A non league charity match ended up having to be abandoned by police on Thursday night after trouble breaks out at half time.
Because of the extreme weather conditions forecast for Tuesday, the game between Halesowen Town and Stourbridge for rearranged for two days later.
The encounter would be the second leg of the Charity Shield after the first finished in a 2-2 draw and went by without trouble.
On Thursday, Stourbridge stormed into a 2-0 lead and looked comfortable. However, it couldn’t finish with police advising abandonment.
Halesowen Town tweeted: “Due to crowd disturbances the game has been abandoned, please make your way home safely”
Due to crowd disturbances the game has been abandoned, please make your way home safely
— Halesowen Town FC (@halesowentownfc) July 21, 2022
10′ – WHAT A START!!! Gittings on the half volley 25 yards out rockets into the bottom corner!!! Stourbridge 1-0
15′ – Halesowen near respond with a goal but Colbourne shots bounces off the foot of the post.
15′ – Whitehouse replaces Platt who seemed to take a knock
20’ – Chris Knight weak shot straight at the keeper
25’ – GOAL!!! Mills!!!! – Free kick 30 yards out buried into the bottom corner!! #millsisback 2-0
35’ – Chris Knight played through 1 on 1 but scuffs his shot wide!!
45’ – OFF THE BAR!!! Halesowen come close once again
Half Time – Typical derby with a few tackles flying in! Two superb goals from Gittings and Mills give Stourbridge a handy lead.
Then the trouble started with video footage emerging and posted onto social media, the game was called off and while the situation calmed down in the stands, it continued outside the ground…
Never seen so many man bags flying about 🤣#embarrassing pic.twitter.com/NoQreFAnjN
— Joe Finch (@JoeFinchy99) July 21, 2022
Footage of Stourbridge fans throwing flares which unfortunately hit the gentleman in the face who was standing next to me. pic.twitter.com/AupWvE8AuR
— Anu (@AnuMCFC) July 21, 2022
Stourbridge A-A Halesowen
My first ever abandoned game, called off at HT by WMP. Nothing more than groups of kids with smoke bombs jumping up fences really. Cant see this trophy returning next pre-season pic.twitter.com/j0NhX8Gfln
— Adam (@Adam_Seeley) July 21, 2022
More footage of flares been thrown. Think I speak for all yeltz fans when I say this but @StourbridgeFC fans are straight up vile. 2-0 up and they get their own game called off. A lot of us yeltz fans also want a refund too. Sort it out. pic.twitter.com/0tqn7QCfCt
— Anu (@AnuMCFC) July 21, 2022
Joint Statement on behalf of Stourbridge FC and Halesowen Town FC
Both Clubs wish to confirm in the strongest possible terms, our joint dismay and utter frustration at the abandonment of last nights Brookes-Clark Shield 2nd leg friendly.
The safety of players, management, match and club officials, our volunteers, stewards and staff is of paramount importance to us as clubs, but the behaviour of a small minority of the juvenile section of the crowd meant this was no longer possible, despite repeated requests for calm.
We would like to apologise to the genuine supporters of both clubs for the decision taken, but despite the best efforts of both Clubs over recent years, there appears to be a section of people who insist on causing disruption at these fixtures, who do not attend any other fixture played by either club.
Both Clubs will now talk about how the format of the Brookes-Clark Shield can potentially work in future.
Until Investigation by both Clubs have been completed, no further comment will be made.
Twitter users reacted as the non league match is abandoned by police after trouble breaks out at half time…
@ARC270881: Stay safe to all fans. Such a shame that the game has been ruined by some.
@YeltzOnTour: Police doing nothing as usual
@sammight_say: Halesowen fan in peace, I think genuine and proper fans of both clubs can agree we’ve had enough of this bull shit. Too many idiots coming along to the derby ruining it for us genuine fans, it’s been coming for a while. The police tonight were a joke as well
@DazzlerGarner: Not a great look for either club
@jedi1873: All on Stour, this. Don’t get me wrong, both sets of school kids caused bother, but Stour and their police force failed to prevent it.
@Paulsmi09778635: Worse ground and organisation I’ve seen
@OllyWBA: Really poor from Stourbridge as much as bragging rights might be on the line throwing shite is out of order it’s a pre season game in the end
@d4n_no_1: Who is refunding half the ticket price? Stourbridge or The Police?
@Hanna_16x: Police & security should have stepped in straight away instead of watching it, game might of carried on then 🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
@elainecmidds: At a charity game…seriously. People need to come for the football and not the fight.
@antonycrook: Exactly why I didn’t go tonight. It’s been a regular occurrence for a good few years now. Let’s hope everyone learns from this as it’s not helping either club. That being said, sounds like we should have both got more support from @WMPolice
@Pestilence79: Number 999 derby. Waheeeyy
@Jockyfox: I’ve seen a lot of farcical situations in my time but this is right up there. Which @WMPolice officer made the decision please – and the rationale behind it? Why was there no police presence from the start? Arriving at half time is hardly proactive
@Pecky1981: Thing is you won’t see any of these bell ends when the season starts
@ShedBaggie: Fair play to the Yeltz for not making it worse. Odd how the segregation at their place makes it worse 🤷🏻♂️ As abandoned the Number 9 & Shield remains ours then 💪🏻
@Pecky1981: Thing is you won’t see any of these bell ends when the season starts
@LeeWilkins86: Having to explain to my 6 year old son why people fight at the football or in this case a ‘non league charity match’. Scenes outside the ground were embarrassing.
@steve_mcginn: Disappointing outcome to the game. Even at 2-0 down we’d had a couple of good chances and the woodwork denied us twice. Injuries a slight concern but let’s hope both are just precautionary.
@ChrisMaddison13: Make the club (both if it’s deemed both at fault) to play their first 6 home matches of the season behind closed doors. That should sort it.
@JAYNEHAMILTON2: This has been happening for years. What we’re doing isn’t working. If both sets of fans are going to be in shed end, the gap between them needs to be manned by police. I’m not bothered about a refund, but this can’t be allowed to happen again. Organisational changes needed.
@sammight_say: It won’t though sadly, the people who caused the trouble aren’t genuine fans of either club. They’re just Wolves/Albion/Villa/Blues looking for an excuse for trouble
@BalmforthAndy: I feel for messers Brookes and Clark tonight, both fine gentlemen who I spoke to tonight, legends for both clubs whose names are tarnished by the wannabe hooligans who have nothing to do with either club, but are out purely to cause trouble.
@matthew_robert1: Sorry guys for the way our so called “fans” have behaved tonight. Credit for you lot on the way you were Saturday
@Jack_Pullin: It’s a fucking charity game and the shit can’t behave themselves for 90minutes. 2-0 up and your own “fans” get the match abandoned 💀
@i8wigan: Never ever been ashamed of being a lifelong Stourbridge fan but today I am we don’t want those idiots & let’s be honest here it don’t matter if you are red or blue it’s both sides be it in town or in the ground us decent fans need to police it ourselves now. I mean this sorry.
@jonah221: Shocking fans. £8 for 45 mins. Hope you will be issuing refunds to all the Halesowen fans who did nothing wrong.
@Andrewdanylys90: Football is one of few places,whereby few people come and can abuse players, cause problems, cause damage or risk health and safety and get away with it. What because you pay you £10 it give a few people the right to do terrible things-(most people are brilliant) just a minority
@Chris_Stevs: This is occurring more and more at step 3 and step 4 without punishment. Incidents of crowd trouble should be taken very seriously by the governing leagues! Stewarding is often done by volunteers, and unfortunately this is not enough to prevent the unwanted minority!
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