Strike a light: Wembley has moved to quieten the Crystal Palace support in Sunday’s Charity Shield showpiece against Liverpool
The wall of sound and colour from the Palace end at Wembley at the FA Cup final in May, which wowed the world of football, will be missing, or at least much subdued, on Sunday when the cup-winners take on league champions Liverpool in the Charity Shield.
Holmesdale Fanatics are furious with the FA and authorities at the national stadium over what they see as a blatant attempt to quieten the Eagles fans, who played a vital role as the “12th man” when Palace beat Manchester City in the Cup final.
The Holmesdale Fanatics are the passionate and very well-organised group of “ultras” with a well-deserved and growing reputation for creating vocal support, large tifo displays, choreographed fan banners and flags, from their base in the Holmesdale End at Selhurst Park, that celebrates traditional football fan culture.
But it seems there is to be no repeat of the joyous displays of Cup final day at Wembley on Sunday, in the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season.
Wembley Stadium is owned by the Football Association, the governing body for the not-always-beautiful game in England.
According to the Fanatics, the “arbitrary restrictions” include: no access to the stadium for them in the days before Sunday’s big match; only 10 members of the Fanatics’ team allowed in to the stadium on the morning of the game; and “significant reductions in the permitted banner sizes”.
They say: “A combination of these factors makes it impossible for the group to deliver the type of display we have created on previous visits to the stadium.
Even with Crystal Palace advocating on behalf of the Fanatics fans, “Wembley rejected our requests,” they said.
There’s some who suggest that the FA and Wembley authorities have moved in to mute the Eagles faithful, almost out of some sense of deference to another “bigger” club, in Liverpool.
Liverpool has long had a reputation for loud and proud support from its fans, especially from The Kop at their home ground at Anfield. But there must have been some consideration given by the Wembley authorities, in an increasingly corporate football environment, that Liverpool’s fans in the posh seats at the national stadium might be out-sung and out-bannered by the noisy crowd from south London – much as happened to the Man City supporters in May.
“This is an example of the sustained issues the group has faced getting materials into away grounds over the last two decades,” the Fanatics wrote.
“We hope to see more stadiums embrace active fan culture in England to bring some life back to largely soulless English grounds.”
The Fanatics had already held a crowdfunder and used the money raised to buy materials for their much-anticipated latest banner. They say that they will use the material “in the early part of this season”.
Well-briefed: Steve Parish, the Palace chairman (centre), and the legal team arrive in Lausanne for the Court for Arbitration in Sport hearing today
“Despite these needless and erratic rulings, we know Palace fans will continue the tradition of creating a special atmosphere at the national stadium to start the club’s historic season as FA Cup-winners and the beginning of our European campaign.”
Ahhh… the European campaign.
Steve Parish, the Crystal Palace chairman, is in Lausanne today with a large-ish team of lawyers for a hearing at CAS, the Court of Arbitration in Sport, following an appeal lodged by the club against UEFA, Lyon and Nottingham Forest, after the English cup-winners were demoted from the Europa League because of a supposed breach of European football’s multi-club ownership rules.
Today’s hearing is expected to last at least six hours, with any ruling expected to be released on Monday.
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Read our Cup final report: Wembley shook and it was beautiful
Read more: Palace fury as Forest set to benefit from their UEFA demotion
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