Park problems
Sir: In order to make a praiseworthy case, Christopher Price exaggerates (10 January). On the evidence of one visit to Upton Park, he represents the ground as almost a fascist enclave. I am a fairly regular Saturday visitor and have seen little indication of really nasty behaviour there. I am not suggesting that there are not many National Front supporters in East London and, like Mr Price, I hope that there is a political solution to this particular social problem. Neither am I suggesting that the language at the ground is invariably restrained and courteous. It certainly is not, although the referee for the Sheffield Wednesday game would have incensed Job had he been a home team supporter. But I believe it is true that crowd manners at West Ham have traditionally been fairly decorous, possibly because people living in the area tend to be culturally and socially homogeneous. The effect of increasing economic stress may be breaking down this sense of identity with the consequences which Mr Price rightly deplores. But at present the ugliness which he describes is not as prevalent as his article implies. It is still possible for people of decent and liberal outlook to visit Upton Park without having their sensibilities outraged.
Ian McCall 5 Eliot Place, Blackheath, London SE3
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