Football: the violence at the Olympic Stadium

When West Ham moved to the vast Olympic Stadium earlier this year, said Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times, there were concerns that their new home would be an “anodyne” place. Yet quite the opposite has come to pass. “The supporters have seen to that.” Just weeks ago they turned on Middlesbrough fans; and after losing to Watford, they even brawled among themselves. But last Wednesday, during a League Cup tie with Chelsea, they upped the ante. Coins were thrown at disabled supporters and an eight-year-old girl; seats were ripped up and hurled; a Chelsea fan was photographed with blood pouring down his face. The club has since vowed to ban 200 troublemakers – some until the rest of the season, others for life.

The Olympic Stadium is a wonderful place to watch athletics, said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. But it’s a “dog’s dinner” of a football ground – and that’s causing “serious problems”. Last week the Chelsea fans became increasingly irate when they were forced to enter through just eight turnstiles. Stewards have been struggling to segregate home and away fans, who share a small concourse and can clash in the large open spaces outside the ground. Teething problems are inevitable when a club ups sticks, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. But even so, it’s not stadiums that throw coins. Last week’s violence was the work of “opportunist thugs”. Those thugs were a problem long before the Hammers moved, said Paul Hayward in The Daily Telegraph: after their final game at Upton Park, a mob trapped the Manchester United bus, pelting it with bottles. These incidents may not be on the scale of the “running battles” of the 1980s, but they’re serious enough. If the violence persists, the only solution will be for West Ham to play “behind closed doors”.