Sticky situation, any advice for a novice??

Hi guys, I'm a newbie to this forum, but have been looking for somewhere to discuss street encounters and self protection, and this site looks great.
I'm 25 and live just outside Coventry, I've not done any martial arts training before, just boxed a little bit, so I'm a complete novice and not experienced in these situations. I wonder if anyone could offer some advice for a situation I 'm in?

I was out near my house a few months ago with a friend, when we passed a couple of chavs aged about 18, when we passed them they stared at us and yelled some obscenities, normally I would just ignore them, but this time I did what I thought was the right thing at the time and stand up for myself. I walked straight up to them and asked them what their problem was- they obviously didn't expect this, and bricked it. As I was talking to them, another 5 chavs came from around the corner (I thought to myself I'm really in the shite now) and had nothing else to do but walk up to them aggressively and talk to them to- this worked, the one chav who shouted at us originally backed down (in front of his friends) and me and my friend walked away. Later that night my neighbour told me that there were 3 of them outside my house with bricks- I didn't see them at the time. And the next day they were waiting at the top of my road by some shops, I thought that the best thing was to go and confront them (though I was conscious that they knew where I live) when I went up to them we argued and AGAIN a load more kids turned up, the shopkeeper called the police who turned up quickly and took our details though no charges were pressed. The problem is that whenever I leave my house, it seems any time of the day (and it has happened whilst I was out with my 4 year old niece) there are chavs on every corner yelling abuse, not a problem you might think, but over the months it is really grating on me and my family. It's impossible to report it to the police as they all live near to me, never hang around in the same place and all know each other (there are absolutely loads of them)

I'm at a loss as to how to deal with the situation, they always go around in 3's (so I'm always outnumbered), and I am thinking maybe I should have a go (probably will get battered- but it may ease the situation?) on the flipside i'm also considering moving from where I live- though this seems like I'm running away from the situation, and I don't want to do that. It seems I'm stuck either way now that on one side the police were involved, and on the other the little ba*****s know where I live.
How should I deal with this situation, and what could I have done differently? I would apreciate any advice I could get

Thanks

Hi Andy,

Sure you'll get some really good answers from people on the forum as it's a really good place to bat ideas like this around. I've nothing in my experience that I could offer for this and to do so would just be me saying 'Well, if this was me I would...' and that's not really gonna help you as it is you on the ground who has to deal with any repercussions etc. Sounds like a proper shitty situation to be in though. Two different things in my mind 1) Being able to handle yourself in a situation like 1 vs 3 and face them down, fight them off or disuade them from causing you grief anymore and 2) Having to deal with the consequences of having them know where you live and intimidating beyond the initial contact. Saying that, the way that you handle number 1 directly influences number 2.

There was something else on this forum where someone posted a clip of someone in their home taking a verbal and physical assault from some short haired agro guy and everyone put there two pennies worth in for what they would do if they were in that situation. Someone else, I think it was Richie, then basically said that you could win that fight on the day but guess who's coming to visit you later, next week, next month etc.

Hope you get something sorted out soon.

Hi AndyJ

They must hold you in some regard if all they are able to do is shout at you in groups from a distance mate!!! They know where you live but they will also be very aware that you know where they live, so on that basis it seems unlikely to go any further! Your in a sort of Check situation from Chess. I wouldn't provoke them, however, and this is the difficult part, I would be more than happy to walk past them on a daily basis when going about my business! My experience is that as you approach them the noise will die down, those closest to you will turn their backs on you and any others will look at the ground, as you get in ear shot they will start to sporadically whisper, some will walk away but the very few, usually 1 or 2 bodies that are willing to growl at you are the only ones that require a home visit should it kick off as you've now identified the core of the trouble, give them friendly "alright" as you swagger past, they will very probably respond in friendly manner. What will this achieve ? Well you've knocked their door(figuratively speaking) in front of their gang and they had FUCK ALL to say about it, job done. Their little gang hasn't come accross you at close range before and they will be fairly unsure of themselves and their ground. With any luck they will go back to being a blur of low cost knock off Sports wear and Burberry topped of with a skip cap.

I could write all day about what do if it all kicks off , but, couldn't we all, you seem to be doing fine just show them that you posses a FAR LARGER pair of testicles than they do

Hope this helps in some way

Good Luck mate

I used to have this problem, everytime I walked my dog there would be crowds of chavs giving me verbal grief. Mostly it was just stuff like "what you lookin at?" or name calling, in which case I would either ignore it, or reply with something witty to confuse them, depended on the mood.

Occasionally I would get told im gonna get my head smashed in or something to that effect, in which case I would just stand there and tell them to come and take their best shot. Out of all the times this happened, only one actualy hit me.

I never have any trouble anymore, but I think it's more to do with my attitude towards violence rather than any actions I have taken. Gradualy I have gained a tougher mentality and I suppose they pick it up cos I never have any problems now.

Just to also add, none of them ever said anything on their own, they made sure they were always in groups to say anything, shows how tough they really are eh!

Anyway hope this helped!

almost impossible to give you real advice via a forum for the situation you describe, theough the lads have done a pretty good job so far

I want to say two conflicting things: dont make a mountain out of a molehill, they are just kids AND/BUT gangs of "chavs" have killed people so be careful

you just got to train mate, you say you are a novice: now is the time to start your psycholigical and physical self protection training in earnest, find a good instructor and go to work.

Nasty situation man,
I dont know your background, but if you have a big family, and dangerous friends.. then you maby can go to confrontate them..
but if you do now, and you dont scare them.. the violent will escalate and you have to move from there.
Maby a stupid question, but have you tried to talk to them?

But i know from experience, when i lived in Arnhem, a guy became a friend of me because he helped me in a difficutlt situation.. but he was a neo nazi like ive never ever seen before.
really, bald head ss on his head tattoated. and the funny thing is... he dont had neo nazi friends anymore, but we lived in a neighbourhood, with almost only arab people, and black people..

and believe me, he was alone against a whole neigbourhood..
NO body ever ever dared to touch him.. one time 8 turkish guy s provoced him.. but he was walking with his big rottweiler.. he bring his dog home and went back Alone! with a knife ofcourse. from that day , every turk greets him. this guy i saw never ever a piece of fear. only extreme aggression.

What i like to say is.. you have in my opinion 5 options.

1 talk to them
2 confrontate them hard with your friends
3 Show yourself as a lean mean fighting machine, no mercy never
4 avoid every confrontation, and leave it to the police/ social workers
5 move to another place, because it never stops.

I wish you all the succes in the world, but remember dont go in the fight if you dont now for sure you allready won.

greets!

just as I expected good advice from all of you guys it's helped a lot.
Paulb you're spot on- there are only 2 main mouthpieces... the rest are just hangers on, so I've isolated those two from the rest.
This has gone a long way towards helping me to make my plans

Thankyou for your help
Andy

no worries Andy- I would consider Chulo's advice seriously: try befriending them- they are only young and pretty easy to manipulate, if you can play up to the ego of the alpha of the group and form some kind of rapport on their level it will probably end it dead

buy them some "white lighting" gut rot tramps cider and some b+h nasty ciggies and give them some rocks to throw at each other, they will love you forever