Photographs at the game...

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Now, being a bid sad, I like to take my camera to every away game, and take some pictures of the ground, as well as the game... Never had a problem with this in all my years of following the club, untill this weekend at Hartlepool.

I was just taking a picture of the match, and a steward asked me to stop taking photos as it wasn't allowed. When I questioned this, he said that it was "a violation of the sportsmen's personal image rights", and that I could be sued for capturing their image for my own personal use.

Now, this sounds like a load of old arse to me, but do you know if this is Football League rules, or specific to Hartlepool??

 

[Insider]

Strictly speaking that is true, but as long as you're not sat there with a long lense and a professional camera, most clubs won't bat an eyelid. FL rules do say you should not take pictures of the match itself, while some clubs advertise they don't allow cameras into the ground - but in the current era of such good quality mobile cameras, this is a bit of a non-enforcable rule. I would advise you carry on as before, but just be aware clubs have every right to stop you if they wish to.

The line about suing is a huge grey area, but if you used it for commercial use, they could sue for damages. Extremely unlikely (as it wouldn't be worth much, unless it was David Beckham, Steve Gerrard, or another big star name, and even then I'm they wouldn't care if it was for a personal collection).