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Games played behind closed doors

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    Games played behind closed doors

    Last night's CL final qualifying match between Crvena zvezda aka Red Star Belgrade and Salzburg was played behind closed doors, and the atmosphere as so often at these games was weird. It's on my not-so-serious bucket list to attend a behind closed doors match, but to do so I'd either have to be a ball boy, some kind of security person, on the staff of one of the teams involved, a member of the press or whatever other people get to see these games. Has anyone here ever witnessed one of these matches?

    Also, I'm none too sure as to who the closure of a stadium to fans actually benefits. It might actually be fairer to let the away team bring their own supporters, as usually it's not them who are to blame for the punishment.

    #2
    An international match in (IIRC) the same stadium- Serbia v NI in Euro 2012 qualifying. Didn't go myself but we had about 200 fans who were slightly outnumbered by the local press corps

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      #3
      When Ireland was hit by the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 a small number of areas of the country were affected, with restrictions in place in those areas. Dundalk was the only football club majorly affected as there was a case within 20 miles of the town. The club ended up playing a couple of home games in Drogheda, and two away games behind closed doors, one in Monaghan and one infamous FAI Cup defeat to non-league Portmarnock at St Francis's ground in Dublin. Both grounds are pretty basic, with the result that a hardy handful of fans watched each match through a fence or over a wall. There's a couple of pictures on the sportsfiles website (I'll attempt to include one here, but I'm making no guarantees........)
      https://www.sportsfile.com/id/059036/

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        #4
        A few years back I'd noticed Hamilton Accies were playing a home friendly against Eastleigh ,so, I wandered over to Hamilton and noticed that the streets around the ground were eerily empty. As I got to the turnstile area reality then kicked in and I realised that it was a closed doors game.

        Taking a stroll up to the main entrance I got chatting to an Accies official and I explained that I was a groundhopper up from Liverpool for a few days holiday and that I'd never visited New Douglas Park before. On hearing my tale of woe (and bullshit) he invited me into the game along with about 30 odd players wives/dads etc.

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          #5
          When I first heard the phrase as a six- or seven-year-old in the early 1990s, I assumed that they were played inside.

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            #6
            Not quite the same thing but I got in to the Turkey v England game in Istanbul, 2003, when England supporters were banned. I suspect a few will try for England's game in Croatia in October which will be behind closed doors.

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              #7
              Denied entry to an AEL game in Limassol because the a number of the AEL fans and fans of APOEL were busting each others chops the week before.

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                #8
                One of the reasons City fans boo the Champions League anthem, apart from the obvious, is because of a behind closed doors game in Moscow. UEFA ordered CSKA to play behind closed doors on account of them being big old racists but unfortunately after City fans had bought flights, hotels etc.

                No refunds obviously from UEFA and then on match day CSKA gave out hundreds of “press passes” to folk, none of whom appeared to be making notes.

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                  #9
                  Brighton played York behind closed doors* at the end of 1995-96, following the abandonment of the original fixture on what was the last Saturday of the season. It was played midweek at something like 11am, and would determine whether Carlisle would get relegated (which we did), leading to the strange situation of Radio Cumbria broadcasting a match live on a weekday morning, not involving any team from Cumbria.

                  *Away fans may have been allowed in, not sure.

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