Forest Stewards yesterday

[Bozza]

And it's because of the Taylor knee jerk reaction that we have this strange inconsistency. Standing in itself isn't dangerous BUT the ground regulations require people to be seated. Safety certificates are issued based on a clubs ability to enforce this. Whether we like it or not we are meant to sit down and stewards will ( or should ) enforce this. I'm still surprised when people don't know or understand why stewards ask people to sit !!!!

Although I don't like it, I agree with it. If stewards are being instructed by their powers-to-be to get fans to sit down, they have little choice but to attempt to achieve that. My issue with the Forest stewards was the way they went about their work.

I think you can tell a lot about a club's approach to stewarding just by looking at the type of steward employed. Forest had a lot of large young men, the sort you'd expect to see on the door of a City centre pub/club on a Saturday night. Attempting to intimidate seemed to be a key part of their approach.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I think you can tell a lot about a club's approach to stewarding just by looking at the type of steward employed. Forest had a lot of large young men, the sort you'd expect to see on the door of a City centre pub/club on a Saturday night. Attempting to intimidate seemed to be a key part of their approach.

Agreed. Thankfully the Albion employ a lot of students and female stewards. I can't comment on the Amex but at Withdean the safety stewards were mostly very reasonable people - it was the response stewards who were the "doorman" type and up for a fight. Most didn't have two brain cells to rub together.

At the Amex I've barely noticed the stewards so the club must be doing something right.

 

[Titanic]

We sat about 10 rows back just to the right of the goal... and I hardly noticed the stewards all game.

 

[Dirk Gently]

And it's because of the Taylor knee jerk reaction that we have this strange inconsistency. Standing in itself isn't dangerous BUT the ground regulations require people to be seated. Safety certificates are issued based on a clubs ability to enforce this. Whether we like it or not we are meant to sit down and stewards will ( or should ) enforce this. I'm still surprised when people don't know or understand why stewards ask people to sit !!!!

It all depends on how pragmatic the club,and in particular their Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and safety officer, are. It's generally accepted in most places that it's impossible to prevent a large group of supporters who want to stand from doing so. So what happens at a number of clubs is that instead of trying to do so, they are seen to make an effort to do so, and instead concentrate on keeping aisles and walkways clear. But above all the requirement is to comply with how vigorously the clubs SAG wants to see the regulations enforced.

Forest, though, is one of the few clubs where the individual stewards still take a hard-line approach - almost as if they're the type of individuals who relish the confrontation.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Forest, though, is one of the few clubs where the individual stewards still take a hard-line approach - almost as if they're the type of individuals who relish the confrontation.

What an absolutely ridiculous statement. At Withdean it was made absolutely clear to all stewards ( and I was one of them ) that we should make every attempt to get people to sit down. I doubt very much it has changed at Amex but I can find out if you wish. To suggest that individual stewards may decide to be "hard-line" is frankly daft. The so called "hard-line" stewards are the ones carrying out their instructions - those that aren't are the ones risking the sack ( and a number of Withdean stewards were sacked for constantly not trying to get people to sit down ).

 

[Dirk Gently]

What an absolutely ridiculous statement. At Withdean it was made absolutely clear to all stewards ( and I was one of them ) that we should make every attempt to get people to sit down. I doubt very much it has changed at Amex but I can find out if you wish. To suggest that individual stewards may decide to be "hard-line" is frankly daft. The so called "hard-line" stewards are the ones carrying out their instructions - those that aren't are the ones risking the sack ( and a number of Withdean stewards were sacked for constantly not trying to get people to sit down ).

If you say so .... but try searching on "stewards at Forest" and you'll see countless examples and complaints of over-zealous stewarding, stewards appearing to have individual grudges and indiscipline there. they are about the most complained-about set of stewards in the 92. There is a definite attitude of confrontation amongst some stewards, and there are too many accounts of it to dispute that. But presumably, the approach is condoned by the Forest safety office.

No need to check - I know already. There is a different safety officer, Chris Baker, at the Amex to the Withdean - Chris's attitude towards away supporters is a lot more relaxed and pragmatic than many other clubs' - several of his innovations in the way away fans are stewarded are being studied and adopted elsewhere.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

But presumably, the approach is condoned by the Forest safety office.

Exactly my point. Some stewards may decide to disregard their instructions but no safety officer ( or security officer in the case of Chris although he implements policy from people like Richard Hebberd ) would complain about stewards asking people to sit down. The solution is easy and has been put forward by Superphil. Strangely there's still people who can't get their brains around it.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

As others have stated dont think it was the being made to sit down it was more the stewards allowing the jug eared skinny inbred boys and the 50 year old,now im older im hard bunch of cnts above us to stand up and do whatever they want that seemed to be the infuration. Also big thank you to the group of chaps who sold me a ticket,they were in the Derby club it was much appreciated thanks again

 

[El Presidente]

I found the stewards pleasant, courteous and helpful. I stood for the whole 90 minutes, but was aware of the ground regulations, and would have sat down if so asked (and the row in front of me had sat too).

The regulations are fairly unequivocal

12 All persons entering the Ground may only occupy the seat allocated to them by their ticket and must not move from any one part of the Ground to another without the express permission or instruction of any steward, officer of the Club and/or any police officer.

13 Nobody may stand in any seating area whilst play is in progress. Persistent standing in seated areas whilst play is in progress is strictly forbidden and may result in ejection from the Ground.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

Forest, though, is one of the few clubs where the individual stewards still take a hard-line approach - almost as if they're the type of individuals who relish the confrontation.[/QUOTE]

Unlike Westdene Seagull I don't find this ridiculous at all. Before the match a polite and calm supporter from Sydney asked if he could leave his small banner on the covered seats at the front to one side of the goal. An aggressive-looking steward said he couldn't, and marched off. A family then came along and put down a flag in the same place. The female steward at the bottom of the gangway went to seek guidance. Her jolly female supervisor, all smiles and niceness, said No problem. The guy from Sydney said in that case could he put his similarly sized banner where he had previously asked to. Of course you can dear said the jolly supervisor. Neither flag nor banner took any more room than the coats and bags already on the covered seats.

The match got underway and everything was sweetness and light. A supervisor, all shaved head, thin lips and earrings, came along and t, like most clubs.en waded in to try to get people to sit down. After a bit of a ruck he went off somewhere else and a nice atmosphere returned.

Some stewards are nice, some are total dicks and for anyone to suggest otherwise is blinkered. Forest had both.

 

[Uncle Buck]

The forest fans to our left could sing what they wanted and no steward intervention.

The very boring "we can see you holding hands" and (in response to our Ole ole ole vicente) "ole ole ole your gay your gay".

The stewards made one or two attempts to make them sit down but gave up. Same in our part of the stand, until suddenly one our mates was ejected out the blue. Even the steward standing near us had no idea why and went to find out for us, but never came back, along with another mate who also went to find out what was going on and was also ejected from the ground.

That aside we had a good day, sat outside one of the pubs on the canal, packed with home and away fans and it was all very enjoyable, with some fine local beers as well.

The odd thing about the whole situation was that nobody in that area was arguing with the stewards. I am sure if we had had the usual sit down, there would have been pointing to the home fans standing, but the stewards never asked people around us to sit down.

The 'gorilla esq' steward who asked the person in question to have a chat under the stand, was unhelpful, but in the whole situation, it was the very young looking policeman that was the biggest problem. His general attitude towards those that went down to see why the first person was about to being thrown out was 'go back to your seat or you will be arrested', coupled with getting into peoples faces to try and get a reaction was a disgrace and not needed in the situation. In the event both people left without causing a scene, despite being provoked by both the policeman and the stewards.

Now I am sure the usual steward apologists will be on here sticking up for stewards, so for the record, most people who steward are fine, polite and go out of their way not to cause an incident. The problem is every club has a small minority of stewards who were either too stupid too read the police exam, or so lonely that the highlight of their Saturday is to abuse their position to ruin somebody elses day, before returning to their state funded bedsit for a series of rage induced power wanks about how they got to tell people what to do.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

The odd thing about the whole situation was that nobody in that area was arguing with the stewards. I am sure if we had had the usual sit down, there would have been pointing to the home fans standing, but the stewards never asked people around us to sit down.

The 'gorilla esq' steward who asked the person in question to have a chat under the stand, was unhelpful, but in the whole situation, it was the very young looking policeman that was the biggest problem. His general attitude towards those that went down to see why the first person was about to being thrown out was 'go back to your seat or you will be arrested', coupled with getting into peoples faces to try and get a reaction was a disgrace and not needed in the situation. In the event both people left without causing a scene, despite being provoked by both the policeman and the stewards.

Now I am sure the usual steward apologists will be on here sticking up for stewards, so for the record, most people who steward are fine, polite and go out of their way not to cause an incident. The problem is every club has a small minority of stewards who were either too stupid too read the police exam, or so lonely that the highlight of their Saturday is to abuse their position to ruin somebody elses day, before returning to their state funded bedsit for a series of rage induced power wanks about how they got to tell people what to do.

Summed up perfectely and comically

 

[rippleman]

Only takes one bad apple.........

The stewards were generally friendly and helpful on Saturday, but of course there was one (referred to as "baldy adolf" elsewhere) who from the off was determined that he would have somebody chucked out for standing; he cheered up no end when he had achieved his aim.

The issue has to be one of consistency; if "baldy Adolf" wanted the away supporters to sit, then he should have ensured that his colleagues amongst the home supporters were doing the same. They clearly weren't.

Consistency doesn't always seem to apply at the Amex though; some away supporters this season have got away with all sorts. I recall against Millwall, the ball being kicked into the Millwall "fans". Steward leans over barrier and retrieves ball. Millwall snatch ball from steward and throws it back into crowd. Steward just wanders off!

As pointed out elsewhere on this thread, there have been several games at the Amex this season where no attempt has been made to get the visiting supporters to sit. I have no issue with that, provided that they adopt exactly the same policy with us home fans too.

Consistency is the key. One policy for the entire ground, and ALL stewards enforce that policy. To do anything different is just asking for trouble.

 

[Garage_Doors]

The Football Supporters' Federation - SUPPORT SAFE STANDING!

That's irrelevant in this discussion as Forest do not have those rails.

 

[Red'n'Blue]

Cpfc have made a complaint over the stewards at Derby last weekend.

Steve Browett who owns 25% of Cpfc was sat in the away end. Some quotes from Palace fans.

They grabbed 2 Palace lads whilst announcing that they were 'under arrest' (pretty sure stewards can't arrest people?). But the way they dealt with this was unbelievable. 4 of their main heavyweights pilied into one of the lads and dragged him away from everyone whilst the rest formed a human shield around them, foaming at the mouth with a look of rage in their eyes, throwing punches and grabbing palace fans around the neck with both hands. From where I was standing this looked completely unprovoked. The stewards had whipped themselves up into a frenzy.

Whilst this madness ensued other stewards (in another colour co-ordinated team) were filming the whole situation. These guys however have been caught on camera by Palace fans blowing kisses and smugly smiling trying to provoke a reaction.

We were 3-0 down. There were no Derby fans near us. There was no hostile atmosphere in the game. Yet these stewards decided that they were on the frontline preventing some kind of libian uprising.

Horrible scenes at the end, pucnhes being thrown by stewards, stewards reading people their rights, trying to block people filming the treatment they was dishing out, blowing kisses at fans who questioned them.
The Palace players on the pitch warming down were all watching on wondering what the hell was going on.
Never going back to Derby away. Ever.

It wasn't just you unfortunately. I went with my son and we arrived just before kick off and normally I wait for him to go in before me but as he was having a cigarette I went in first. After 5 minutes I find out that he's been denied entry and his ticket has been torn up as he was "intoxicated". All this was based on the fact that he dropped his wallet on the concourse[picked up by the Palace fans that we were chatting to]. He had had a few drinks but he was not singing, shouting, swearing or staggering but he was on his own. They must have watched him a while and singled him out on the CCTV. The police were sympathetic but indicated that the stewards could do what they did.

A 9-year-old was detained by stewards for kicking balloons at them as well.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

Cpfc have made a complaint over the stewards at Derby last weekend.

Steve Browett who owns 25% of Cpfc was sat in the away end. Some quotes from Palace fans.







A 9-year-old was detained by stewards for kicking balloons at them as well.

Even it was to Palarse that is awful from stewards, Like to know the outcome and what Derby say about it

 

[Mackenzie]

Cpfc have made a complaint over the stewards at Derby last weekend.

Steve Browett who owns 25% of Cpfc was sat in the away end. Some quotes from Palace fans.







A 9-year-old was detained by stewards for kicking balloons at them as well.

I've been reading that thread with interest, it seems that Derby hasn't been an isolated incident either. Palace have been getting some heavy handed stewarding all season, is it down to information from your police liaison officer?

 

[Red'n'Blue]

I've been reading that thread with interest, it seems that Derby hasn't been an isolated incident either. Palace have been getting some heavy handed stewarding all season, is it down to information from your police liaison officer?

I would say he is a major part of the problem.

Including this season and last season we have had trouble with stewards at:

Hull (Police and stewards), Leeds, Reading (Police and stewards), Boro (Police and stewards), Derby, and our own stewards at Selhurst.

It's putting people off following Palace away.

 

[Mackenzie]

I would say he is a major part of the problem.

Including this season and last season we have had trouble with stewards at:

Hull (Police and stewards), Leeds, Reading (Police and stewards), Boro (Police and stewards), Derby and our own stewards at Selhurst.

It's putting people off following Palace away.

It seems like you've got the shitty end of the stick being lumbered with him, perhaps you should suggest that he meets Darren Balkham @Suspolfootball to show him how it SHOULD be done.

 

[Red'n'Blue]

It seems like you've got the shitty end of the stick being lumbered with him, perhaps you should suggest that he meets Darren Balkham @Suspolfootball to show him how it SHOULD be done.

Our Liaison officer has already been banned by Charlton F.C.