Message from the board of FCUoM

Those who attended the club’s historic first game at Leigh last Saturday will no doubt look back on the day with happy and fond memories. A fantastic day out, beautiful warm sunny weather, seeing our team for the first time, a great atmosphere and a kinship and camaraderie among like minded fellow supporters that many of us thought was a thing of the past.

Sadly, there was however a flip side to that day’s events. A small group of individuals took it upon themselves to act up behind the opposition goal for a period during the second half of the game, and as a result of their buffoonery a couple of missiles were aimed at the playing area. Additionally in a separate incident an altercation between a supporter and a member of the ground security staff resulted in an assault taking place.

After making our own enquiries in the days following the game, the board is of the opinion that these incidents were in all likelihood not perpetrated by official club members. However, that does not let anyone off the hook on this. As a club we cannot guarantee the integrity and intent of every single supporter who pays in through a turnstile for one of our games, but regardless we all share the responsibility for their actions.

Saturday’s incidents have already led to the cancellation of one important pre-season friendly fixture, presenting the board with a scenario many of us would have found impossible to comprehend a week or so ago.

As a democratically run, supporter owned football club, our responsibility to ensure the smooth running of all our games must be both collective and overriding. Regardless of the level of football at which our club currently plays its games, we are still bound by the same laws, rules, regulations and scrutiny found in leagues far higher than our own. If you cannot do it at Old Trafford, Bramhall Lane, Boundary Park, or the Butcher’s Arms, you cannot do it at Oldham Town or Blackpool Mechanics. That is the reality.

We are faced with two stark choices here. We can uphold the ethos of community integration and clear-cut positive objectives on which the club has been founded and police ourselves responsibly using acceptable behaviour and common-sense, or we can repeat some of Saturday’s less attractive conduct and face further restrictions being placed upon the club and the possibility of large bills for preventable policing costs that could ultimately cripple us.

Leigh was a warning and a lesson. Let’s make Wimbledon, Stalybridge, Flixton and every other game this club plays in the future a lesson on how to support our club properly. For all the wrong reasons too many people would like to see this venture fail, and fail quickly. Let’s not give them that satisfaction. For the upcoming games and league fixtures we must all ensure that our behaviour can only ever be described as passionate and exemplary. All celebrations of the team must be confined to the terraces and not on the pitch, whether that be naked or clothed and that any alcohol is consumed away from sight of the pitch. Enjoy the football and celebrate what we have achieved.