Dear all

I wondered if anyone is able to help regarding an incident that took place after last night’s game.

As I was walking back after the game to my car (in the Marfleet Lane area) with my wife, we passed a couple of lads (aged around 20) on the intersection of Marfleet Lane, Marfleet Avenue and the walkway towards Craven Park itself. I noticed one of them was wearing last year’s Hull KR home shirt with “Dave 17” on the back, and was holding a stone (about the size of a squash ball, or slightly larger) in his hand, clearly looking a bit suspicious.

Once we had passed the lads by about 20 yards or so, “Dave 17” had followed me and hit me from behind on the jaw with his fist/forearm. I was reeling from this and my wife grabbed his arm and asked him what he had done this for. He said nothing and walked back to where we first saw him.

We hurried back towards the car and, as our backs were turned, he threw the stone at us, which fortunately missed us hitting a nearby container at some speed, before making his way back down the walkway with his mate. This would have caused serious damage had it connected. Once we were sure we were out of harm’s way we were able to drive off – I wasn’t too bad but for a bit of bleeding and swelling, my wife was very shaken up by it all. The incident would appear to have been pre-meditated without provocation with the possible exception of the jersey I was wearing.

We have since discovered that the guy in question also confronted some friends of ours who had also parked nearby and returned to their car about 5 minutes before we did (again identifiable by the "Dave 17" shirt), they were told to "get back to Wigan, you Wigan monkeys" or words to that effect. Fortunately there were more people in this group and they were not subjected to any physical attacks.

The incident has been reported to Humberside Police (contact reference C759 29/06/2009). The guy in question was around 5 foot 6 and of slim build, wearing a baseball cap, however the most identifiable thing about him was the Rovers shirt as mentioned above.

I have been following Wigan and RL in general for the best part of 20 years, and this is the first such incident that has happened to me. This was my fourth visit to Craven Park (including the cup win over Warrington in 2006) and I have always enjoyed the trips over there whether in victory or defeat. I do not wish to drag the name of the Hull KR club through the mud but rather hope that this individual can be identified and action taken against him, for the good of the club and of Rugby League.

Mike Smith, general manager at Hull KR has been informed, and I was most encouraged by his statement that should the offender be identified that he would be banned from Craven Park for life. I would urge anyone with any information to contact either myself, Humberside Police or Mike Smith at Hull KR.

Thanks in advance for your co-operation.

Ste (eelpie)

Sorry to hear that a lowlife had to spoil what was a good day for you. I will be letting my mates know of this incident and passing on the description you have provided. We will keep an eye out for said lowlife and if spotted we will pass on the info to Humberside Police or Mike Smith, we don't want these louts associated with our club or sport.

if anyone knows who this scumbag is they should shop him.

sorry to hear about this incident and hope it doesnt put you off coming to CP in the future

This stain should be taken off the streets for everybodies sake.

Sorry to here this mate, i hope the t0sser gets cought and banged up.

I actually followed this moron along the footpath that leads to Marfleet lane and knew by his demeanour he was after causing trouble he went into some bushes and i was forced to overtake him no doubt thas were he got the stone from. I have sent Eelpie a pm with my details. We dont need his type spoiling our great game and club.

Sorry to hear about this Ste and well done on taking the action you did.
Echoing others, for the benefit of all, I hope he's caught and dealt with asap.

We also followed him down along the path, he started by verbally abusing the stewards who were watching the coaches over the fence, then my niece when she defended the stewards, admittedly she threw some verbals back at him. He backed off pretty sharpish when he realised there were men with her.
I'm not sure if he realised she was from Hull as due to the heat she wasn't wearing her Rovers shirt. My wife has also contacted eelpie. Hopefully someone decent will know who he is and we won't have to suffer him again.

i showed some rovers fans this at work today and their reply was simply it was a hull fc fan in a rovers shirt, the mentality of people...
my brother and his missus went to last years derby at craven park and got his car door kicked in as he was driving past a few rovers fans... we need to erase this from our game its gets enough bad press as it is.

Bad news. I'm sure ther will be some decent rovers fans who know the culprit and shop him. No place in the game for idiots like this

Really sorry to hear about your experience, and applaud the way you have posted this, not as a dig at the club but at this individual. I hope that there are some decent individuals among our support who know who this lowlife is and report him to the club - shouldn't be too hard to identify.

I hope this incident won't stop you visiting Craven Park again in the future.

and? this happens all the time down Walton street, wonder if you're just using this to have a dig.

i would not blame them if they did not return

i cant beleive no-one on this site can name the thug

The thicko will probably turn up at the next game in the same shirt. May be a good idea to collar the idiot then. Give him a good "talking to" behind the East Stand and hand him over to the police.

I am sorry this happened to you. I have just read about this on the Rovers forum and everyone has said the same, we want this type of so called supporter caught and banned from the ground. I hope this does not put you off from coming again. Please post and let everyone know when this idiot has been caught.

Craig.