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Re: Barnet v Torquay 2001 - Ticket Fiasco

Posted: 04 May 2018, 14:41
by _ABeeSee_
People climbing in, people offering money to stewards, arguments... I was in the ground before 1pm and had no idea of the chaos going on outside. I just remember the wait for kickoff seeming to go on forever... not much you can do once you have your place on the terrace and nothing to drink!

Also didn't know that the streakers had broken in, I thought they were Torquay fans.

Re: Barnet v Torquay 2001 - Ticket Fiasco

Posted: 04 May 2018, 14:45
by dawat
From memory I queued with my young son well before Kick-off in Barnet Lane. A s we got close to the ticket turnstiles an rumour spread around our queue that there was only room for another few hundred fans. Luckily we just got in before the ground was closed to any more people coming in. Word spread among those inside Underhill that several coaches full of Torquay supporters had arrived outside to be told they couldn't get in for the match.
I had a feeling of not was all well even before the game kicked off. The Torquay players were all going through a well rehearsed warm up drill using cones whilst Barnet just seemed to be having a casual kick about among the players and chatting to each other. As soon as our goalkeeper was injured so early on, I just knew it wasn't going to be our day!

Re: Barnet v Torquay 2001 - Ticket Fiasco

Posted: 04 May 2018, 15:13
by TheOwlBarnet
I was just a Wednesday fan coming to watch football at my nearest club until 2001. But that Torquay match hooked me for life. The emotions on and off the pitch were what football's all about. The reminiscences here bring it all home. Tomorrow at the Hive will be the same. Snap up those North Stand tickets that are left. Persuade your mates to come. Persuade them to bring their kids. No one there will ever forget it, whatever happens. This really is what it's all about.

Re: Barnet v Torquay 2001 - Ticket Fiasco

Posted: 04 May 2018, 16:54
by eastbarnetsupporter
dawat wrote:From memory I queued with my young son well before Kick-off in Barnet Lane. A s we got close to the ticket turnstiles an rumour spread around our queue that there was only room for another few hundred fans. Luckily we just got in before the ground was closed to any more people coming in. Word spread among those inside Underhill that several coaches full of Torquay supporters had arrived outside to be told they couldn't get in for the match.
I had a feeling of not was all well even before the game kicked off. The Torquay players were all going through a well rehearsed warm up drill using cones whilst Barnet just seemed to be having a casual kick about among the players and chatting to each other. As soon as our goalkeeper was injured so early on, I just knew it wasn't going to be our day!

From the videos it looked like Torquay had both the south stand and the south east end. Why did we give them so many? That's almost a third of the ground (when you consider how small the north and north west stands were for home fans).

Re: Barnet v Torquay 2001 - Ticket Fiasco

Posted: 04 May 2018, 17:02
by DerekRocholl
I think it has already been established that this wasn't the best organised attempt at crowd management ever seen !