A woman working at Ashton Gate has described the moment violence flared between ‘wild animal’ students of Bristol’s two universities as their varsity rugby match ended as ‘like a battleground’.
The staff member, who declined to be named, said she and her colleagues had to lock themselves in the kiosks selling food and drink in the Lansdown Stand at the stadium, and had already experienced disorder during the match.
But when the final whistle was blown in the men’s rugby match between Bristol University and UWE, students from the rival universities fought running battles in the concourse at Ashton Gate.
Police were called and said the trouble started inside the ground and spilled over to the area around the stadium, but no arrests were made.
The woman working in the refreshment kiosk said there was disorder during the match as the drunken students jostled and failed to queue properly.
“The students were a bit mad, it was ridiculous. All the people at the back were pushing, trying to get to the front and there was no queueing going on. For the football, the fans stay in lines, but they just removed the lines and it was absolute bedlam, it was a nightmare,” she said.
“We had to close the kiosks. We were shouting at them to queue properly, to stop being out of order and they weren’t listening. The stewards were out there and they were having a nightmare too. The students were coming up ordering 15 pints at a time, and it was just mayhem.
“We told them we would close and stop selling if they didn’t behave, but they didn’t settle down, so we locked up, put the shutters up.
Most Read
“I think the match started at about 7pm and they were still just down there drinking at the bars at 8.15pm, they weren’t even really watching the game to start with. They weren’t happy, but we were locked in. They all went up to watch the match.
“Then when it finished, they all came down the stairs and you’ve never seen anything like it. They were a bunch of wild animals. All we had as a barrier to separate them was a line of bins and they went over straight away. It was carnage and honestly the only way to describe it was like one of those films where two sides run at each other and meet in the middle, fighting. It was like a battleground,” she added.
“One of the stewards had cuts to his hand, and they were all out there trying to stop it, but there was nothing they could do. I’ve never seen that from football fans. One side came down one set of stairs and the other came from the other and they met in the middle. There was smoke bombs going off, they were chanting ‘UWE’ or ‘Bristol’ and it was crazy,” he added.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said there had been no arrests, and that officers had only issued one dispersal order, as officers arrived on the scene after the initial trouble, and had the task of dispersing the crowds.
A police spokesman said: “A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said they were called just before 9pm.
“We were called to reports of a disturbance shortly before 9pm at a rugby match at Ashton Gate," he confirmed.
“There was further disruption outside the ground. A steward was treated at the scene for a minor injury. One person was issued with a dispersal notice,” he added.
Don’t miss
Bristol Sport said they want a full investigation with a view to ‘press charges’, but a police spokesman declined to reveal whether officers were mounting a major investigation into the trouble or not.
When Bristol City fans were involved in a disturbance at a match against Cardiff City earlier this season, the police issued a large number of CCTV images of the people they wanted to speak to. It is not yet known if a similar appeal will be launched by the police.