Getting back our Church Street March

[westofcentre]

Hi All, 

 

Just wanted to throw this up for discussion, and get feedback on this. 

 

As you know, Church Street seems to be off limits. Any ideas/suggestions on if it is at all possible to change this come first home game of the season?
 

What options are available to us, and how realistic are our chances? Who do we need to speak to or sleep with? What is required?

 

Is it worth lobbying the powers that be from now? 

[Ian]

The Ribs n Rumps incident ****ed it, after that it gained the attention of the Premier who applied a fair bit of pressure to the local cops (hence the crazy number of cops for the semi final). The local cops will now no longer permit applications to march on church street, if we wanted to challenge it would have to go to court.

 

Their reasoning is that they think the risk of incident is too high so they would contest any application we lodged to use Church Street. Cops think that Marsden Street is the better option because it avoids the cafes and they don't have to put as many cops on. This is despite a council survey which showed 92% of Parramatta businesses being in favour of the Wanderers and the march.

Basically we are all being punished because of one ****wit the cops have failed to find.

[Wanderboy]

Basically we are all being punished because of one ****wit the cops have failed to find.

 

 

And that ****wit should be mighty proud oF himself. NOT!!!

[Unlimited]

The Ribs n Rumps incident ****ed it, after that it gained the attention of the Premier who applied a fair bit of pressure to the local cops (hence the crazy number of cops for the semi final). The local cops will now no longer permit applications to march on church street, if we wanted to challenge it would have to go to court.

 

Their reasoning is that they think the risk of incident is too high so they would contest any application we lodged to use Church Street. Cops think that Marsden Street is the better option because it avoids the cafes and they don't have to put as many cops on. This is despite a council survey which showed 92% of Parramatta businesses being in favour of the Wanderers and the march.

 

Basically we are all being punished because of one ****wit the cops have failed to find.

 

Premier? Barry O'Farrell did this?

 

 

he just lost a voter

[JamCal]

I think he'll be more surprised by the fact he had one voter on this forum to begin with.

[wilsonpastore]

I think he'll be more surprised by the fact he had one voter on this forum to begin with.

lol

[Ian]

Not exactly, he applied a lot of pressure on the local cops for an incident free semi-final, Cops said if we tried to apply for church street it would go to court and moved us to Marsden.

[matty]

I'll march (ie walk and perhaps have a sing song) down Church St. A bunch of my friends might join me.

[wilsonpastore]

I'll march (ie walk and perhaps have a sing song) down Church St. A bunch of my friends might join me.

 

if the cops tell us we cant march down church street, then we'll proceed down church street, and the following week we'll stride down church st

[JamCal]

I know that we made an attempt to gloss over ribs 'n rump because we all knew how much of a one-off it was... But we have video of the incident... Why the **** haven't we banned those responsible from the RBB?

[Ian]

The guy that did it isn't RBB and know one knows who it is, I think I saw him at the BBQ in newcastle but I'm not 100%. I have trouble believing that there isn't someone out on the net who recognises them, if anyone reading this by some chance knows them please let them know they have no place in RBB or on the march.

[JamCal]

The guy that did it isn't RBB 

 

 

Again, we were all pretty sure of this instantly, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be banned. 

[westofcentre]

Ok great input guys.

 

So the door is shut. Nothing is impossible. Question is even if tere is a 1% chance of it happening is it worth pursuing?

 

Our city, our street, our march.

 

Lets consider our options.

 

Ian said local business is in favour. An ally right there. Who else do people on here know who may potential be able to help?there are thousands of Wanderers fans, we all have links an connections that can help in different situations. Any lawyers/solicitors amongst us. Consider all options.

 

We can propose a reasoned argument - ie the March occurs all the time and this was just one incident. Over reaction. We can propose marches to go down Church Street but the derby march to go down Marsden as a compromise which will mitigate the risk of trouble.

 

We can ask for "one more chance" given our good behaviour.

 

Or we can take the other option. We march regardless. I would think very carefully before pursuing this option however. We need to throw up all scenarios.

Edited July 6, 2013 by westofcentre

[JamCal]

I don't speak for anyone but myself... But the way I'd handle it would be to go down Marsden St for a few weeks behaving impeccably, and then say, well look we're going alright here, move us back... That seems to be the way we've earnt things in the past, play it their way and then get it as a reward... 

 

 

 

 

We've got to remember that active support is such a foreign concept here... Its going to take authorities and people time to get used to it and understand how to deal with it the most effectively.

[westofcentre]

We can get a petition from cafes in the area. Even the cafe where the incident occurred. Statements of support. Local media even.

 

Which politicians support us? mayor of Parramatta?

 

We Could draw up a plan of attack. I will go from cafe to cafe if needs be asking for support on Chirch street. We can ten go to authority figures.

 

There is also another avenue that has come to mind, probably best not to state it publically just yet but I will follow it up (long shot though)

[ATP]

We can get a petition from cafes in the area. Even the cafe where the incident occurred. Statements of support. Local media even.

 

Which politicians support us? mayor of Parramatta?

 

We Could draw up a plan of attack. I will go from cafe to cafe if needs be asking for support on Chirch street. We can ten go to authority figures.

 

There is also another avenue that has come to mind, probably best not to state it publically just yet but I will follow it up (long shot though)

 

Try all you want champ, its 200x harder to deal with police then you think, just ask Ian... He had to deal with so much **** he came out looking like an exhausted vince vaughn..

[westofcentre]

I don't speak for anyone but myself... But the way I'd handle it would be to go down Marsden St for a few weeks behaving impeccably, and then say, well look we're going alright here, move us back... That seems to be the way we've earnt things in the past, play it their way and then get it as a reward...

 

 

 

 

We've got to remember that active support is such a foreign concept here... Its going to take authorities and people time to get used to it and understand how to deal with it the most effectively.

It's a good suggestion. If we could get a guarantee police will consider it then well worth it. Is this possible?

 

A march trough Church Street brings Parramatta to life - it's separates our city and region from all others. By marching down Marden they have taken the heart beat out of our city.

Edited July 6, 2013 by westofcentre

[westofcentre]

 

We can get a petition from cafes in the area. Even the cafe where the incident occurred. Statements of support. Local media even.

Which politicians support us? mayor of Parramatta?

We Could draw up a plan of attack. I will go from cafe to cafe if needs be asking for support on Chirch street. We can ten go to authority figures.

There is also another avenue that has come to mind, probably best not to state it publically just yet but I will follow it up (long shot though)

Try all you want champ, its 200x harder to deal with police then you think, just ask Ian... He had to deal with so much **** he came out looking like an exhausted vince vaughn..

I can imagine brother.

 

Ian - anything I can do to help let me know. If we all pull together and help you, we may just be able to do it.

[Jukes01]

Ian,

 

We all appreciate your efforts. I know how hard it is to police these things myself having been involved a number of times being a marshall. Is it possible to get people like our local councilors involved like Steve Issa or John Chedid. Surely they can influence the decision.

 

The best way to avoid the cafe's etc is to allow people to march on the Road. You cant walk on the footpaths going down Marsden St. So they will close the road every time we march down there. So if they can close the road for Marsden St, they could also CHOOSE to close it down Church St.

[JamCal]

They really, really, really won't want to close Church St... 

[Ian]

Nothing is impossible so we could get Church St back one day. Frankly its ridiculous to punish every Wanderers fan for the actions of a single individual.
 

[HungHuynh]

We can always have a convoy of cars through Church Street.

[tess65]

We can always have a convoy of cars through Church Street.

That would be quite a sight.

watch them try stop cars driving down Church St.

Maybe we could use the double decker bus as well?

Edited July 6, 2013 by tess65

[westofcentre]

We pack the cafe's of church street, the march starts on the top end a few inconspicuous people as they march everybody else pours out of the cafe's by the time we hit the bridge it is full march. They can't stop that.

 

What has happened is wrong. It is a result of the shock jocks and those with agendas. Us marching down Church streets means we will not walk with our heads down.

 

We can get support from the right people, and figure out a smart way of doing this

Edited July 6, 2013 by westofcentre

[bombagol]

I don't speak for anyone but myself... But the way I'd handle it would be to go down Marsden St for a few weeks behaving impeccably, and then say, well look we're going alright here, move us back... That seems to be the way we've earnt things in the past, play it their way and then get it as a reward... 

 

This is the most sensible suggestion on this thread and should give us the best chance to get the Church St march back.

 

But I suspect "impeccably" means not only no altercations, but also no f!ares / sm0kies either. I hope people are going to be able to restrain themselves.

 

Also, another reason why they are more reluctant to close Church St than Marsden St is because of the interruption to the bus traffic / timetable. The marchers would have to stick exactly to any time frames given for the march, and if it took off earlier or lasted longer, then the police would really think hard before they'd allow us to go that way ever again.

 

So I reckon we should follow JamCal's suggestion, get it right a few times, show them we can do it and once we do get back to Church St, continue to keep it clean and orderly otherwise we'll lose the privilege again.

[AEK]

Like someone before said, they have to close marsden street down every week, they still have to have extra police to blithe streets and stop other cars, so their excuse of not wanting to staff more police for church street is kinda invalid.

 

But then again, they wear the uniform so they have the power.

[westofcentre]

If the decision is to wait for a few marches, and there is value in that, we should hav a game plan. So the first few Marsden marches are part of a greater plan to get back to Church Street. Apart of that then becomes trying to get support from relevant people/businesses and from the police that we have a chance.

 

Granted closing Church Street may be more difficult, however a march down the centr of a closed street is less of a security risk then marching on the side walk. If some stooge rips a flare it is at least on the road not in/near a cafe. Also less chance of locking horns with any opposition fans who may be in the cafe's.

[Jukes01]

The fact is we all want to march on Church St. The incident that happened at Ribs n Rumps was blown out of all proportion. Once it got into the public domain with the talk back radio stations we were always going to be on a hiding to nothing. Now every time we march people are expecting a full blown riot for f*cks sake. We have been on countless marches and every single time there has been no incidents. But if you mentioned this to a non football fan or someone who doesnt follow the sport then they immediately assume there has been trouble on every single march. Its simply not the case.

 

To me its nothing more than the police wanting to exercise control, they see a mass of people marching to the football they are assuming the worst. What are they going to do if in 5-10 years time we eventually have 3-4 pubs in the Parramatta area, are they going to make us all walk down Marsden St, of course they wont.

 

To me the most important part of the football day is MARCHING DOWN CHURCH St proudly singing "We're from the streets of Western Sydney". This is who we are.

 

 

I like this part of WestofCentres post: #24

 

"We pack the cafe's of church street, the march starts on the top end a few inconspicuous people as they march everybody else pours out of the cafe's by the time we hit the bridge it is full march. They can't stop that."

Edited July 6, 2013 by Jukes01

[Davo]

If the RBB behave perfectly for a few marches down Marsden St, I guarantee the Police won't be thinking of changing it back to Church St. They'll be bragging about how their plan to move the march has worked in reducing the number of incidents and use it as an argument against moving it back.

[matty]

If the RBB behave perfectly for a few marches down Marsden St, I guarantee the Police won't be thinking of changing it back to Church St. They'll be bragging about how their plan to move the march has worked in reducing the number of incidents and use it as an argument against moving it back.

Agree.

 

On the other hand, if there is trouble there is no way we'll get back to Church st.

 

It's a lose lose.

 

Hence I think a different tact would be worth a try, such as an unofficial - 'this isn't a March, we're just all going for a stroll to the game together officer'.