Last night's trip to Reading was a decent one for most of the Cardiff City supporters amongst a travelling contingent of more than 3,000. We were given a large allocation of tickets, there were no travel restrictions placed upon us, we were well-treated by the Reading police and stewards, the bars were open before the match and during half-time, and there was no sign of any trouble between rival fans either before or after the game.
Sadly, however, it seems our club's name and our support's reputation has once again been dragged through the mud by a tiny minority of morons who are apparently incapable of behaving themselves properly at away matches.
In a communication to Cardiff City club officials this morning, Ray Booth, the Stadium Manager at Reading Football Club, has revealed that more than twenty seats in the away end at the Madejski Stadium were damaged during last night's game, while considerable damage was done to the gents toilets under the South Stand.
The reported wanton vandalism included several waste traps being kicked in, a couple of urinal cisterns being ripped off the walls, soil pipes being damaged and soap dispensers being destroyed.
I wondered why the floors in the toilets underneath Block R27 were swimming with water when I used them shortly before returning to our coach at the end of the match. Now I know the reason.
Whether people are prepared to admit it or not, the fact remains that this sort of idiotic behaviour is still a problem amongst our support. Incidents of genuine hooliganism involving fans fighting with rival fans are extremely rare these days but, unfortunately, acts of mindless vandalism seem to occur whenever our away following is larger than usual.
The people who suffer most as a result of what is pathetic behaviour by a small minority of brainless fools are those of us who support our team away from home on a regular basis. It is we who are often subjected to travel restrictions. It is we who are occasionally given reduced ticket allocations. And it is we who often cannot have a drink at away games because the home clubs close their bars for the duration of our vists.
No doubt the next time we play Reading away we will be given a reduced ticket allocation and the bars inside the ground will be shut. City supporters will moan and groan about being victimized and will question why the fans of other clubs are treated better than ours, but the reasons should be blatantly obvious to all but the most blinkered of Bluebirds.
Senseless vandalism like that which occurred at the Madejski Stadium last night really must be eradicted if this club of ours is going to make further progress. Sadly, there is still a minority of mindless cretins amongst our support who seem hell-bent on spoiling things for the rest of us and their idiotic actions continue to affect us all.
Most of you won't read it all, but oh well.
