La traffic mayhem games5/13/2024 Joan Tubbs was oblivious to the trouble that had erupted the night before. Yorkies (Yorkshire folk) stick out a mile and we were everywhere. “Once you got into the centre of Bournemouth you could almost smell it. “As we were travelling through, we started to hear stories on radio bulletins about trouble,” says Woodhouse. Woodhouse and his friends, meanwhile, were in a B&B in Salisbury, 20 miles to the north. Meanwhile, the owner of the guest house where the Moylans were staying called in a favour to get them a cab that would take them relatively close to the stadium. Their objective was to prevent anyone without a ticket from entering the ground. The police went straight into their protective gear. He was deployed to Kings Park, where Dean Court is situated. Webster, who was born in Leeds and transferred to Dorset in 1980, resumed his shift at 11am the next day. It went quiet at about three in the morning.” “They were throwing bricks at windows, attacking people. The arrests were followed by running battles in the town centre. Someone broke into a cigarette machine, if memory serves me correctly. “Some Leeds fans were drinking in the pavilion (near Bournemouth Pier). “It started at about 8.15pm,” recalls Webster. They were taking no chances after the trouble that broke out the night before. Crowds were swelling rapidly and getting out of hand. On Saturday morning, Dorset police began stopping buses and taxis from travelling to Bournemouth’s Dean Court ground. People were lighting fires on the beaches and you could see that thousands were descending - far more people than had tickets.” Many supporters slept on those beaches. “All along the road, there was this huge line of transit vans, bumper to bumper,” he tells The Athletic. Dave Moylan, who took his son Dan to the game, was bewildered by the view as they arrived on the seafront. Many other supporters drove through the night after finishing work and arrived so early on Saturday that it was still dark. Pubs in Bournemouth began filling up on the Friday afternoon, 24 hours before kick-off. “‘Get your preparations in order, because you’re going to be severely tested’. “We’d been told that West Yorkshire had been in touch with Dorset police saying there was an invasion coming our way,” says Webster, who was stationed at Boscombe, east of the town centre. Public order units from neighbouring forces were put on standby and the Dorset constabulary arranged to film the entire weekend, ensuring it would be possible to make arrests at a later date. They arranged with West Yorkshire constabulary for their spotters to travel and pick out any known troublemakers. They had lobbied to have the fixture moved or postponed as early as the previous August but when those requests were ignored by the Football League, they made contingency plans. The numbers confirmed what Dorset police knew. We just want to have a good day - let’s not have any problems.” Jones was an out-there choice to be making an appeal for calm but it is doubtful anyone at Elland Road could have held back the traffic. The other to say Leeds United are back in the first division. “One, to say Leeds United fans can behave themselves. “We want a turning point in this club’s history, in two things,” said Jones. We all assumed we’d be up by then and that the weekend would be quite relaxed, but as soon as promotion was riding on it you knew the numbers going would be ridiculous.” “I’d managed to myself an ‘Invasion of Bournemouth’ T-shirt - they’d been around for a while. “It was going to be a big trip regardless of what was riding on it,” says Phil Woodhouse, one of the 4,000 Leeds fans who travelled with tickets. The Yorkshire city prepared to decamp 260 miles south. Nobody was certain how pivotal the final-day fixture would be - Wilkinson’s team had a chance to seal promotion before then - but nobody cared either. In Leeds, they were printing ‘Invasion of Bournemouth’ T-shirts weeks before. “It was a testing weekend, to say the least.” “I don’t think Bournemouth had seen anything like that in all its history,” says Webster, who was on duty throughout what became known as The Battle of Bournemouth. That weekend of mayhem, with the damage reported at more than £1 million, has not been forgotten. Bobby Robson’s England were due to travel to Italy the following month to play in the World Cup finals and UEFA was still considering whether to end the English exile from European action after five years. It resulted in scenes that would leave a lasting impression on English and European football. The football aside, it would be memorable for all the wrong reasons.ĭespite warnings from Dorset police about potential violence, the game went ahead. Leeds fans travelled en masse, all in the hope of a weekend to remember.
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