Where There is Smoke There are a Few Bad Apples

Yesterday's match against Newport County was one of the away matches I wanted to see most this season. County are not only bitter rivals (well, as bitter as we get in non-league football) but I guessed Newport would be near enough that Mrs Nedved would not begrudge a day pass. Besides, as she comes from a large Welsh family, anything that involves going to Wales is generally viewed in a positive light.

There were some factors weighing against the trip, though. I had pressed my luck pretty far by going to see the FA Cup fixture in Willand the week before, and the draw for the upcoming round was an attractive away fixture at someplace called 'Bishop's Cleeve.' Three away matches in a row would be a tall order. Taking one or both children would help, but here the 'bitter rival' tag that made the County match attractive to me worked against it as a family outing.

Whether deserved or not, Newport County have a bit of a reputation among Bath City fans. County fans were blamed for busting up a chippy in Twerton on their last visit, and prominent City supporters have sworn off every visiting County's Spytty Park ever again after previous bad experiences. What's more, there had just recently been controversy over visiting County fans spitting at rival supporters at a match in Woking. Is this a place I should consider taking my children?

I posted this very question on the Bath City forum and got a mixed response. Well, actually I'm being polite by saying it was mixed. It was pretty much uniformly against the idea but several people did make the effort to point out that it was a minority of Newport County fans that caused the problems. You know, the 'a few bad apples' routine. Notably, one prominent fan said that the Newport County match was the only one he did not wear 'colours' to. Kind of scary.

Because I am a fair minded person, though, I decided to post the same question on the Newport County forum. After all, it might be a case of smoke without fire. To a man (and in one case, woman) County fans were adamant that I should come with the kids and several people went out of their way to make sure I felt welcome to do so. Some of the reassurances were not actually all that reassuring. Remarks like, 'You shouldn't have a problem but probably best to keep them away from the covered terrace,' were not as encouraging as they were probably meant to be. In a nutshell I was advised that if I brought the kids they would probably hear a lot of bad language (I was told that this can no longer be avoided in the modern world) but, as long as I kept my eye out to avoid any flash points of violence, nothing worse.

The decision not to go was pretty straightforward. I think if I had gone with the kids it probably would have been fine on the day, but in this case the 'probably' wasn't nearly strong enough. Not taking the kids meant not going myself.

I contented myself with listening to the match on the Newport County Internet radio station known as the 'Amber Line.' Listening to commentary (understandably) biased against your team is a bit disconcerting. I found the 'Amber Line' especially so because despite the healthy attendance of 1,410 the broadcast managed to make Spytty park sound like it had no more than a dozen people in it. The standard of commentary, however, was generally pretty good. Talking non-stop about a football match for ten minutes at a time is no easy task but the commentary team did generally make it sound easy.

I do have one bone to pick with County presenter Ray Taylor, though. He criticised City for only bringing fifty or so fans to the match. 'Considering it is quite a short distance, that's poor,' he said. When you consider that (a) many fans who normally travel deliberately chose not to (b) several of those that did travel felt it unsafe to wear identifying clothing (c) visitors were being advised by Newport County fans not to sit in the terraces he could see, it wasn't really all that poor.

Hearing City lose would be pretty depressing whoever was doing the call, I suppose. A goal in the seventh minute by Charlie Henry was enough to see County to a 1-0 victory. Despite the score line, City played well for much of the game according to all accounts (even the Amber Line commentary). It was the familiar story of City not playing well enough to win, but playing well enough against tough opposition to give you hope for the future.

Fortunately normal non-league service resumes next Saturday with the FA Cup match and a home match against Dorchester Town the following week. It will be nice to mingle with the Bishop's Cleeve fans and not give a thought to what I am wearing or be looking out for flash points.

As I wrote this, though, I worried that I was being unfair to the County supporters. After all, everyone at Bath City is adamant that most County fans are all right. How would I feel if City was tarred with a similar reputation that had nothing to do with me?

Perhaps I am being unfair. I will try to come to a match at Spytty before long. I have stated so on the County forum (although if County are promoted it might take a while). This same forum, though, with its large proportion of mean-spirited anonymous posts and peppering of foul language, is a strong enough warning in itself to make sure that when I do come it will be without the kids.