Travel to West Brom

[Montreal Wanderer]

Oh aye, its fcuking freezing there, too

Perhaps come as a surprise but it's the highest league ground in the country

Not if you count the Northern Premier League as a league....

[Devon White]

travelling on the club coaches is SHITE.

Jump on a train from Manc to Wolverhampton, then get a connection to Smethwick Galton Bridge. bosh.

or if you wanted to you could train it to Brum a bit earlier, have a scout round then catch a train to SGB or The Hawthorns from there - although I have no idea why the hell you would actually want to visit Birmingham?

one of my more favoured away grounds also, although the locals weren’t reet friendly after that playoff 2nd leg! what a game that was btw!

I'm an Aussie that's been traveling for the last seven months, so another city under the belt is always good. Everyone keeps saying how bad Brum is. What's the reason? What makes Manchester and London so much better??

Brum's got plenty of pubs & clubs, its quite a vibrant city, avoid west bromwich my mate lives near there and says that time and the council have forgotton about it ?

[General Mannerheim]

The good points about the coach are you don't get lost, you don't have to worry about parking, you usually arrive in plenty of time to find a boozer, and you are straight outta there after the game! Might not be too bad for this reasonably close fixture actually. Besides, nobody can tell that your bottle of evian is actually gin!

[William the White]

West Bromwich is better than its neighbour, Handsworth

But only just

Handsworth was the site of race riots (I use the term loosely..it was mainly a load of blacks taking the chance to loot the place) in the early 80s when we wasted our opportunity to nuke the place

There were no 'race riots' in Handsworth as far as I know - that term describes rioting between races/attacks by one on another... The riots in Handsworth were in a pattern of rioting that, surprisingly, took place in most of the poorest areas of English cities and some smaller towns.

In Handsworth in the early 80s almost half the population was unemployed, and, amongst young, black men the proportion was massively higher... Sit on people hard enough and eventually they are likely to bite your fat arse...

It doesn't necessarily take a sociologist to work out the connections...

[Montreal Wanderer]

West Bromwich is better than its neighbour, Handsworth

But only just

Handsworth was the site of race riots (I use the term loosely..it was mainly a load of blacks taking the chance to loot the place) in the early 80s when we wasted our opportunity to nuke the place

There were no 'race riots' in Handsworth as far as I know - that term describes rioting between races/attacks by one on another... The riots in Handsworth were in a pattern of rioting that, surprisingly, took place in most of the poorest areas of English cities and some smaller towns.

In Handsworth in the early 80s almost half the population was unemployed, and, amongst young, black men the proportion was massively higher... Sit on people hard enough and eventually they are likely to bite your fat arse...

It doesn't necessarily take a sociologist to work out the connections...

I had understood, William, that the unemployed, sat upon, black youth were angry at Asians who owned business and were prospering. There were apparently racial sides in the riot, so it is not a huge stretch to call it a race riot. However, this was all second hand from our media and may be quite wrong.

[thebish]

no - I think you (wiki?) have it wrong...

The Handsworth riots were sparked by heavy handed policing - IIRC a huge mixed crowd - White, Asian & Black started to protest the arrest of a black guy - and the protest descended into rioting and looting...

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it.

later theories about Asian/Black tension are, I think, an attempt at an explanation after the event...

[Montreal Wanderer]

no - I think you (wiki?) have it wrong...

The Handsworth riots were sparked by heavy handed policing - IIRC a huge mixed crowd - White, Asian & Black started to protest the arrest of a black guy - and the protest descended into rioting and looting...

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it.

later theories about Asian/Black tension are, I think, an attempt at an explanation after the event...

No, me not wiki I'm afraid. My memory is not what it was and I probably mixed it up with other media pictures from Toxteth - hell it was 30 years ago. I've just looked at wiki and even they don't claim that was the reason (just attribute it to some sources) and give many different perspectives.

[CAPSLOCK]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

[Lord Kangana]

Anyway, is the game on saturday or sunday?

[thebish]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

not ONE of the riots was just black people.

[CAPSLOCK]

Anyway, is the game on saturday or sunday?

[Lord Kangana]

Why are you even entertaining him?

I've found out for myself that the game is on saturday 3pm, which means I can't go.

[CAPSLOCK]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

not ONE of the riots was just black people.

I'm sure it wasn't just

But my statement comes a sight nearer the truth than you putting it down to Thatcher

[thebish]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

not ONE of the riots was just black people.

I'm sure it wasn't just

But my statement comes a sight nearer the truth than you putting it down to Thatcher

so - when you said "It was lawless blacks trashing the streets" you actually meant "It was lawless blacks and whites trashing the streets"?

and - I maintain that Thatcher was a large factor in setting the atmosphere that led to it...

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Soooooo...

Is Dan Smith back from suspension?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

Didn't realise there was an 18-month embargo on protesting against unpopular leaders

Perhaps that should have invoked at BWFC until April 2009

[Il Pirate]

Soooooo...

Is Dan Smith back from suspension?

[Bruce Rioja]

I've just done some reading up on the 80's riots. No mention of Maggie Thatcher at all, well, other than for on here - which is only what I'd expect anyway. So, is Cyrille Regis MBE playing?

[ratbert]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

You should go and rewatch the 'Constable Savage' sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News. Whatever the truth or not about 'lawless blacks' the police sus laws at the time didn't exactly help good community relations.

[William the White]

the conditions were created by the Thatcher govt of the time - seething resentment... it didn't need that much to ignite it

The first riots were summer 81, by which time Thatcher had been PM for about 18 months

It certainly wasn't the fault of Thatcher or the police

It was lawless blacks trashing the streets, following the lead set in London and Liverpool

IMO

not ONE of the riots was just black people.

I'm sure it wasn't just

But my statement comes a sight nearer the truth than you putting it down to Thatcher

Not a chance. Thatcher trashed the streets of Britain much more thoroughly than any rioters of any shade... the shells of empty factories, boarded up shops, the piles of bricks where once things had been made and sold and exported... the destruction of working class communities, the exponential growth of crime and the slow torture of the NHS... No greater vandal has ever drawn breath in this country...