{"id":1071,"date":"2017-09-18T20:40:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T20:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.sportsgazette.co.uk\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2017-10-22T14:42:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-22T14:42:00","slug":"fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans left in the dark as crowd trouble mars Arsenal v Cologne tie"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"storySummary\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><strong>Arsenal&#8217;s Europa League fixture against Cologne on Thursday was postponed for an hour, creating an atmosphere of confusion around the ground.<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"storyText\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">There was a unique atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium when Arsenal\u2019s Europa League match against Cologne finally kicked off at 9:05pm on Thursday. Supporter segregation was compromised as pockets of away fans appeared around the ground, with many Arsenal fans reported to have sold their tickets in anticipation of crowd trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Earlier, footage of huge swathes of Cologne supporters in Central London had gone viral, with as many as 20,000 fans thought to have made the trip to see their side\u2019s first foray into European competition in 25 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The fallout from Thursday\u2019s fixture has seen both sides charged by UEFA, with their Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body set to discuss proceedings next Thursday, September 21st. Cologne have also criticised security at the match, calling communications \u201cinadequate and the police force too small\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Less than 3,000 tickets had been allocated for the away quota, prompting inevitable safety issues when the masses arrived at the Emirates, eventually causing kick-off to be delayed by an hour. Many Arsenal fans were only made aware of this when they arrived at the ground and were promptly halted by a line of security.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Whispers of violence and cancellation abounded and many fans decided that the best course of action was to cut their losses and return home to watch the game on TV.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a id='taRPDr3fQFNjGCvFX0cHWg' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/846992510' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'taRPDr3fQFNjGCvFX0cHWg',sig:'PwctjineIUjzhSSM2sZo_ln99R3WJN0-BHo38IRaMqQ=',w:'594px',h:'415px',items:'846992510',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">This was not helped by the notable silence of any official organisation during the delay, causing many supporters to resort to social media in search of updates that never came. Arsenal had announced at 7:15pm via their official Twitter account that the game would be put back by an hour, whilst the UEFA Europa League account tweeted eight minutes later that the delay would be &#8220;a minimum of one hour&#8221;. It was not until 7:53pm that UEFA confirmed, via Twitter, that the game would go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">This period of silence occurred at the time when most home fans would typically arrive ahead of a game, and rumours that circled in lieu of official comment prompted many Arsenal fans into relinquishing their tickets to touts and resale websites, something that has since been condemned by both Arsenal and Cologne. This raises the question, therefore, of whether more can be done in instances like these to keep fans informed about issues of safety on match days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">At a time when clubs are beginning to debate the return of safe standing, discussions on supporter safety are entering a new era. The fact that the vast majority of football fans today use social media, and will naturally resort to their phones for more information when an incident like this occurs, should be used to the advantage of clubs and official bodies. Regular updates and messages can be used to achieve clarity and ensure that fans are not getting their information from questionable sources online. Today, in the admittedly rare instance that a football match is postponed or even cancelled, keeping fans up-to-date with the procession of events should be a priority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Featured Image\u00a0\u00a9 COPYRIGHT WIKIMEDIA COMMONS<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal&#8217;s Europa League fixture against Cologne on Thursday was postponed for an hour, creating an atmosphere of confusion around the ground. There was a unique atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium when Arsenal\u2019s Europa League match against Cologne finally kicked off at 9:05pm on Thursday. Supporter segregation was compromised as pockets of away fans appeared around [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[4083],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fans left in the dark as crowd trouble mars Arsenal v Cologne tie - Sports Gazette<\/title>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fans left in the dark as crowd trouble mars Arsenal v Cologne tie - Sports Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arsenal&#8217;s Europa League fixture against Cologne on Thursday was postponed for an hour, creating an atmosphere of confusion around the ground. There was a unique atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium when Arsenal\u2019s Europa League match against Cologne finally kicked off at 9:05pm on Thursday. Supporter segregation was compromised as pockets of away fans appeared around [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-18T20:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-22T14:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Emirates.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsgazette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsgazette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Gazette\",\"description\":\"The sports magazine brought to you by the next generation of sport writers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Emirates.jpg\",\"width\":1563,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"SONY DSC\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\",\"name\":\"Fans left in the dark as crowd trouble mars Arsenal v Cologne tie - Sports Gazette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-18T20:40:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-22T14:42:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/71929c5db1652b8918d5e97311d93dbb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/fans-left-in-the-dark-as-crowd-trouble-mars-arsenal-v-cologne-tie\/\",\"name\":\"Fans left in the dark as crowd trouble mars Arsenal v Cologne tie\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/71929c5db1652b8918d5e97311d93dbb\",\"name\":\"Joe Leavey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61fe416b1fff304449519ff6497a82f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joe Leavey\"},\"description\":\"Joe is a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Birmingham, where he completed his undergraduate degree in English Literature &amp; American Studies. Always a far more adept viewer than participant, although not for a lack of trying, Joe became heavily involved in student radio whilst at Birmingham. He served as Deputy Head of Sport, hosting regular shows on various topics and recording weekly commentaries on University sport as well as writing for the station website. A long time fan of Arsenal, Joe has been going to the Emirates for nearly 10 years, whilst a year of studying in America helped to cement an interest in Baseball and the Chicago Cubs. Work experience at ITV, where he wrote a piece for the website, Seven League and Aser Media among others has helped Joe to gain a greater contextual understanding of the industry as a whole, and he is now studying for an MA in Sports Journalism at St Mary\\u2019s.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/author\/joe\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","authors":[{"term_id":4083,"user_id":11,"is_guest":0,"slug":"joe","display_name":"Joe Leavey","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61fe416b1fff304449519ff6497a82f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"Joe","last_name":"Leavey","user_url":"","description":"Joe is a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Birmingham, where he completed his undergraduate degree in English Literature &amp; American Studies. Always a far more adept viewer than participant, although not for a lack of trying, Joe became heavily involved in student radio whilst at Birmingham. He served as Deputy Head of Sport, hosting regular shows on various topics and recording weekly commentaries on University sport as well as writing for the station website.\r\n\r\nA long time fan of Arsenal, Joe has been going to the Emirates for nearly 10 years, whilst a year of studying in America helped to cement an interest in Baseball and the Chicago Cubs. Work experience at ITV, where he wrote a piece for the website, Seven League and Aser Media among others has helped Joe to gain a greater contextual understanding of the industry as a whole, and he is now studying for an MA in Sports Journalism at St Mary\u2019s."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1359,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}