A Staffordshire Police Federation member has spoken of the support officers received from Aston Villa fans on the night their European fixture with Legia Warsaw was marred by trouble.
Inspector Scott Robson was in charge of a police support unit (PSU) deployed on mutual aid to the fixture at Villa Park in Birmingham in the neighbouring West Midlands Police area.
Scott described how colleagues “came under heavy fire” as missiles were launched at them outside the ground.
But he said that during the game, his unit was policing inside the stadium where they received huge levels of support from the home fans.
Scott said: “I didn’t see any confrontation with Aston Villa fans, but I did see a lot of support in the ground from them.
“I was spoken to by quite a few fans who had clearly seen the news headlines and what had gone on prior to the fixture, and what was going around on social media.
“They came up to us to say thank you for looking after us, we hope you’re all okay, and we hope you get home safely.
“One that sticks in my mind was a little old lady who came up to us and took my hand and really wanted to press home how thankful she was for looking after her and making it safe, and she hoped we were all okay. That was nice to receive.”
The violence has been described as “unprecedented” by colleagues in West Midlands Police. Scott and his PSU were positioned near to the coach park at the stadium when it erupted.
Scott revealed that at their position, a police dog van was attacked and the windows smashed, while officers had cones, signs and even scaffolding poles launched at them.
“They came under pretty heavy fire,” he said. “It went on for a good few minutes before an operational support unit from West Midlands swept through the road and moved them round with the support of the horses.”
He added: “Our PSU were all okay. We had a couple of smashed shields and a lot of relief to get back because there are moments when you are genuinely concerned.
“When you hear things come over the radio that an officer was on fire and you’re hearing it play out you are concerned if everyone is going to be okay at the end of the shift.”
Scott said that while the officers’ training kicked in, it couldn’t reproduce the situation they found themselves in outside the stadium.
“We do train for it but you can never truly replicate a situation like that,” he said.
“When you're training you face petrol bombs, you face violent persons attacking you with weapons, you have missiles thrown at you but clearly the training environment is safe and no one genuinely wants to hurt you, but this was an entirely different situation."
Staffordshire Police officers supported their West Midlands Police colleagues at Aston Villa's European game with Legia Warsaw
(Picture credit: West Midlands Police communications
