caution. We provide them with the same solicitor firm to be present in the interviews. Again, we travel to help the police with their enquiries.
This time the questioning is about charging the pair for offences unknown.
To the disbelief of both Andrew and Nigel plus our solicitor they are
charged with affray. The charge is based solely on the video film as we later
find out that there is no witness statement mentioning either person as being
violent in the altercation.
Another young Merthyr fan Callum had also apparently been charged separately by Hampshire Police for a similar offence.
For the “Farnborough 3” this was the start of a frustrating journey through the judicial system of England & Wales. A huge wake up call for everyone involved in defending our colleagues was to learn that justice in Britian belongs to the rich and is stacked against the working classes and that football fans still face prejudice for just watching live sport.
The right-wing media in the UK is excellent at manipulating the public into working against its own interests by creating outrage at supposed misuse of the benefits system by any minority group or perceived outsiders to the newspapers’ twisted version of “British” values. This allows their partners in grift in Westminster to pass laws to take away the legal protections that were put in place to defend us if we need them.
Legal Aid no longer exists in any form in the way it was designed to be accessed by the population, so if you find yourself charged by the police via the Crown Prosecution Service for any offence then you’d better have money to defend yourself especially as the police tactics seem to be to charge anyone they can identify, hope that the CPS agree and then try to pressure a guilty verdict off people who neither have the means or the resilience to fight for their innocence.
Luckily for us we had already hired an excellent law company in Basingstoke to represent the Farnborough 3 however both Nigel and Andrew, had to raise £23,000 between them to fund their defence costs against the ridiculous charges made by Hampshire Police.
So began a period of journeys back and forth to Basingstoke, whilst the Sherlocks at Hampshire Police still seemed baffled as to the identity of any of the home fans or players who are seen throwing punches in the video. The team sheet we generously supplied them was obviously lost at this point or they'd not heard of Google.
The serious nature of the charges against them and the lack of any additional evidence available bring a heavy toll on the lads. There’s a lot of phone calls checking on their mental health as they’re processed through the slow-moving bureaucracy of the failing British justice system until finally their day in Court finally arrives.
Winchester Crown Court was the location for the lads’ first opportunity to finally make sense of the ongoing prosecution against them for being attacked. We still had no news from Hampshire Police regarding the case although later in the day we would be advised that the case would seem to have been closed for lack of evidence.
We had three excellent barristers who were excellent and who tried again to get the prosecution team to see sense that nothing had happened by our hands but that we were in fact the victims of the crimes committed at Cherrywood Road on that December afternoon.
The prosecution offered a reduction in the charge for a guilty verdict from the Farnborough 3. Our lads were innocent but you could see the machinations of the CPS and Police in trying to manipulate defendants into accepting a lesser charge even though innocent to get some sort of conviction on their record. Tick a box, case closed, a result and a win for the detectives.
The offer was declined with the full support of our legal team and so we went in front of the judge for a formal hearing to prepare for the eventual court case.
A “not guilty” plea was submitted by all in the dock and then there was an amazing discussion about dates and times for a court case which reminded me of sorting out a weekend away with your mates – this is British justice apparently.
Dates were finally set for October-November and then the judge made his observations which were based on his obvious prejudices against football fans. We’re all the same, aren’t we? Are we?
So maybe naively we had travelled to Winchester expecting some sort of explanation as to the ongoing cases but ended with the reality that an appearance in the Crown Court would be required to defend the charges against our friends.
The barristers were still confident that we would win based on the many videos suddenly at our disposal from the prosecution team which only seemed to confirm our arguments that we were attacked, and any actions were purely for self-defense. The bizarre thing was that the actual assaults on Chris and Carl weren’t even mentioned.
We now also had access to the witness statements which again showed us that the Farnborough Town bar staff and stewards were very open to help the police catch the attackers but also that none of the statements mentioned any of our three defendants.
I think I’m safe in saying that the realization that there is nobody in this process to intervene when a case is obviously baseless hits both Nigel and Andy very hard. They say that guilty men sleep well because they know they’ve been caught but for the innocent what do you do apart from keep going?
Our defense team continued to process our statements back to the CPS and then suddenly it was all over.
The prosecution withdrew the case because of lack of evidence which was blindingly obvious from the start.
We had plans to take it further with complaints to the Police Commissioner for Hampshire but after months of stress no-one wanted to prolong the matter which is probably what the establishment wants from us – a system based on pressuring poor people into taking deals which makes criminals of us all.
There’s an election on the horizon once again but a review of the justice system seems absent from the major political parties’ initial promises but there’s nothing between Blue and Red in this fight so we can expect more injustice in the future if you’re caught in the justice machine.
There’s no doubt that many of us involved in the Farnborough incident will not trust the police so openly again. We were naïve in believing that helping them would find the criminals when they are just simply interested in getting convictions no matter the evidence involved.
At the end of this sorry saga, no one who tried to kill one of our fans has been arrested despite there being witnesses from the home club along with their players who must know their identities. Our belief in the justice system and the police has been damaged beyond repair and our confidence in going away to see the Martyrs has taken a while to return for many fans.
Chairman Mao
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