So can a male steward search a female fan? I still find it strange that opposite sex body searches/pat downs are allowed.
They're not and that's why the OP's post seems unlikely to be true.
So can a male steward search a female fan? I still find it strange that opposite sex body searches/pat downs are allowed.
I very much doubt if this will result in a 2 year ban, but I'm struggling to have much sympathy with the OP.
What are you trying to achieve ? You alluded your bag had been searched on 5 previous occasions for evening games - they're hardly likely to clock you mincing up to the turnstile, remember the 5 previous occassions, and think "meh, this guys only ever got a laptop, a cagoul, a piece of fruit and the Radio Times in there...in you go pal". A cursory bag search is just such a standard, mundane piece of officialdom it barely warrants registering, let alone climbing up onto a soapbox for. It takes less than 10 seconds.
An utterly pointless and futile exercise which ended up spoiling your evening. I hope the club is sensible about this and at worse just bores you into submission by reiterating the search policy, but in the cold light of day, surely you must feel a bit daft now to have kicked off about it.
If everything happened the way you said it did, then you have definitely been very hard done by. Yes, some of the comments saying you were an idiot and brought it on yourself are correct, but a 2 year ban FFS? Ridiculous. Has it really come to that, where a bit of banter with the stewards, albeit I'll advised, leads to someone being banned from the club that they've supported since they were a kid for TWO YEARS? What has the world come to?
For all those defending the stewards, they don't have to do that job, they aren't forced to do it, and they certainly don't have to do it in the way that some of them do. If, and yes it is a big if, this all happened as Bigbelly said it did, then it just goes to show what nasty, vindictive and petty individuals SOME of the stewards are.
I am with BigBelly here, yes I am sure that he might have kept quiet and walked in without offering his view, but for crying out loud he is a fully functioning adult.
If anyone wishes to invade your private space and belongings, then there should be good reason.
Quite frankly it is a cursory offering of security, one that is unlikely to foil some evil plot, so for any adult with some level of intelligent to at times question the idiocy of it all, is always likely.
The paying customer deserves some level of respect and the service provider, in this case the stewards, should be questioned reasonably if their actions seem unreasonable, this should be expected.
I have never had a problem with stewards, I have found them helpful and courteous, but if I felt their actions were unnecessary or obstructive I feel I should be free to reasonably express my view without threat of sanctions.
and how exactly did you think it improved the security and your enjoyment of the game
Can the club afford to ban him? he buys a lot of pies.
They're not and that's why the OP's post seems unlikely to be true.
This is the point though, it seems a pointless exercise.
I have never failed to have a nice steward check my wifes bag and after a cursory glance at her nail clippers, keys, various perfume bottles always waved through whilst I walk through unstopped in the first instance.
It really doesnt bother me and I do not make an issue, but I never fail to acknowledge the absurdity of it all.
Harsh, but ultimately fair.
Grovelling apology, citing extenuating circumstances seems the only way to go. My advice to BigGully would be to go see the club, and be very humble and apologetic. Accusing them of being heavy-handed is highly unlikely to help your cause.
3 pies before kick-off? That's outrageous.
Baloney.
Where is the slightest bit of evidence that Islamic or Dissident Republican terrorists, or anyone else wanting to harm people at an event, would have the slightest bit of interest in a Championship football game?
They're not and that's why the OP's post seems unlikely to be true.
You were clearly being quite silly as you went in to the Amex, but when they came to you later you knew it was worse, and that was a pretty huge signal to make sure you were polite etc. You should have just co-operated and said you were sorry she took offence, you weren't trying to be offensive, you just thought it odd they only checked bags etc etc, blah blah blah, polite polite polite..next minute (40 minutes later) I had 4 stewards around me and got asked by the female steward that I need a word about earlier comments, I said that was 40 minutes ago so what has changed?
She said - Lets just go outside and talk, I said you must think I'm stupid as I know I'm not coming back in
WTF - you're still arguing at this point. How was that going to help?I asked the stewards what (female steward) point she wanted to to make regarding my earlier comment but we didn't get to that, It was me arguing about right or wrongs, what can or can't be said.
I think the Female Steward was in the right, in ejecting you from the Amex, because the comment was indeed Sexual Discrimination.
Baloney.
Where is the slightest bit of evidence that Islamic or Dissident Republican terrorists, or anyone else wanting to harm people at an event, would have the slightest bit of interest in a Championship football game?
Just to clarify female stewards can search both male and female supporters, however male stewards can only search male supporters.
In that way the OPs post is true.