[Archived] Guantanamo Bay in the Darwen End

[Ralfinho]

Ive been told the new pub for away fans is the Anchor pub in Darwen. Nice walk for the away fans from now on then

[The Gull]

Not justifying the searches here but trying find reason for them.

Is the Darwen End still unreserved seating, i.e. sit where you want?

If so a very good reason as to why they the searches are occuring in the Darwen only could be that in every other stand the club pretty much knows who is sat in what seat and therefore can quite easily inform the police who a fan is if they are asked. In the Darwen End that would not be possible therefore if I was a hooligan/violent protester and wanted the best chance to get away with doing something I shouldn't at a game I would be in the Darwen End.

With the lack of harmony at the club over the past 12-18 months and increased protesting activities the police may have issued the club with a directive to try and reduce the chances of trouble in this area when it is hard to identify indviduals.

It could quite easily have been instigated by the club so they can reduce the chances of trouble in the ground for the same reasons above.

Just a theory.

[Mattyblue]

The whole search thing is a waste of time. I came straight to the ground from the gym.

Steward looks in my bag, and goes

'yeah, just bottles, cheers'.

Err isn't that the point?!

[den]

The only trouble there's ever been, was when the stewards tried to take a banner off some of the fans. The club is causing problems here.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Well the club weren't searching that many last night and as a result no queues built up. I reckon most fans are fine with that.

[Baz]

Not justifying the searches here but trying find reason for them.

Is the Darwen End still unreserved seating, i.e. sit where you want?

If so a very good reason as to why they the searches are occuring in the Darwen only could be that in every other stand the club pretty much knows who is sat in what seat and therefore can quite easily inform the police who a fan is if they are asked. In the Darwen End that would not be possible therefore if I was a hooligan/violent protester and wanted the best chance to get away with doing something I shouldn't at a game I would be in the Darwen End.

With the lack of harmony at the club over the past 12-18 months and increased protesting activities the police may have issued the club with a directive to try and reduce the chances of trouble in this area when it is hard to identify indviduals.

It could quite easily have been instigated by the club so they can reduce the chances of trouble in the ground for the same reasons above.

Just a theory.

The thing is though there is very little trouble at Ewood and that's the same in all areas of the ground. It's plainly obvious the escalation has been made by the club. The reason behind it is also obviously to enforce their no banners policy. I find the fact that there is no right to protest within Ewood to be morally repugnant by the club. Free speech is allowed in the away end but don't dare criticise Venkys or Kean is the Message being Given to home fans.

They are hiding behind health and safety legislation, but the truth is obvious. No one at the club is taking responsibility to deal with the reasons why fans want to protest.

[Seggie]

Slightly off topic but still very Guantanamo of Rovers:

I was in the club shop last night with my mate and was having a private jokey conversation with my mate which involved me saying to him, "Maybe I should buy I shirt and get Kean Out Printed on it" and some jobsworth(looked like he was in charge) came up behind us and quite nobbishly said "No you won't" in quite an off manner with us. I had no intention of buying a shirt with that on or asking them to but to start butting into private conversations, which I may add was about how well they had played for once and was quite upbeat, is no way to treat your customers. Rovers really need to get to grips with how they communicate with their customers at all levels.

[thenodrog]

Slightly off topic but still very Guantanamo of Rovers:

I was in the club shop last night with my mate and was having a private jokey conversation with my mate which involved me saying to him, "Maybe I should buy I shirt and get Kean Out Printed on it" and some jobsworth(looked like he was in charge) came up behind us and quite nobbishly said "No you won't" in quite an off manner with us. I had no intention of buying a shirt with that on or asking them to but to start butting into private conversations, which I may add was about how well they had played for once and was quite upbeat, is no way to treat your customers. Rovers really need to get to grips with how they communicate with their customers at all levels.

No need the passage of time will take care of it all. By next season spectator numbers will have decreased significantly enough to negate any direct action. And the countless jumped up jobsworths employed by the club will be back to stacking tins in supermarkets.

[winstonsmith]

Not justifying the searches here but trying find reason for them.

Is the Darwen End still unreserved seating, i.e. sit where you want?

If so a very good reason as to why they the searches are occuring in the Darwen only could be that in every other stand the club pretty much knows who is sat in what seat and therefore can quite easily inform the police who a fan is if they are asked. In the Darwen End that would not be possible therefore if I was a hooligan/violent protester and wanted the best chance to get away with doing something I shouldn't at a game I would be in the Darwen End.

With the lack of harmony at the club over the past 12-18 months and increased protesting activities the police may have issued the club with a directive to try and reduce the chances of trouble in this area when it is hard to identify indviduals.

It could quite easily have been instigated by the club so they can reduce the chances of trouble in the ground for the same reasons above.

Just a theory.

The club have stated that they were searching for 'potentially inflammatory banners'. Presumably they were worried about violence from non-protesters !

[Seggie]

No need the passage of time will take care of it all. By next season spectator numbers will have decreased significantly enough to negate any direct action. And the countless jumped up jobsworths employed by the club will be back to stacking tins in supermarkets.

Would rather not see the jumped up power hungry folk working in our supermarkets and providing services to us. The way its going though they would make excellent traffic wardens.

[braddock]

Darwen End looked to be firmly in the hands of the Rovers stewards/police tonight as at least two Dingles were thrown out for losing it with a ball boy