A lot of the allure in supporting your football team is the intense rivalry and threat of violence, especially on away days. Sitting amongst rival football fans and celebrating is commendable but don't react with surprise when you're met with hostility.
Rival rugby fans sit together and there's never trouble but that's because it's a boring sport and they're all to inbred etc
I’m not sure I attend football matches due to the allure of violence. I tend to go due to the allure of ‘football match’.
I think if you sit in the ‘wrong’ end you’ve just got to not be an arse. It’s about manners.
I remember a crucial end of season home game against West Ham, they had hartson, Kitson, lampard etc we scored first and I think we lost 1-3. Anyway, it wasn’t until West Ham scored that my dad and I realised we were the only two cov fans amongst a sea of West Ham fans...who all went berserk when they scored. How they all got in the cov end I’ll never know!
Instead of forcibly ejecting what felt like the bulk of the ‘Inner City Firm’, at the end of the game Father and I took the moral high ground and told them well played, shook their hands, and wished them good luck for the remainder of the season.
We then ran home, and hid under our beds. Manners.