The group - which congregates in the L8 section of the Lower Holte End, and whose banners have been praised by fans from across the country - staged a walk out during the Capital One Cup Tie with Rotherham United, after several members were removed and had their season tickets confiscated for "persistent standing".
It now appears that these season tickets have been blocked.
@villamadtweets Brigada 1874 members season tickets blocked after being confiscated for 'persistant standing' v Rotherham on weds night.One of the group's founding principles is "We stand at every game" which is at odds with the Terms and Conditions for holding a season ticket and the licensing regulations for every Premier League ground, so a clash was inevitable, but it's a pity long standing, loyal and passionate supporters are being treated so harshly when their main aim is to get behind the team and create a positive atmosphere.
— Vic Villain (@vicvillain) August 31, 2013
Many fans who are not a part of the Brigada 1874 group believe that the group was specifically targeted by stewards during both the Rotherham and Liverpool games, while some feel that the group became marked men after photos of their anti-Sky banners went viral.
UPDATE: Brigada 1874 Statement:
"Although the title of James’ iconic 1991 hit “Sit Down” is made up of the two favourite words of our hi-viz clad friends at Villa Park you get the impression that they aren’t so familiar with the content of the song. The “extremes of sweet and sour” that Tim Booth sings of are ones that are all too familiar with football fans, ecstasy and agony are states of mind that football fans the world over embrace and endure throughout the course of 90 minutes. Though I may be wrong it is hard to imagine feeling the same spectrum of emotion when ejecting a season ticket holder of 13 years for simply standing up and supporting his team.
"What happened on Wednesday night against Rotherham was a disgrace. As expected the ground wasn’t as full as the previous Saturday and this was the same in L8 where about 50 people had turned out. Despite the low numbers the atmosphere was jovial, there was persistent singing and fans were enjoying themselves. This was up until about the 8th minute of the game when we were joined by around 8-10 stewards, including senior stewards who demanded that supporters towards the front of the section sit down, they confiscated the tickets of a number of fans and then departed. Following a few seconds break the singing started again, moments later the stewards returned, this time accompanied by a couple of police officers. A number of fans at the front of the section were then led away under the concourse by senior stewards and police. A couple of minutes later the stewards and police returned once more to harass people on the next row, they confiscated a number of tickets from these fans but did not eject them. On learning that the fans who had been lead away moments earlier had been told to leave the ground the remaining group members left the ground in protest, provoking applause from some supportive fans on the way out. On leaving we met other members who had arrived late and who also joined the walkout despite failing to see a single ball being kicked in anger. Not being welcome in the ground we decided to walk down to the corner of Trinity Road where the Holte meets the Trinity, we stood there for the remaining 20 minutes or so of the first half and supported the team from outside the ground, where we were able to stand and sing without harassment. In must be remembered that while standing we were blocking no ones view, there was no danger of us getting vertigo and falling from our feet and no danger of being swept out of the ground by high winds coming in from Aston Hall.
"Today, on Saturday 31st August a fan went on line to check availability for the Hull away fixture, he found that his log in was blocked so he rang the club. On doing so the staff member on the end of the phone informed him that he wasn’t allowed to buy tickets, he asked why and the staff member said he would have to speak to his supervisor, he then asked the fan if he was at the Rotherham game, he replied that he was and was then told that he had been blocked from buying tickets for future Villa matches and that a employee of Aston Villa Football Club would phone him on Monday to discuss the issue further. We do not know whether this represents a temporary or permanent ban. It is clear to the group that the club have an agenda to make the lives of those in L8 as difficult as possible, last season we had the debacle around the “One Stan Petrov” banner, which prompted the head of media at Aston Villa to appear on a radio talk show berating the group, the group were given no prior notice that we would be the topic of conversation on the phone in. We’ve had stewards try to snatch banners off fans at the Sunderland game and now the club have moved to the pretext of “persistent standing” as a stick with which to beat the group. Away fans persistently stand, fans in areas or the upper Holte and Lower North persistently stand and rightly so! We stand because we want to support our club and should be free to do so in L8 as other fans are in other sections of the ground.
"There has been much talk recently about the trial of safe standing at Villa Park, the current reality is that standing in certain sections of the ground comes with very real risk of being escorted off the premises by police. There have been calls from the club for the “12th Man” to turn Villa Park into a cauldron that visiting teams will find intimidating and difficult to play in, the fans want this to happen and are trying to make it happen, but we can’t do this if we’re sat slumped in our seats beneath the watchful eye of the boys in iridescent orange and yellow. We shall not be moved, stand up if you love Villa!"
"Although the title of James’ iconic 1991 hit “Sit Down” is made up of the two favourite words of our hi-viz clad friends at Villa Park you get the impression that they aren’t so familiar with the content of the song. The “extremes of sweet and sour” that Tim Booth sings of are ones that are all too familiar with football fans, ecstasy and agony are states of mind that football fans the world over embrace and endure throughout the course of 90 minutes. Though I may be wrong it is hard to imagine feeling the same spectrum of emotion when ejecting a season ticket holder of 13 years for simply standing up and supporting his team.
"What happened on Wednesday night against Rotherham was a disgrace. As expected the ground wasn’t as full as the previous Saturday and this was the same in L8 where about 50 people had turned out. Despite the low numbers the atmosphere was jovial, there was persistent singing and fans were enjoying themselves. This was up until about the 8th minute of the game when we were joined by around 8-10 stewards, including senior stewards who demanded that supporters towards the front of the section sit down, they confiscated the tickets of a number of fans and then departed. Following a few seconds break the singing started again, moments later the stewards returned, this time accompanied by a couple of police officers. A number of fans at the front of the section were then led away under the concourse by senior stewards and police. A couple of minutes later the stewards and police returned once more to harass people on the next row, they confiscated a number of tickets from these fans but did not eject them. On learning that the fans who had been lead away moments earlier had been told to leave the ground the remaining group members left the ground in protest, provoking applause from some supportive fans on the way out. On leaving we met other members who had arrived late and who also joined the walkout despite failing to see a single ball being kicked in anger. Not being welcome in the ground we decided to walk down to the corner of Trinity Road where the Holte meets the Trinity, we stood there for the remaining 20 minutes or so of the first half and supported the team from outside the ground, where we were able to stand and sing without harassment. In must be remembered that while standing we were blocking no ones view, there was no danger of us getting vertigo and falling from our feet and no danger of being swept out of the ground by high winds coming in from Aston Hall.
"Today, on Saturday 31st August a fan went on line to check availability for the Hull away fixture, he found that his log in was blocked so he rang the club. On doing so the staff member on the end of the phone informed him that he wasn’t allowed to buy tickets, he asked why and the staff member said he would have to speak to his supervisor, he then asked the fan if he was at the Rotherham game, he replied that he was and was then told that he had been blocked from buying tickets for future Villa matches and that a employee of Aston Villa Football Club would phone him on Monday to discuss the issue further. We do not know whether this represents a temporary or permanent ban. It is clear to the group that the club have an agenda to make the lives of those in L8 as difficult as possible, last season we had the debacle around the “One Stan Petrov” banner, which prompted the head of media at Aston Villa to appear on a radio talk show berating the group, the group were given no prior notice that we would be the topic of conversation on the phone in. We’ve had stewards try to snatch banners off fans at the Sunderland game and now the club have moved to the pretext of “persistent standing” as a stick with which to beat the group. Away fans persistently stand, fans in areas or the upper Holte and Lower North persistently stand and rightly so! We stand because we want to support our club and should be free to do so in L8 as other fans are in other sections of the ground.
"There has been much talk recently about the trial of safe standing at Villa Park, the current reality is that standing in certain sections of the ground comes with very real risk of being escorted off the premises by police. There have been calls from the club for the “12th Man” to turn Villa Park into a cauldron that visiting teams will find intimidating and difficult to play in, the fans want this to happen and are trying to make it happen, but we can’t do this if we’re sat slumped in our seats beneath the watchful eye of the boys in iridescent orange and yellow. We shall not be moved, stand up if you love Villa!"
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