League One
| Cardiff City 0 | |
|---|---|
| Peterborough 2 |
|
- The Observer,
- Sunday January 13, 2002
Over the past week, Cardiff City's fans have been portrayed as the most despicable group of people in the land outside of the Railtrack board and the TV bosses planning the Coronation Street clearout. Do they care? Not likely. 'We're scum and we know we are,' they chanted self-deprecatingly from the Grange End terrace at the visiting Peterborough United followers a few feet away.
Beneath the ham-fisted humour, though, there was real anger at the club's treatment since their famous FA Cup victory over Leeds United last Sunday ended amid scenes of mayhem on and off the heavily congested pitch.
'It was blown out of all proportion. It wasn't a pitch invasion, it was just us celebrating,' said hotel engineer Gary Smith. 'It was just the English press doing us down all because the sheep-shaggers beat the Premiership leaders. How many punches were thrown? None. How many Leeds fans were injured? None.'
Seven days ago, the Grange End at Ninian Park held 2,000 Leeds fans and 3,000 home supporters, separated only by two high fences, a gauze net to prevent missiles being thrown and an array of police and stewards. The endless stream of coins, lighters and bottles, some full of urine, showed it didn't work. Yesterday it did. But then baiting 144 Peterborough fans during a mundane Second Division game isn't quite as exciting as last weekend's 1-0 down, 2-1 up victory. The 50 Posh devotees who had set off on the supporters' bus at 9am to be there - 49 actually, as I was a neutral on board - were happy with their team's 2-0 win and relieved that there were no pitch invasions and nothing was thrown at them.
Last Sunday some of the Cardiff crowd disgraced themselves, brought the threat of ground closure to their club and showed that the myth that hooliganism is extinct is just that. Yesterday they stuck to singing Sam Hammam's name to the tune of Kumbaya, chanting anti- English ditties such as 'Ar-gen-tina' and insulted Peterborough manager Barry Fry about his girth. A 'day of shame' it wasn't.
En route, some Peterborough fans had admitted to feeling nervous about visiting this supposed cauldron of hate. One said the trip to Cardiff was the one he looked for first, and dreaded most, when the fixtures came out. Scores of police officers, horses and dogs ensured yesterday passed peacefully. Even when the visitors' second goal went in, these legendary troublemakers reacted with sullen annoyance rather than anger. A few even laughed at being taunted with 'You're even worse than Swansea'.
It required Posh chants of 'What a waste of money' at Hammam's expensively assembled Welsh super-club-in-waiting, and 'Sammy, Sammy, what's the score?' to rouse the home crowd. 'We know where your coaches are,' they sang. (Just one, actually.) Winding up Cardiff's chairman induces apoplexy. After last week, many may consider Hammam an incendiary idiot and garbage spouter, but at Ninian Park, they revere him.
Just before kick-off, he emerged in a brown sheepskin coat and red scarf to take the applause which rang around the ground as soon as the PA announcer said 'Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Sam Hammam'. No walk around the pitch this time, though, and no sign either of his personal minder, Neil MacNamara, the convicted hooligan and alleged leading light in Cardiff's infamous Soul Crew hooligan mob.
In a pamphlet handed to everyone entering the ground, Hammam promised tough action against 'the morons among our fans who brought disgrace to the club'.
'We are starting a war on hooliganism,' he declared. 'Cardiff City are potentially a major Premiership club, but we can't get there if we have this problem.' Knowing Hammam, it would be no surprise to find shaven-headed MacNamara - a reformed character, insists his chairman - leading that war.
At the final whistle, the 144 Posh fans on the Grange End terrace were celebrating a deserved victory and preparing to make what police had advised should be a short, sharp exit. 'For obvious reasons,' explained the officer in charge.
