Cod Almighty | Diary
The law is an ass, but not as much of an ass as some at Blundell Park
17 April 2018
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Grimsby Town Football Club is run by people who don't like football fans.
Middle-Aged Diary has seen a copy of a letter sent to fans who attended the Chesterfield game.
Let's not entirely pass over the appalling grammar. In first drafts people make mistakes. But when the communication is important you check it over, and if English isn't your strong point, you get someone else to check it over for you. That is if you have any respect or courtesy for the person you are writing to. And let us certainly not pass over the fact that, whether from conscious cowardice or plain pig ignorance, the letter is unsigned. For all the superficial politeness, for all the 'regrets', this is a letter dripping with contempt.
Then there is a whole plethora of questionable legal practices. I wonder what the data protection laws have to say about marrying up CCTV footage with a person's name and address, presumably obtained from ticket sales? And I wonder about any legal process in which police and club can set themselves up not only as the police but also as prosecutor, judge and jury, completely ignoring the right to defence as a legal nicety.
In fact, banning orders are a club process, not a police matter. So the copious references to Humberside Police above are a little beside the point. Their intent can only be to intimidate. Intimidation in a letter you don't sign: that adage about bullies being cowards has an element of truth about it after all.
If you have received one of these letters, you have rights – rights which the club has failed to inform you of, in breach of its own customer charter:
You may want to get hold of the Football Supporters Federation's Faircop. The club is not its own court of appeal. If the club continues to fail to follow its own procedures, then you can take the issue to the Independent Football Ombudsman.
Post-script
This diary was written on the assumption that the banning order shown above was issued as a result of the pitch invasion which occurred after Rose's winning goal. The GTFC SLO has since tweeted assuring us that this is not the case. He has also reminded us that entering the field of play is a criminal offence, a warning which I wrote would have been a proportionate response. I welcome the GTFC SLO's swift attention to this issue.
I have asked the question today with regards to the banning orders that have been distributed to a small section of our fans.
— GTFC SLO (@GTFC_SLO) April 17, 2018
The banning orders relate to the violent scenes at both Port Vale (corner between Osmond and Youngs stand) and Chesterfield (main stand). #gtfc
I am therefore pleased to report that assurance and retract the comments I made about attitudes towards pitch invasions, and the conclusions which I drew from it. I have also edited the sentence with which the letter was introduced.
I apologise for my mistake and the confusion the original diary gave rise to. Nevertheless, the concerns about the letter and the procedure the club followed in issuing it remains valid.