[Albion] Bottle Top BAN!

[Nobby]

Cleaning costs? I seriously doubt the areas (apart from 1901) are cleaned apart from picking up litter. I've seen cobwebs I could knit a scarf from.

How stringent are the searches for bottle tops going to be? Remember you only get a pat down.

Don’t forget - the cameras can identify the time in your watch. If you try to surreptitiously get your bottle top out inside the ground you will be BANNED

 

[hoveboyslim]

Is it? For it to be reasonable, the benefits need to outweigh the costs/inconvenience. How many counts of bottles being thrown on the Amex pitch have there been? How many people are going to be inconvenienced by this? There is now an increased likelihood of spillages (increasing slip risks, cleaning costs). What about the risk, particularly in the hotter months of issues around dehydration, particularly kids who will be prone to accidental spillages (making 'just buy a[nother] drink from the concourse' costly, perhaps prohibitively so) and elderly for whom mobility issues make going back and forth to the refreshment stands an inconvenience. It goes against the clubs stated aims to be environmentally friendly and reduce single use plastics who will reuse a plastic bottle with no cap? There's also bad will - look at the responses in this thread, and the previous thread on flasks being banned.

What is the benefit? People are stopped from doing something that they've done so infrequently I can't remember it happening. I can remember a pie being thrown - if they stop people taking beer to their seats why isn't it just as easy to stop them taking their pies there? I remember coins being thrown. I remember empty crisp packets blowing across the pitch. I remember a sex toy being thrown on the pitch.

I don't recall a bottle being thrown. I don't claim it never happens, but I don't remember it happening at the amex. So is it really reasonable to inconvenience so many people for such a minor risk?

Is it really such an issue? I don't accept they will be more spillages; look at the vast volumes of pints drunk from plastic cups with wide brims, if people can manage with that I can't see it that difficult to hold a water bottle upright. Issues with dehydration? Seriously?! It's a football stadium with kiosks every 20m on the concourse, not the gobi desert. Then you go on to re-using plastics, why not re-use them?

He's a suggestion. Bring an empty bottle (or more if you have serious concerns about dehydration) and when you get on to the concourse go to the counter and ask them to fill your bottle up with tap water. They will and for free. Or if you have forgotten your bottle ask for some tap water and they will give that to you in a plastic cup, for free.

I agree it's very annoying and unsettling with the erosion of things we have been brought up on, such as not being able to take flasks in etc, but there are worse things to get upset about.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Is it really such an issue? I don't accept they will be more spillages; look at the vast volumes of pints drunk from plastic cups with wide brims, if people can manage with that I can't see it that difficult to hold a water bottle upright. Issues with dehydration? Seriously?! It's a football stadium with kiosks every 20m on the concourse, not the gobi desert. Then you go on to re-using plastics, why not re-use them?

He's a suggestion. Bring an empty bottle (or more if you have serious concerns about dehydration) and when you get on to the concourse go to the counter and ask them to fill your bottle up with tap water. They will and for free. Or if you have forgotten your bottle ask for some tap water and they will give that to you in a plastic cup, for free.

I agree it's very annoying and unsettling with the erosion of things we have been brought up on, such as not being able to take flasks in etc, but there are worse things to get upset about.

You don't drink a bottle of water in one go unless you are very thirsty. Putting it under your seat risks it getting kicked over many times during a match. Cling film is useful.

 

[hoveboyslim]

You don't drink a bottle of water in one go unless you are very thirsty. Putting it under your seat risks it getting kicked over many times during a match. Cling film is useful.

Ssshh. They will ban that as well!!

 

[Bozza]

How stringent are the searches for bottle tops going to be? Remember you only get a pat down.

I'm not sure that's the point. If you get seen inside the ground with a topped bottle you risk a ban of some length from the Amex. We could all smuggle a bottle top into a football ground. Would you want to risk your access to watching Albion play though?

Is it really such an issue? I don't accept they will be more spillages; look at the vast volumes of pints drunk from plastic cups with wide brims, if people can manage with that I can't see it that difficult to hold a water bottle upright.

Have you got kids and do you take them to football? With my kids, the chances of a full bottle, with no top on, surviving until completely drunk is almost nil. It just won't happen. Beyond that, the bottle of water/Diet Coke is rarely fully consumed at the game itself, which means we'd either have to abandon it, or take it on our journey home, again with no bottle top.

You don't drink a bottle of water in one go unless you are very thirsty. Putting it under your seat risks it getting kicked over many times during a match. Cling film is useful.

I'd already considered cling film, and whilst not against the letter of the new rule, it's certainly against the spirit of it, in that it creates a sealed bottle which could, in theory, be thrown. It would be only a matter of time before the rule is revised prohibiting using anything to seal a bottle in this way.

 

[LamieRobertson]

You know that it's free to get water at the game, right?

I prefer sparkling...find it quite refreshing

 

[NooBHA]

I have not commented on this bottletop, flask thing before, but I do believe the club is going way over the top with these rules. Exactly how many problems have there been with people throwing bottles with tops on? Easy enough to quickly identify the culprit with CCTV and such. All the club is now doing is unnecessarily pissing people off. They really do need to review their policy on this. Incidentally I can happily last for a couple of hours without water so it isn't causing me any personal inconvenience whatever.

For what it's worth I think the rules are a bit OTT but I wonder if the following might be the case.

In the PL in terms of policing, games are categorised A, B and C in terms of policing and what the police determine must be policed by instead of club stewards. Obviously the cost of police is so much more. Brighton I think have actually got more category C matches than any other club and they actually only have about 3 matches which are category A matches. That means they don't even need to pay for police at home matches except those Category A matches.

The reason Brighton have so few Category A matches which need policed as actually historically down to the very good behaviour of fans at most matches over the years. The category of any match can be changed by the police at any time and for any reason.

Security people at all clubs constantly meet with police to determine which status each match gets categorised as. Consequently, the directives could actually be coming from the police in order for the club to retain the category C status at most matches, thus saving the club lots of money o cost of policing.

This may also not be the case but it is just a thought for consideration. That it is the continual good behaviour of the fans and these measures which are causing the what I concede are slightly OTT measures

 

[hoveboyslim]

I'm not sure that's the point. If you get seen inside the ground with a topped bottle you risk a ban of some length from the Amex. We could all smuggle a bottle top into a football ground. Would you want to risk your access to watching Albion play though?



Have you got kids and do you take them to football? With my kids, the chances of a full bottle, with no top on, surviving until completely drunk is almost nil. It just won't happen. Beyond that, the bottle of water/Diet Coke is rarely fully consumed at the game itself, which means we'd either have to abandon it, or take it on our journey home, again with no bottle top.



I'd already considered cling film, and whilst not against the letter of the new rule, it's certainly against the spirit of it, in that it creates a sealed bottle which could, in theory, be thrown. It would be only a matter of time before the rule is revised prohibiting using anything to seal a bottle in this way.

I think a lot of this can be resolved by having a number of water filling stations on each concourse where you can fill and empty water bottles.

I don't have children but that doesn't stop me having an opinion.

 

[Giraffe]

I first came across this stupid rule at the Millennium stadium for the play offs in 2004. It was a boiling hot day so took a few drinks with me for my six year old son. Was gobsmacked when they wouldn't allow me to take them in without removing the bottle caps which meant mass spillage.

Since then increasingly away grounds follow the no bottle top rule but sometimes you get away with it. I simply now carry a few bottle tops with me now to away games if I remember. I'm quite sure many will do the same at the AMEX.

The issue that has always been explained to me for the rationale of this is not the throwing of the bottle but the fact that if you stand on a full bottle with bottle lid you will fall over.

It is totally ridiculous but it has to be say that 80%+ of clubs do this now, certainly in the top two divisions. I prefer the bottle lid removal to a few clubs that insist on pouring it into a plastic cup (Man City and Wembley) when the chances of it surviving the match without being spilt are zero.

ps) my late father used to bring a flask and a water bottle so he could take his pills. His blood would boil at this!

 

[nicko31]

View attachment 103604

Seems like someone in the club has lost the plot and this is at a time when the country is trying to reduce the use of single use plastics.

 

[Nobby]

Ooohhh. Just had an email with the bottle top bit highlighted. Anyone else or am I being unfairly targeted?
[emoji50]

 

[father_and_son]

Do the people who are UP IN ARMS about something so trivial have a similiar melt down when they board a plane? Have you refused to fly because you can't take a bottle of water/flask through security?

 

[Bozza]

I think a lot of this can be resolved by having a number of water filling stations on each concourse where you can fill and empty water bottles.

I don't have children but that doesn't stop me having an opinion.

Of course not, but your point of comparison was adults with pints. There is no comparison.

I drink my pint in the concourse, standing up, with my pint in my hand until I finish it.

Kids (and adults with soft drinks for that matter) will take them to their seat. They will sit down. They will not want to hold an open bottle for as long as it takes to drink, which could be the entire match. As such it will be set down, where there is a significant chance of it being knocked over and spilled.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Thats me sorted....

 

[rippleman]

That's Barber for you.

I posted that after the Delle Ali incident that Barber would use that as an excuse to ban bottles of water and fizzy pop. And so it came to pass.

It has nothing at all with terrorism and everything to do with making you pay over the odds to buy in the ground after standing in a long queue to be served by clueless idiots.

Another diktat from Barber with no foundation or basis and certainly devoid of all logic.

 

[nicko31]

Do the people who are UP IN ARMS about something so trivial have a similiar melt down when they board a plane? Have you refused to fly because you can't take a bottle of water/flask through security?

There is a legitimate reason why fluids >100ml are banned in hand luggage. In the case of the Amex its just over the top. Where will it end, will money (coins) soon be banned? What about bananas, why not ban these too just incase I'm a closet racist?

 

[Goldstone1976]

Ooohhh. Just had an email with the bottle top bit highlighted. Anyone else or am I being unfairly targeted?
[emoji50]

Highlighted, you say? Mine wasn’t*; so targeted, yes. Unfairly? Only you know the answer to that.




* it was emboldened in mine...

 

[ozzygull]

Of course not, but your point of comparison was adults with pints. There is no comparison.

I drink my pint in the concourse, standing up, with my pint in my hand until I finish it.

Kids (and adults with soft drinks for that matter) will take them to their seat. They will sit down. They will not want to hold an open bottle for as long as it takes to drink, which could be the entire match. As such it will be set down, where there is a significant chance of it being knocked over and spilled.

Exactly is an utter stupid rule. They go on about health and safety but you've more chance of spillage and the contents getting contaminated when left on the floor with the lid removed. What thick jobsworth thought this was a good idea. I would rather risk being hit by bottle which has probably got about 0.00001% chance of happening. unless you are sit near the Arsenal manager.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Of course not, but your point of comparison was adults with pints. There is no comparison.

I drink my pint in the concourse, standing up, with my pint in my hand until I finish it.

Kids (and adults with soft drinks for that matter) will take them to their seat. They will sit down. They will not want to hold an open bottle for as long as it takes to drink, which could be the entire match. As such it will be set down, where there is a significant chance of it being knocked over and spilled.

One adult here as such....I don't tend to drink at football for the simple reason I drive....often get ye old bottle knocked over....to me its the cumulation of prohibited things....still again I can see it will be down to how rigorously it will be enforced........how clued up the stewards will be..at the last game chap in front of me had a rucksack with dslr and large zoom lens ..steward let him through despite there being a notice on the wall next to him banning that type of camera...he wasn't aware of the ban despite being a regular chap and I must say a thoroughly decent one too.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Not a bottle top... not a flask so is this ok?

Lhttps://www.johnlewis.com/ashortwalk-rcup-recyclable-reusable-cup-340ml/p3581133?sku=237561713&s_kwcid=2dx92700039252852391&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdHhBRCwARIsAAhRhsnupXIaswtRFRO47k2qktOaeG3Q0MjCTPNbn-G8MOQfvqsCTcvGVcgaAvL9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Doh is that a clickable link?