Bruges v Aston Villa PMT.

[purpletrousers]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

[AV82EC]

Yep Bruges is a great place to go and explore and find those small bars and restaurants away from the tourist traps on the main square. I spent a lovely 2 hours supping some strong ale in an amazing little bar full of local Belgians before getting the bus to the ground. So much better than singing that fucking shit John Duran song and the moronic Blues get battered drivel.

[Meanwood Villa]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

I concur!

[purpletrousers]

And it was all looking such nice publicity (a couple of Luton based Villa acting as honorary Belgians for the photo)

Original article de-paywalled here https://archive.ph/mcPwH
[edit - this was published prematch]

Google translate:

WATCH – 1,500 Aston Villa fans in Bruges: no incidents with British supporters
 
Some Belgian Villains at the Egg Market in Bruges, with chairman Sebastien Neirynck from Bredene © JVM
 

Stefan Vankerkhoven
16:49
Updated on: 16:52

About 1,500 fans of the British football team Aston Villa had palmed the cafes in the Bruges squares in the city center on Sunday afternoon. There have been no incidents so far. Mayor Dirk De fauw had not even imposed a glass ban. The police ruled that the fans of this team from Birmingham posed little danger to public safety in Bruges.

Unlike previous European football matches, Dirk De fauw did not issue a mayor's decree, with additional security measures. Only the shopkeepers in the ashes between Zand and Markt received a letter in the bus, asking them not to place garbage bags on the footpath on Wednesday. Question of the British football supporters not to give reason to dump dumps with garbage and take care of litter.

Lower risk
Carlo Smits, spokesman for the Bruges police, confirms to us that Club-Aston Villa is less considered a risk match in terms of gradation than, for example, the recent match against Borussia Dortmund: “In any case, every match in the Champion's League is by definition a risky match, the presence of which requires extra police. But we have analyzed Aston Villa well, this team has a good reputation.”


“There were already 900 British fans present in Bruges on Tuesday. They celebrated well in the evening at the Egg Market. But there were no incidents”, said Carlo Smits, who on patrol through the Steenstraat on Wednesday afternoon in the company of a young German policeman: “Julia is the first Erasmus student to do an internship with the Bruges police. In Germany you have to get a bachelor's degree, before you can become a police inspector.”

Belgian Villains
Wednesday afternoon, Aston Villa supporters had mainly palmed the cafes on the Eiermarkt and the Markt. Flags hung everywhere with the light blue and purple colors of the team from Birmingham. In front of the window of the Court of Rembrandt was a flag of the 'Belgian Villains' – a supporters club from our country. Chairman Sebastien Neirynck from Bredene was drinking half a liter in the company of his son Wout (10) – a Club supporter – just like the other British fans.

Fans of Aston Villa on the Market in Bruges: singing loudly, but no incidents. © JVM


“The Belgian Villains have a hundred members, mainly fans from Aalst, Ghent and Kortrijk and of course Bredene. About thirty members bought tickets for the match on Wednesday evening. There will be a number of Belgian fans of Aston Villa, who bought their ticket in Bruges, among the home audience. But I don't expect any problems, they're all nice people.”

Thoroughly screened
“Aston Villa enjoys a dignified reputation, in the 80s there was a hard core that made amok, now not anymore. By the way, the security measures are enormous: when buying your ticket, your identity card was thoroughly screened. Since Brexit, customs formalities have been reintroduced and the British must have a passport to come to Europe. They too have been checked on the ferries”, says Sebastien Neirynck.

Striking fact: the British fans were allowed to drink their half liters in glass cups at the Egg Market and the Market. Mayor Dirk De fauw ruled that it was not necessary to issue a glass ban in the city center. On the Platse in Sint-Andries this was true for the Club supporters.

Christmas market
Because the Christmas market is in full swing, the British fans could not gather at the statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter De Coninck on the Market: fences were placed all around. Sewerage works in the Steenstraat also formed a small obstacle.

“There is no 'corteo' – parade – from British fans to 't Zand or to the stadium. We do ask Aston Villa supporters to go to the Jan Breydel Stadium in buses in groups at 5 pm. Free shuttle buses are provided for British fans”, says Carlo Smits.

[olaftab]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

There were a lot here without tickets. We reckoned about 4 to 4.5 thousand Villa in total and 1500 with official tickets and 500 in home areas with rest getting pissed in town.

[purpletrousers]

Aye I know. I was referring to the incident in the away section that’s doing the rounds. I know one or two from here were well lubricated, hope everybody was ok. Block 423 next door there were plenty of us. The journalist who interviewed Seb (article above) clearly not very experienced in guesstimating numbers beyond the official allocation.

Meanwood Villa pointed out the Atherston Lions/Grendon Villans flag hung off the South Stand got taken down at half time, I was a bit surprised to see it up in the home area. I think it was there someone said there was an incident too.

I think maybe the curious amount of St.Georges flag/blue Union Jack stuff around the North Stand might have been mistaken for ours and somebody unwisely decided to join in!

We’ll have to ask Seb for our vexillology lesson.

[144 Hard Boiled Eggs]

Good to meet you in Bruges Mr Purpletrousers. Hope your journey home was ok. I was in block 426 along with around another fifty Villa fans (and plenty of empty seats). No problems whatsoever. The Bruges fans I chatted to kept asking why we play so slowly!

[Demitri_C]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

Yeah hopefully some bans incoming we dont need people like that embarrassing the club abroad.

There are alot of fans that missed out for these clowns so hopefully next time they can get a ticket ahead of those. Glad you had a nice time anyways purpletrousers !

[PeterWithe]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

There were a lot here without tickets. We reckoned about 4 to 4.5 thousand Villa in total and 1500 with official tickets and 500 in home areas with rest getting pissed in town.

I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure but a fella I know had been chatting to the Belgian coppers, they said there were more than 6000 in Brugge based on the travel info. it certainly felt like you couldn't walk for more than a few minutes before bumping into someone you knew from Villa for a chat. 1400 had tickets and pretty much everyone you spoke to who was in their end said they were plenty of Villa around them in all the sections, there only appeared to be 4 places that were showing the game on the TV, there were about 40 people in the restaurant I was in, the other 3 pubs were packed but there wasn't 4000 people in them, there couldn't be. So Im wondering if guestimates of 1500+ in the home ends is that outlandish?

To be honest I didn't see any aggro or anything approaching it, or hear of it. There were plenty of really pissed annoying people and some of them were pretty belligerent. I blame the Trump win.

All in all, the Belgian Police were relaxed and treated people well and so didnt have anything to do. All good.

[The Edge]

They deserved to win because they scored a goal and prevented us from doing likewise.

Great analysis. Thanks for that.

[simboy]

Just saw a video of villa fans fighting with each other at the brugges game. Jesus absolute embarrassment

My lad said they were fighting each other in the ground also, supporters that is

A Celtic fan wrote “ What you have here is a fan base not used to European travelling.” underneath that video on Twitter.

Probably a good point except you’d have to have done 3 aways already to have got a ticket, though maybe the Belgian strong beers have a role. Hopefully some bans follow. It’s was much more civilised in the next block along

There were a lot here without tickets. We reckoned about 4 to 4.5 thousand Villa in total and 1500 with official tickets and 500 in home areas with rest getting pissed in town.

I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure but a fella I know had been chatting to the Belgian coppers, they said there were more than 6000 in Brugge based on the travel info. it certainly felt like you couldn't walk for more than a few minutes before bumping into someone you knew from Villa for a chat. 1400 had tickets and pretty much everyone you spoke to who was in their end said they were plenty of Villa around them in all the sections, there only appeared to be 4 places that were showing the game on the TV, there were about 40 people in the restaurant I was in, the other 3 pubs were packed but there wasn't 4000 people in them, there couldn't be. So Im wondering if guestimates of 1500+ in the home ends is that outlandish?

To be honest I didn't see any aggro or anything approaching it, or hear of it. There were plenty of really pissed annoying people and some of them were pretty belligerent. I blame the Trump win.

All in all, the Belgian Police were relaxed and treated people well and so didnt have anything to do. All good.

My lad is just back. The trouble in the ground was a combination of supporters not being able to take strong beer and losing a football match all in one evening according to him.

nothing new there then.

[Richard]

I love a beer but I have never ever understood why you'd be so paralytic before a game to the point where you'd have no idea what was going on. Each to their own of course.

[Demitri_C]

I agree Richard

[The Edge]

I love a beer but I have never ever understood why you'd be so paralytic before a game to the point where you'd have no idea what was going on. Each to their own of course.

I spent years where the only way to get through a Villa game was to drink enough alcohol to soften the blow. Nowadays it's not just alcohol though it's the amount of the old Columbian marching powder they shovel up their noses.

[VillaTim]

I love a beer but I have never ever understood why you'd be so paralytic before a game to the point where you'd have no idea what was going on. Each to their own of course.

Stopped going to away games as i didn't like to be near totally pissed up fans anymore . Might be an age thing