Darwen End Closure / New Singing Section

[Mattyblue]

Middlesbrough are lucky that they have a hinterland to draw from with no league club competition. Indeed the whole north east of England has 3 league clubs.

Teeside is similar in population to east Lancs, yet we have three League clubs on top of each other, plus Preston immediately to our west then around 9 clubs in a twenty/thirty mile radius to our south - 4 of them clubs with enormous fan bases.

Old Lancashire being the heartland of the game and saturated with clubs isn’t optimal for growing gates from nowhere like sides like Middlesbrough can do.

[barry_]

2 hours ago, mrssusan said:

Whilst there has been a decline in noise from the bbe it still makes more noise than the singing section. I sit in the riverside near the middle and can hardly hear the Darren end. 

Sorry but it looks and sounds tinpot. Going to the jack walker will make it even more embarrassing. Will be like Wigan. 

funny how you've never posted but you seem to have quite the opinion about this. 

Someone who sites in the Riverside calling fans who actually support their team, 'tinpot' and 'embarrassing' is laughable. 

Don't blame the fans for trying to do something positive.. the club (waggot and accountant) is culpable in not doing anything about this. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by barry_

[pk1875]

On ‎26‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 23:25, Mattyblue said:

Think it’s a shame that there is this bizarre Blackburn/Darwen End rivalry for some folk, just imagine a packed BBurn End every week, but it is what it is, I suppose.

Moving forward how are you/the club going to try and promote it, so it is more than a couple of hundred lads in there?

Will there be banners, flags etc?

I wouldn't say its a rivalry, I just Ewood is better with some noise in all ends.

The club are going to promote it through social media etc, yes the flags that the DE crowd funded for will move to the JW as will the drummer. The BBE is improving noise wise just need the side stands to step up and all should be good.

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, pk1875 said:

I wouldn't say its a rivalry, I just Ewood is better with some noise in all ends.

The club are going to promote it through social media etc, yes the flags that the DE crowd funded for will move to the JW as will the drummer. The BBE is improving noise wise just need the side stands to step up and all should be good.

If the club are going to be promoting this have they said what they are planning on doing for those season ticket holders in W01 who will be affected? Will these people be warned before buying that they are going to be in the new singing/flag waving area or will they just find that out at 2:50pm on the first game of the season? Are they going to enforce seating allocations or just allow people to go wherever they want? What happens for the bigger games vs Preston and Bolton etc. when the club choses to net off large areas of W01 meaning the inevitable result will be spill-over into W02?

[pk1875]

50 minutes ago, JHRover said:

If the club are going to be promoting this have they said what they are planning on doing for those season ticket holders in W01 who will be affected? Will these people be warned before buying that they are going to be in the new singing/flag waving area or will they just find that out at 2:50pm on the first game of the season? Are they going to enforce seating allocations or just allow people to go wherever they want? What happens for the bigger games vs Preston and Bolton etc. when the club choses to net off large areas of W01 meaning the inevitable result will be spill-over into W02?

We did ask about unallocated seating and Steve Waggot was open and honest in saying that this would not be the case. To be fair in the past when moved from DE many have moved into these areas, and Im not aware of any issues it has caused. The flags are only used as a rule at Kick Off so wont be a problem, I don't think the club need to pre warn a season ticket holder that people may sing near them?

[JHRover]

16 minutes ago, pk1875 said:

We did ask about unallocated seating and Steve Waggot was open and honest in saying that this would not be the case. To be fair in the past when moved from DE many have moved into these areas, and Im not aware of any issues it has caused. The flags are only used as a rule at Kick Off so wont be a problem, I don't think the club need to pre warn a season ticket holder that people may sing near them?

By my reckoning Block W01 holds about 600 people at the most. If we work on the basis that the club or their 'safety' advisors will net off the corner block then we can knock another couple of hundred off leaving about 400 seats at the most in W01.

If the majority of those who were in the DE last season decide to move to the JW lower then there won't be many seats left in W01, especially when there is already a number (admittedly small) of season ticket holders in that area who will have had tickets in there for many years.

I think that if the club is actively encouraging/supporting W01 becoming a singing/standing area which it will almost certainly be, then the least they should do is make existing people in that area aware of the high likelihood that their matchday experience is going to be very different from now on and make them aware of relocation options.

The next problem I can see is that Rovers will decide to net off additional areas, and then when the derby games come round or the so-called high risk fixtures arrive and more Rovers fans turn up there is going to be a spillover from W01 into W02, where there are quite a lot of long-standing season ticket holders. I don't mind standing up for 90 minutes as I'm quite young and tall but around me there are a lot of older people who simply cannot stand up in games and will be unhappy if that happens.

My view is that if the club is supportive of such a thing then fine, but it needs to be done properly. Make it strictly W01, open up all of W01, don't allow standing outside of W01, and if necessary put some sort of division in place, and warn those already in W01 that this is happening. If not they run the risk of upsetting a large number of season ticket holders come August as these are people who won't want to stand up or sing for 90 minutes and the club will get itself into a mess.

It is ludicrous that these concerns are even being raised given the size of Ewood and number of ticket holders but I know from experience what the club are likely to do. When Leeds roll into town and Cheston sees 7,000+ at £25 a head they won't limit the away crowd for segregation. Segregation will be in the home ends instead and that means people with different preferences in the JW lower will be condensed into what isn't a particularly large area. The gradient of that lower tier is quite shallow meaning people standing infront of people even at an angle can easily restrict views.

 

[pk1875]

I don't get the whole segregation issue personally, it's two separate stands. You see many games even local derbies with just a row of steps and stewards between rival supporters. I cannot see the club encouraging a standing area unless there is a change in legislation and safe standing installed. 

[Mattyblue]

This overboard segregation thing is a new phenomenon, we didn’t seem to feel the need in the PL when we had 30,000 crowds that included a Darwen End full of Liverpool/Man Utd fans.

[Paul]

4 hours ago, pk1875 said:

We did ask about unallocated seating and Steve Waggot was open and honest in saying that this would not be the case. To be fair in the past when moved from DE many have moved into these areas, and Im not aware of any issues it has caused. The flags are only used as a rule at Kick Off so wont be a problem, I don't think the club need to pre warn a season ticket holder that people may sing near them?

I think you could be mistaken about this Paul. For example there is an elderly lady who sits in an aisle seat between WO1 and WO2. She sells homemade cake to raise money for charity or similar, might even be Rovers connected. There are a number of people with disabilities in the front rows. Things are certain to change in these areas.

For the vast majority of games this is a quiet area. I’ve never observed an issue for the few games when the DE is moved. On a permanent basis the reaction could be different.

It’s inevitable the singers will stand and while the club won’t be actively encouraging standing it will clearly be turning a blind eye. No way are the stewards going to enforce sitting.

We are in WO3 and I can’t recall much singing taking place when the DE has moved. Of course that may just be me. I doubt this will impact us other than in an exceptional crowd. I’m not going to worry about it.  There are plenty around me who get upset if people stand. It also needs to be considered many fans in WO2 and 3 are elderly and at best have difficulty with steps etc. In larger crowds there may well be an impact on these fans  

@JHRoverhas got it right. 

 

[Stuart]

@JHRover standing isn’t ‘allowed’ anywhere in all-seater stadia. Clubs continue to ignore the demand for ‘safe standing’ and effectively are force to turn a blind eye to mass standing - often with more people than allocated seats which creates its own issue.

However, sadly, many fans cannot be trusted to stick to any rules that are applied or even requested (e.g. please stay off the pitch) so the chances of progress here is small. Although I’m a fan of the idea of safe standing in specified areas, and there is a market for it, if offered German style seating then some fans would simply stand three people where there should only be two. It’s always a minority who ruin things for everyone - largely because no one ever deals with individuals they simply apply draconian measures that affect everyone so there is no deterrent.

People who choose to stand or ‘sit where they like’ at away games epitomise the lack of respect for rules. Nobody will trust these people with anything which requires a bit of responsibility. For anyone standing up, start from the person nearest to the front/aisle and remove them from the stand. Then move to the next person and so on. Start dealing with those who don’t have respect for the rules. Maybe then there can be dialogue and consultation with those who do.

[Mattyblue]

I remember this ‘stand where you like’ debate at the time.

I doubt it will be much of an issue now we are out of League 1. I.e. you won’t have stewards actively telling fans ignore their seat number as they entered the ground.

 

 

[barry_]

Sanctimonious comes to mind. 

[Stuart]

On 30/05/2018 at 07:42, barry_ said:

Sanctimonious comes to mind. 

Sit down.

[mrssusan]

Will there be song sheets to go along with the singing section?

[barry_]

Just checked the take up for the 'new' section.

Disappointingly, it's a bit sparse.

 

[JAL]

Looks like this section of support base was destroyed by the outsiders at our club. 

[Mattyblue]

Few lads I know from the Darwen End have relocated to the Blackburn End.

[JAL]

Who closed the Darwen end singing section down from the club ?

[Stuart]

Let’s have a rousing singing section in the Blackburn end that resonates across the ground.

[JHRover]

If they want a 'signing section' then it should be in the BBE and they could designate one of the 5 blocks as a singing/standing area e.g. the corner nearest the Riverside.

[Stuart]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

If they want a 'signing section' then it should be in the BBE and they could designate one of the 5 blocks as a singing/standing area e.g. the corner nearest the Riverside.

Tbf, whilst very inclusive, a signing section might be a bit quiet.

[barry_]

I did go into the BBE for the Liverpool game but I just wasn't feeling it

I'll give the JWL a few games, hopefully it won't be too bad

[JAL]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

If they want a 'signing section' then it should be in the BBE and they could designate one of the 5 blocks as a singing/standing area e.g. the corner nearest the Riverside.

No!

it should be behind both goals at Ewood to maintain home advantage.

Those Rovers fans were booted out by the club with not so much as asking them first.

[barry_]

2 hours ago, JAL said:

Who closed the Darwen end singing section down from the club ?

Waggot

Probably the only person i've ever known who wants to promote away support.

Idiotic

[barry_]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

If they want a 'signing section' then it should be in the BBE and they could designate one of the 5 blocks as a singing/standing area e.g. the corner nearest the Riverside.

This was always the hope but the club never came forward to facilitate the idea.