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Archived News from March 2013

MANSFIELD DRESSING ROOM WINDOW BROKEN AT WOKING
8th March 2013 15:50


by Martin Shaw

A minute or two after the final whistle of Mansfield's 2-1 win at Woking, with Mansfield players having gone down the tunnel and into the dressing room, suddenly about half the Mansfield team plus some of the management, ran back out of the tunnel, in front of the stand holding us in the press box, and ran behind the stand. It was not immediately obvious what was happening. As we reported the incident live on air, slowly some of the Mansfield players returned, including Alan Marriott who was holding the back of his head.

Reports began to emerge that a brick had been thrown through the Mansfield dressing room window.

I went to have a look at the dressing room myself and there was a large hole in the window, compatible with a brick having gone through it.



Paul Cox took his players onto the pitch, some appearing shaken.

Paul Cox then came up to do post match interviews, and explained that a brick had been thrown through the window nearly hitting him, and that it had hit Marriott on the back of the head. He explained that as he looked through the window to see who had done it, a lad spat in his face, hitting him in the eye. He said that he had chased out of the dressing room, around the front of the stand to the back of it and had confronted the individual, and that stewards had separated him and some Mansfield players from the culprit.

After Paul Cox had spoken to the media and had chatted with me and a couple of friends of mine, the Woking chairman appeared. Most of the other media had gone by this point. He spoke with Cox, right in front of me, and apologised for the incident. He said that this sort of thing just doesn't happen at this football club and he was extremely sorry. He said that they know who the culprit was, he was a season ticket holder, and charges would be pressed against him tomorrow morning. He also said that the culprit would be banned from the football ground for life. When Cox said that it was unacceptable for a brick to be thrown through the window and to be spat at, the Woking chairman said that it was not a brick, but that the culprit had pushed his hand through the window (making the rather large hole). The Woking chairman said he had also been onto the Mansfield team bus and apologised to all the Mansfield players. Paul Cox thanked the Woking chairman for the speedy action taken.

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Radio Nottingham audio
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1252200-mansfield-town-brick#t=0m0s

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BBC WEBSITE:


Mansfield Town claim goalkeeper was 'hit by brick'

The broken window at the Woking dressing room Woking FC dispute that the window was broken by a brick Continue reading the main story

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-21696718

Mansfield Town claim their goalkeeper, Alan Marriott, was hit on the back of the head by a brick which was thrown through the team's dressing room window.

The alleged incident happened following the Stags' 2-1 win at Woking on Wednesday evening.

However, Woking said the window was broken by a fan with his hand and that no brick was thrown.

Mansfield Town said it has now contacted the police over the incident.

The club's chief executive Carolyn Radford, said: "We can confirm that we have now referred this matter to Surrey Police.

"This behaviour is totally unacceptable and has no place in our sport. Woking have apologised to us for this unfortunate incident and we thank them for their co-operation on this matter."

'Mindless idiots'

Mrs Radford had earlier said the club would not be pursuing a criminal investigation.

Surrey Police confirmed it is investigating the claims.

Alan Marriott Mansfield Town say goalkeeper, Alan Marriott, was hit with a brick, while team-mates were spat on

Mr Marriott was not thought to be seriously hurt following the alleged incident.

Mansfield boss Paul Cox was sitting next to the player when it happened.

He said: "A brick came through the window and hit Alan Marriott on the back of the head."

Mr Cox went to the window to see who the culprit was and saw a group of men, who spat at him and threw items such as coins.

Mr Cox and some team members then ran out of the dressing room to confront the men.

'No excuse whatsoever'

"It was a few mindless idiots," he said. "The people who do these sort of things need banning from the game.

"There has to be something done about it, otherwise a footballer, or somebody associated with football, is going to get seriously injured."

Mike Smith, the Woking chairman, apologised for the incident.

"There is just no excuse whatsoever," he said. "It did come out of the blue but we were able to deal with it quickly."

He added the club had also referred the matter to the police, and a season ticket holder has been informed he is no longer welcome at the club.

The Football Association is investigating the episode

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Club Statement
http://www.wokingfc.co.uk/news/article/3915/club-statement/

Mike Smith - 7th March 2013

Club Statement Following last night's Blue Square Bet Premier home game against Mansfield Town, an individual home supporter, who was exiting the stadium broke the window to the away team dressing room with his hand. Stories about a brick being thrown are untrue. Mansfield officials and players were inside the room and thankfully, no one was injured.

For reasons of personal safety and in the interests of wider safety and crowd management, ground operations staff and security removed the individual from the situation, as Mansfield players and officials understandably reacted. Order was quickly restored.

On behalf of Woking Football Club and its supporters, I apologised to the Director, players and officials of Mansfield Town, which was accepted. The individual responsible is known to the club as a season ticket holder and has had the privilege removed. In addition, he has also been informed he is no longer welcome at the club. Woking Football Club has also referred the matter to Surrey Police. This kind of behaviour is repulsive and deplorable to all proper fans of football. It has no place in football or at Kingfield.

- Mike Smith, Chairman

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Club statement
mansfieldtown.net 7th March 2013

Mansfield Town have this afternoon made contact with Surrey Police following a crime-related incident at Woking's Kingfield Stadium following last night's match.

http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/club-statement-699753.aspx

It follows a statement from Woking Football Club who today confirmed that an individual home supporter broke the window to the away dressing room minutes after the final whistle of the game, which Stags won 2-1. The supporter in question, a known season ticket holder to the club, has been informed that he is 'no longer welcome at the club', Woking FC said.

Mansfield's Chief Executive Officer Carolyn Radford said: “We can confirm that we have now referred this matter to Surrey Police.

“This behaviour is totally unacceptable and has no place in our sport.

“Woking have apologised to us for this unfortunate incident and we thank them for their co-operation on this matter.”

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'Fracas' as Woking FC fan breaks visitors' window
By Joe Finnerty
March 07, 2013

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2130415_fracas_as_woking_fc_fan_breaks_visitors_window

A WOKING Football Club fan has been banned from attending games after violent post-match scenes marred Wednesday's Blue Square Premier clash at Kingfield.

Minutes after the final whistle, Mansfield Town players were showered with glass when their dressing room window was smashed by a Cards' season ticket holder's hand, as the visitors celebrated their 2-1 win.

Paul Cox, the Stags' manager, claimed a brick had been hurled through the window, striking goalkeeper Alan Marriott on the head, but this later turned out not to be the case following eyewitness accounts.

He went on to describe how another fan then spat in his face, leading him along with furious players to dash out to confront their attackers, who were among other supporters, many believed to be children, leaving the ground.

It led to what Cox himself described as "a fracas" before Kingfield security staff swiftly intervened to restore order.

Woking FC said in a statement: "Mansfield officials and players were inside the room, and thankfully no-one was injured.

"For reasons of personal safety and in the interests of wider safety and crowd management, ground operations staff and security removed the individual from the situation, as Mansfield players and officials understandably reacted."

Club chairman Mike Smith said he had boarded the Mansfield team coach to apologise to players and directors.

Mr Smith added: "The individual responsible is known to the club as a season ticket holder and has had the privilege removed.

"In addition, he has also been informed he is no longer welcome at the club.

"This kind of behaviour is repulsive and deplorable to all proper fans of football. It has no place in football or at Kingfield."

Surrey Police said there had been a "third party report of a crime-related incident at Woking Football Club in Kingfield Road, Kingfield, Woking, last night (Wednesday March 6). Enquiries are ongoing."

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Woking fan banned from Kingfield after smashing away team dressing room window
http://www.wokingnewsandmail.co.uk/?p=3420

By: Tom Oxtoby
Published March 7, 2013, in Sport

Woking 1 Mansfield 2

CONTROVERSY reigned at Kingfield last night after an attack on the away team dressing room.

A Woking fan was believed to have thrown a brick through a window and into the room where Mansfield were celebrating a smash and grab victory over the Cards.

But Woking chairman Mike Smith later issued a statement confirming that no brick had been hurled and the supporter had used his hand to break the glass.

Mr Smith said: ”Following last night's Blue Square Bet Premier home game against Mansfield Town, an individual home supporter, who was exiting the stadium broke the window to the away team dressing room with his hand.

“Stories about a brick being thrown are untrue. Mansfield officials and players were inside the room and thankfully, no one was injured.

“For reasons of personal safety and in the interests of wider safety and crowd management, ground operations staff and security removed the individual from the situation, as Mansfield players and officials understandably reacted. Order was quickly restored.

“On behalf of Woking Football Club and its supporters, I apologised to the directors, players and officials of Mansfield Town, which was accepted.

“The individual responsible is known to the club as a season ticket holder and has had the privilege removed. In addition, he has also been informed he is no longer welcome at the club. Woking Football Club has also referred the matter to Surrey Police.

“This kind of behaviour is repulsive and deplorable to all proper fans of football. It has no place in football or at Kingfield.”

Mansfield keeper Alan Marriott, who allegedly suffered a small cut, tweeted: “Something defo came through the window and got me!”

But he also said he didn't believe the object used to smash the glass was a brick.

Mansfield manager Paul Cox said: “Thankfully Alan was facing the other direction and only suffered a small cut. The shards of glass were huge and someone could have been blinded or scarred for life.”

Cox claimed he had also been spat at and said: “It went straight into my eye. I wouldn't accept that on the street so I am not accepting that just because I am a football manager.”

Bradley Bubb's 69th-minute penalty cancelled out Louis Briscoe's strike but Matt Jones popped up with a winner 13 minutes from time to leave Woking empty handed.

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FROM CARDSBOARD.CO.UK

Eye witness account of smashed window and spit-gate
Plug Wed 6-Mar-2013 23:10:44

I suspect this will be much discussed so I might as well clear up what happened as I saw the whole thing whilst wandering back from moaners.

There was some celebratory noise from Mansfield changing room. Understandable. They had 3 points. From a grubby, poor old match but they had 3 points. They are going for promotion so they were celebrating.

Young lad banged on changing room window. For what its worth, I don't think he meant to smash the glass. But clearly a very stupid thing to do.

Mansfield players a bit upset at this, completely understandable and a few bits of stuff came back out the window and they shouted some angry comments back at some other Woking fans. Most Woking fans hadn't seen what had happened with the window so were upset at stuff coming at them through window.

One lad, presumably a Woking fan although I have never seen him before, then spat through the window at the Mansfield players / staff. They were understandably even more upset by this and charged out the dressing room to go for the lad who spat at them. Again, some Woking fans who hadn't seen the whole incident were obviously a bit nonplussed by this too. Some shoving and pushing but our often criticised stewards actually got in there pretty quickly and sorted it out.

I don't think you can blame the Mansfield players and staff at all for their reaction. It didn't calm things down but they had every reason to be upset with a dressing room window coming in and then another lad spitting at them. Woking fans who didn't see whole story didn't do much wrong either as players charging out of dressing room is, well, not what you expect.

Blame lies solely with two people - the guy who banged on the window and the guy who spat at the Mansfield people. They let Woking FC down pretty badly and the apologies that Woking FC will have to make to Mansfield Town FC will I am sure be quickly forthcoming and genuine.

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