17 people were arrested last night after police had to break up a big fight between Acklam and Linthorpe. The whole of Green Lane, which is generally viewed as the border between the 2 areas, was like a ‘big boxing match’ with people slugging it out as if they were possessed by fighting, and wanting to win the battle, so they could say they were the best, or at least better than those they were fighting at the time, which in this case was Acklam and Linthorpe, depending on whose side you’re on.
Reports suggest there were over 8000 people involved in the trouble with participants ranging from the age of 8 to 73, although it is thought that some of them might actually have been younger but simply had not aged particularly well, which is often the way nowadays, with our more sedentary lifestyles and generally unhealthier diets. One eyewitness said, ‘This is definitely the biggest fight I’ve seen since last month when Brambles Farm took on Saltersgill. Probably 20000 out that night but they do like a bit of rough and tumble over there and that’s exactly what they got. It was a bit more tame this one, in fact, at one point I saw 2 couples arguing about the size of their gardens and whether an end of terrace was the same as a semi-detached, before they went for it hell for leather.’
The dispute seems to have started on social media when Acklam said that Linthorpe needed to be better at a whole range of things, although these things were not specified, and that Acklam was better, and that Linthorpe should just shut up about stuff and stop banging on about it. Linthorpe replied by saying they weren’t banging on about stuff and that Acklam did more banging on about stuff than they did so they’re the ones who should just shut up, and added, possibly unnecessarily, that they should get a life before they start telling other areas to be better, especially if they are not specific about the things they need to be better at. Probably a fair point that.
It seemed that this online spat would just blow over until someone from Linthorpe posted an absolutely incendiary comment. Peggy Stephens, not her real name, posted, ‘And you’re all shit at fighting in your bloody Acklam shit so if you want it, Green Lane now, and we will absolutely twat you.’ All hell was let loose. Comments like ‘Come on then’, ‘Howay then’, ‘Aw, sod off, you complete prick,’ ‘Twat’ and others ensued, and we need to make clear that these comments were from both sides and not just one side like you sometimes get when one side is nicer than the other.
Anyway, it spilled onto the streets at 7.30pm and as one old lady said, ‘The noise of the fighting was so loud my enjoyment of Coronation Street was seriously compromised and I had to watch it on catch up so I didn’t miss any of the storylines.’ Both sides have claimed victory with Acklam saying things like, ‘We won’ but Linthorpe countering with things like, ‘No, you didn’t, we won.’ We might never know who won and certainly at this point in time it doesn’t seem clear. Even the police, who usually know about these things, are saying they don’t know who won and, if they don’t know, how can anyone else be expected to know? Police Sergeant, Holly Brownie, said, ‘We hope to have a result for you before the end of the week, but it is simply too close to call, and I can see this going to a recount of the injuries inflicted by both sides and that is obviously going to take some time.’ Time will tell.
If you have any stories about fighting or of violence in general, particularly between council wards in your town, then please send them FNOM@hottail.eu.uk. and we will fully consider the merits of both sides of the argument.
Fantastic News of Middlesbrough 