Paul Barber's programme article about standing

[goldstone]

Just got around to reading it. Very fair and reasoned comments. Basically he is saying SIT DOWN and giving all the reasons why it is necessary.

So the message to our North Stand fans is clear, and I thoroughly endorse it:
- Sit Down
- Stop assaulting stewards ... what kind of scummy Albion fans assault our own stewards?

I was always 100% for standing for games, but you know what, I've got used to sitting and it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the game.

I guess you North Standers who won't sit down need to piss off and find another club to support. Crawley is just up the A23, Worthing to the west, Lewes to the east. Go and watch their brand of football and you can stand for the entire game. But please don't continue to stand at the Amex, assault our stewards, endanger our safety certificates and cost the club unnecessary money.

You might not like it, but unfortunately you're going to have to accept that this is the way it's going to be.

 

[Bold Seagull]

You're on fire this week!

 

[1901]

Just got around to reading it. Very fair and reasoned comments. Basically he is saying SIT DOWN and giving all the reasons why it is necessary.

So the message to our North Stand fans is clear, and I thoroughly endorse it:
- Sit Down
- Stop assaulting stewards ... what kind of scummy Albion fans assault our own stewards?

I was always 100% for standing for games, but you know what, I've got used to sitting and it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the game.

I guess you North Standers who won't sit down need to piss off and find another club to support. Crawley is just up the A23, Worthing to the west, Lewes to the east. Go and watch their brand of football and you can stand for the entire game. But please don't continue to stand at the Amex, assault our stewards, endanger our safety certificates and cost the club unnecessary money.

You might not like it, but unfortunately you're going to have to accept that this is the way it's going to be.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

If the bit about how many stewards are jacking it in because of the abuse they are getting is true then my sympathy for the standers will evaporate.

 

[Giraffe]

Just got around to reading it. Very fair and reasoned comments. Basically he is saying SIT DOWN and giving all the reasons why it is necessary.

So the message to our North Stand fans is clear, and I thoroughly endorse it:
- Sit Down
- Stop assaulting stewards ... what kind of scummy Albion fans assault our own stewards?

I was always 100% for standing for games, but you know what, I've got used to sitting and it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the game.

I guess you North Standers who won't sit down need to piss off and find another club to support. Crawley is just up the A23, Worthing to the west, Lewes to the east. Go and watch their brand of football and you can stand for the entire game. But please don't continue to stand at the Amex, assault our stewards, endanger our safety certificates and cost the club unnecessary money.

You might not like it, but unfortunately you're going to have to accept that this is the way it's going to be.

Frankly when I was reading it I thought what a tosser. Every reason he gave to justify it was nonsense given that 75% of the grounds I have been to this season accept standing throughout the match in large areas of their ground.

He is using a rule that has no teeth to target people that he doesn't regard as "customers" but "trouble makers". And in doing so he will gradually kill the atmosphere in the stadium.

It's akin to banning all pc's because of illegal music download. Complete nonsense.

 

[withdeanwombat]

A bit too strong for me,though as a supporter who has difficulty standing I do think it's wrong for others to stand in front of those who cannot - particularly in a stadium where the seating and views are so good,though it's also blooming annoying at away games,too.Does standing improve the team's performance? Is it a macho thing? Is it too much alcohol? Are standers better supporters than sitters?

But you can hear stadium announcements at many grounds about this. Seems to be the same everywhere. Will it take a glut of ejections to stop it?

Addition:- ah! Just read the reason. Standing improves the atmosphere in the ground.Missed that.Sorry.

 

[Giraffe]

If the bit about how many stewards are jacking it in because of the abuse they are getting is true then my sympathy for the standers will evaporate.

If that is true then it is the recruitment of the stewards that should be questioned not the fact a few people stand and are not very happy when they are told to sit down.

Anyway, he has reduced non match day steward numbers dramatically himself and replaced them with signs. Probably the best thing he has done so far.

 

[Brovion]

If the bit about how many stewards are jacking it in because of the abuse they are getting is true then my sympathy for the standers will evaporate.

Is that true? Excellent news! We're winning! If they don't want people to stop being stewards then tell the stewards to stop telling people to sit down, then they won't get abused!

 

[The Merry Prankster]

If that is true then it is the recruitment of the stewards that should be questioned not the fact a few people stand and are not very happy when they are told to sit down.

Anyway, he has reduced non match day steward numbers dramatically himself and replaced them with signs. Probably the best thing he has done so far.

"A few people" "not very happy" would not cause resignations on that scale. He's their employer, he has a duty of care towards them. The idea that football is somehow different from the real world is one that doesn't hold water.

 

[catfish]

Just got around to reading it. Very fair and reasoned comments. Basically he is saying SIT DOWN and giving all the reasons why it is necessary.

So the message to our North Stand fans is clear, and I thoroughly endorse it:
- Sit Down
- Stop assaulting stewards ... what kind of scummy Albion fans assault our own stewards?

I was always 100% for standing for games, but you know what, I've got used to sitting and it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the game.

I guess you North Standers who won't sit down need to piss off and find another club to support. Crawley is just up the A23, Worthing to the west, Lewes to the east. Go and watch their brand of football and you can stand for the entire game. But please don't continue to stand at the Amex, assault our stewards, endanger our safety certificates and cost the club unnecessary money.

You might not like it, but unfortunately you're going to have to accept that this is the way it's going to be.

Piss off.

 

[Acker79]

It's akin to banning all pc's because of illegal music download. Complete nonsense.

No it's not. If it were, no one would be at the ground, people who sit in the rest of the ground would be kicked out, etc. if you want to make a music download analogy, it would be banning random pcs for downloading music illegally because they point out, with some verbal conviction and occasional aggressive language that a whole bunch of pcs in the vicinity are also downloading illegally and they are doing nothing about them.


I also strongly disagree that stewards quitting because of the abuse they get from fans who can't seem to distinguish between people just doing their jobs as instructed from above and the people who make the policies and ground regulations is not the fault of the employer, but the fans who abuse them to such a degree it causes them to quit. And it will only make matters worse as the club are forced to hire "harder" stewards who are more likely to be jobs worthy, see fans as the enemy rather than the customer, and more likely be the sort of jumped up power hungry bullies many people assume all stewards are (even though the majority of the currently are not).

 

[Beach Hut]

This whole dispute could have easily been avoided if the club had never stated when originally selling season tickets for the Amex we will turn a blind eye to people standing in the last 4 rows of the North Stand which they should never have done or state the travel tax as separate to a season ticket price.

 

[Mellotron]

tell the stewards to stop telling people to sit down, then they won't get abused!

So, you're basically asking stewards to stop being stewards. Genius idea.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

This whole dispute could have easily been avoided if the club had never stated when originally selling season tickets for the Amex we will turn a blind eye to people standing in the last 4 rows of the North Stand

V. true. They can't keep quoting ground regulations/the law as being the reason for this and then saying that they are prepared to ignore it in some cases (back 4 rows).

 

[Brovion]

So, you're basically asking stewards to stop being stewards. Genius idea.

I thought so!

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

A bit too strong for me,though as a supporter who has difficulty standing I do think it's wrong for others to stand in front of those who cannot - particularly in a stadium where the seating and views are so good,though it's also blooming annoying at away games,too.Does standing improve the team's performance? Is it a macho thing? Is it too much alcohol? Are standers better supporters than sitters?

But you can hear stadium announcements at many grounds about this. Seems to be the same everywhere. Will it take a glut of ejections to stop it?

Addition:- ah! Just read the reason. Standing improves the atmosphere in the ground.Missed that.Sorry.

I entirely sympathise with people who cannot stand easily, but the 'solution' to this 'problem' has been idiotic catch-all legislation which makes absolutely no difference to the safety inside grounds (apart from, possibly, endangering it by having people stand in seated areas when they could be standing safely in an area designated for it) and is merely a knee-jerk reaction to something which didn't solely cause the problems ascribed to it in the first place. In my case, it's about choice - I prefer to stand. I don't do so at home games but would if there were a safe standing area, which can be achieved, as Dortmund so ably demonstrate. We're paying customers, to use Barber's own term, but we've been denied the choice of how watch the game by idiotic, ignorant law-makers who'd rather simply deprive us of that choice than address what we want safely. You could improve the atmosphere, get more people in the ground, stop the constant conflict with clubs and stewards and open up that choice to people* simply by having a safe standing area behind the goal, especially in new stadia. But the authorities won't have it, and this programme piece is symptomatic of what you get instead.

*And, in the process, prevent people who can't or don't want to stand having their view of the game ruined by others who do.

 

[Gazwag]

I struggle to believe his stewards quitting numbers as the majority of stewards in my area of the NS have been the same all season - I beleive he is quoting numbers covering the whole of the stadium but making it seem it all the NS fans fault.

 

[pasty]

If that is true then it is the recruitment of the stewards that should be questioned not the fact a few people stand and are not very happy when they are told to sit down.

So you are advocating that taking abuse for trying to do your job is okay then?

 

[hitony]

Piss off.

Either use a reasoned debate in reply or say nothing, we are handing out infractions for this schoolboy style of reply!

 

[LamieRobertson]

This whole dispute could have easily been avoided if the club had never stated when originally selling season tickets for the Amex we will turn a blind eye to people standing in the last 4 rows of the North Stand which they should never have done or state the travel tax as separate to a season ticket price.

Can't see that solving the problem and mentioning the travel tax is you just getting on your soap box.....So if the club hasn't mentioned the four rows business no one would have stood? The issue would still be there....all seems a bit childish looking from afar ...but then it's never bothered me so maybe I would think differently if I was a north stander. Perhaps the club want to be hard on this issue until we get our safety cert for the full capacity..just a thought