Inquiry into crowd violence after two soccer incidents

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 48

Inquiry into crowd violence after two soccer incidents

NZPA London British soccer officials have started a top-level inquiry into crowd violence after two serious incidents at the week-end. Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Pat Jennings, was hit in the arm by a dart at Nottingham Forest’s ground, and at Norwich, Aston Villa’s ’keeper, Jimmy Rimmer, was felled by coins thrown at him from the terraces. Jennings, the Northern Ireland international, was standing in goal while play continued upfield when he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. “I knew at once it was

a dart and I heard the fans behind cheering when it hit me,” he said later. “I don’t think they were cheering the play. “I had to pull the dart out of my arm. It must have gone in about an inch or an inch and a half. “Later my arm started to go numb. It must have pierced a muscle. “These days you get all sorts of things thrown at you. I’ve had door handles, ball-bearings, money, darts, all sorts of things. All I want to see is a stop to it because if it isn’t stopped someone’s going to lose an eye or be even more seriously- injured.”

At Norwich, Rimmer was pelted by a shower of coins after two players had been sent off. He said it was a “frightening experience.” “They were 50-pence pieces, sharp and heavy. I was hit eight or nine times around the back and chest, and then one of the coins got me in the neck. I went down, as it seemed the safest thing to do.” Rimmer later picked up nearly £9 worth of coins and gave them to the ball boys. There was speculation yesterday that both Forest and Norwich could face heavy fines, or even have their grounds closed.

The chairman of the F.A. disciplinary committee, Mr Bert Millichip, has called for reports from both referees, and has promised to take whatever action the F.A. sees necessary’. “It’s difficult to know how we can stop people throwing things, but we won’t sit back and say there’s nothing we can do,” he said. Nottingham Forest’s manager, Mr Brian Clough, said: “The people who do this kind of thing are sick. Their chants are sick, their behaviour is sick, and I want nothing to do with them.”