A YOUNG football fan who travelled to Bradford was left with a gash in his forehead from a bottle and "blood pouring down his face", while someone was supposedly kicked on the ground, in chaotic scenes of violence, according to another visiting supporter.
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West Yorkshire Police has launched an investigation after an incident outside Bradford (Park Avenues)'s Horsfall Stadium on Wednesday evening, involving home supporters and visiting fans of York City.
It happened shortly after full-time in the 4-2 defeat for Avenue that night against their rivals.
Both clubs issued statements yesterday regarding the violence.
Avenue said it was cooperating with police and described it as an "isolated incident", while York City expressed their disappointment that one of their young fans had been harmed following the game.
Jim Calverley, a York City fan of more than 20 years who also currently serves on the Supporters Trust Board, described the whole ordeal as a "farce" from beginning to end, criticising both his own club and Avenue for the way they dealt with the situation.
He claimed there were a number of faults throughout the night, from stewarding that "was inadequate to accommodate the crowd" - in terms of the amount and their positioning, which Mr Calverley said allowed Avenue fans to goad the visitors right in front of them - to the York supporters' bus leaving without an injured teenage fan.
The epicentre of the tension happened outside the ground after full-time, where Avenue youths were waiting across Cemetery Road having left the game early, according to Mr Calverley.
Mr Calverley turned left out of the stadium and was walking down the hill in front of the main group of younger York fans when the violence seemingly erupted.
He said: "Turning back to noises, Bradford fans had run across and attacked some York supporters, a group could be seen kicking something on the ground (presumably the York fan).
"Once they’d put in a few kicks, multiple bottles began to fly from across the road towards the incident from more Bradford fans, bouncing off cars, the road and hitting one fan in particular."
That fan turned out to be a young York supporter, who had blood pouring down his head, according to Mr Calverley.
He added: "This was when myself and two friends met the young lad hit by a bottle with a gash at least a cm deep in his forehead.
"A policeman also arrived from down the hill on foot having been at the supporters bus."
The victim was eventually bandaged up by the Avenue physio, but by this point was left stranded.
He had come on the fan bus and, despite Mr Calverley stepping in to explain it would need to wait for him to get medical attention, the coach left passed the group after the Avenue youths allegedly began throwing more bottles from the adjacent park, damaging it and the players' bus.
The remaining people tried to arrange transport back for the injured teenager, with police eventually having to take him home, according to Mr Calverley.
He said: "We began to try and work out how to get him home but were limited to not enough spaces between us and a friend's car.
"I informed a member of staff from York who was unhelpful and just stated, as he’s underage, his parents will have to pick him up.
"Eventually the police had to agree to get him back to York with us unable to without breaking the law."
The ordeal has left a sour taste in the mouth for Mr Calverley.
He said: "Mainly I was left feeling disappointed. I don’t like getting in to the conversation about football violence, it’s abhorrent and shouldn’t happen so there’s not a conversation to be had but it does happen and therefore we as fans and football clubs have to deal with the outcome.
"On Wednesday night you had two clubs that took little to no responsibility for the situation.
"Individuals helped, with special mention to both the BPA physio and the attending officer, but other than that, it fell to three random fans to ensure a young lad with blood pouring down his face got home.
"Frankly, that’s not good enough and it’s not the kind of football clubs that either York or BPA should be aiming to be."
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