Stewarding and the club/fan relationship

[den]

I might have missed this somewhere, but exactly why were the fans being ejected? Was it simply because they were standing or had there been some aggressive reaction to the boro fans in the boxes?

[colin]

Blimey,

All a bit heated. It seems like the problem lies with Rovers letting out boxes in the Blackburn End to away fans. The boxes in the Darwen end seemed empty. Not the first time this has happened.

Then we have some Boro fans in those boxes celebrating their 4-0 win (well, if it was you, you would wouldn't you?)

So then some Rovers' fans get all precious and try to take it out of some Boro fans sat behind two inches of plate glass. Really clever that is, MENSA stuff.

If you then get yourself chucked out for aggresion and chucking abuse at someone who can't hear you then you deserve to be chucked out. FFS just chuck a "V" at then and get on with the fact that we were stuffed.

We were stuffed. Humiliated. Ridiculed. Live with it. Get thrown out if you can't and have to act like a four year old throwing a tantrum.

Grow up.

[Hughesy]

I know 8 lads who all received letters in the post from the rovers and this only made supporters even more angry, but then the police try to get strong with 100 or so fans in the entire Blackburn end that were stood up. I then stood up along with many others in the Blackburn end, but not until they took a dislike to the minority of rovers fans who were stood up.

So out of a stand that has around 8,000 seats there was 100 fans stood up.

Yet directly across from the Blackburn end, you have around 3000 – 4000 standing fans. Who therefore should the stewards and police take action against? 100 fans that pay to the club week in week out or 4000 fans that they see once a year?

It really is a case of “You only sh!t on your own fans”

Once the police and head steward got involved, it just provoked more people to stand. Therefore causing a lot of anger. This I will tell you will only provoke fans to do it more. Wait till the next ewood game. The next game will be against Liverpool, fans will also of had the afternoon in the pubs and therefore be fuelled even more by dutch courage. If the police and stewards then get involved, then I wouldn’t like to think what will happen.

The police have to act upon the travelling fans 1st. With the next away supporters being Liverpool, just how many of these can you see sitting down?

What happen on Saturday will now act as a backlash and will provoke even more rovers fans.

[MCMC1875]

Going back to Modi's point about the importance of writing to the club rather than emailing them.

Try to include reference to the following passage from Rovers customer charter.

The Club endeavours to respond to any contact from a customer within 3 working days. If it is not possible to provide a full response to the issue raised within that time, an acknowledgement will be sent and a detailed response will follow within 14 days of receipt of the original communication. The Club responds by whatever method is appropriate taking into account the nature of the initial contact

However, I have sent dozens of emails to people at the club and the ONLY people that have ever replied are Lynsey Talbot (On behalf of JW and Lyndsey has responded to every email, promptly and efficiently) and Lee. Only Barbara McGee has failed to answer a written letter (and failed to return phone calls and forward requested information).

So go on, write now, right now !

PS It was intresting just how many sections of the Charter the club has managed to break in the last few years

Presumably there will be a better chance of receiving a reply if the email is sent to whoever and copied to John Williams. Failing that copy it to the LET. They are up Rovers arse for obvious reasons but they also struggle to fill the paper every night.

As for that twit John Newsham...... what a ferkin jobsworth he is! I had caue to bollock him a few years ago when at his insistance and for no goo reason the gates at the rear of the Riverside were kept closed at the end of games. It must have done some good cos it wasn't long before they were opened again.

BTW Dunno if its true but somebody told me that when the ground was being re-developed Newsham (who lived locally) was one of the chief objectors and main organiser of the local residents opposition to the plans and that he was given the advertised job to shut him up and control him.

Newsham was already on the staff before Ewood was redeveloped. He started as a perimeter steward on the Riverside close to the Darwen End and was promoted by the ex-copper who was the first Safety Manager.

[waggy]

i sit right next to the away fans,bottom corner off the jw stand and i would say boro fans in the main were mainly seated in the 1st half except for the odd song or two,however in the 2nd half the majority were stood as they looked like scoring everytime they attacked.

back to the problems in the blackburn end,the only sure fire way off avioding trouble is sitting down,but as any footie fan knows not a easy thing todo.i have always thought all seater stadia offer death traps if it kicked off big style on the terraces,and some fans will be hell bent on this if we are being stuffed by the scousers,and the police -stewards are evicting rovers fans rightly or wrongly.

[Dan Furness]

I heard a copper took a whack?

[Hasta]

How bad actually is the standing problem. I'm in the BBurn end near the middle and when Rovers are on the attack people end up stood up but very rarely do the stewards bother. In the area where the trouble is are people actually standing for long periods or only when Rovers get near towards the goal? My Dad takes a young family member in the top tier of the BBurn End and says that a few blokes got ejected for standing on the back row of the top tier for christ sakes. One of them apparantly threw his season ticket at the stewards as he was being led away.

Anyway the 3 issues that grate me are:-

1) The corporate boxes. Don't forget the boxes are probably owned by local companies who 'invite' away fans in so it's not like its every game, hence the reason they are behind the home fans. If the away team scores and the fans jump up then fine. Live with it like Colin says. However the problem which has happened a few times over the years near me is when the away fans start deliberately banging on the windows at the home fans and making gestures. Now some of you may well say don't rise to the bait. Unfortunately in a crowd of 1000's some people will rise, start standing or trying to obscure the window view with a flag (which is always quite funny) hence the stewards get involved, everyone gets wound up and you've got a problem. Surely the action of the away fans in this instance is some form of incitement to start a commotion or some crappy law like that.

Warn the companies how people are expected to behave and warn the 'guests' beforehand that they can celebrate but not to bang on the glass. If they do either throw them out or move them behing 'the curtain'. The boxes might cost £25,000 per year but if 75 season ticket holders get the hump over this and dont renew (unlikely I know) they'll lose that money anyway. As I said earlier though the majority of away fans in there aren't a problem.

2) If it's a safety issue to stop standing and the ground is in danger of being closed then it MUST apply to the Darwen End. The club have to be seen to at least be trying to stop the problem. Sunderland once reduced the Mancs ticket allocation because they stood but they knew they could probably fill it with home fans anyway. We can't so therefore we do nothing. A fan standing in the Blackburn End is as unsafe as a fan stood in the Darwen End. If Blackburn Council are really bothered about this issue then unless we get a grip of the away fans surely our ground will surely be closed. No, I don't think so either.

3) In the infamous end of season City game the stewards lined the Darwen End to stop a pitch invasion which was inevitable. There were hardly any stewards in the Blackburn End. City fans, who hadn't paid and had stormed over the gates, did the conga at the front of the Blackburn End. Home fans got the hump and traded punches. It was the most unsafe time in the Blackburn End since redevelopment. The stewards did nothing. Didn't even try to stop them. Didn't say a word. They could have called half of the other stewards and/or police from their pointless task at the Darwen End over to us to sort the issue out but didn't. The one time we had a crisis when they were really needed they failed us.

[stuwilky]

Im sorry I dont buy this safety line. I used to do a lot of work in H&S. Bottom line if something isnt safe dont do it.

If standing is sobloody dangerous then at most home games the match should be stopped and the Darwen End emptied of supporters.

Edited October 18, 2004 by stuwilky

[Hughesy]

Exactly my point. If 1 fan is standing in the Darwen end and 1 fan is standing in the Blackburn end then the safety risk is the same.

If 100 Blackburn fans are standing in the Blackburn end and 3000-4000 Boro fans are standing in the Darwen End, surely that is a bigger concern is it not?

Who is creating the bigger safety risk? Therefore why do the home fans get the agro from the police and stewards? Are they too cowardly to take on away supporters?

[MCMC1875]

It all very political.

When we played Celtic, the Dibble would rather have the Jocks in the Darwen End than roaming the streets.

[Dr Rich]

Liverpool is going to be the proverbial powder keg, 8,000 scousers standing throughout the game being the general irritating lot they are, away supporters in home areas doing nothing to disguise who they support, Rovers getting well and truly thumped, later kick-off giving more time for the drinkers to get in a right state, the general increase in feelings when we play Liverpool compared to most teams, and the stewards and police discriminating against home fans. It will well and truly explode if they wade in to the Blackburn End in such an ill-considered manner again.

Let's get one thing straight, you are not allowed stand at Premiership games, thats the rule, so the stewards do have a right to eject you for doing so, the club can back most actions taken in the course of enforcing this. However it's obvious to everyone that the home fans are the ones being dealt with in this manner whilst the opposition get off scot free. Why the club insist on amplifying an already tense atmosphere by not applying the law equally is beyond me. I've heard excuses that they can't deal with thousands of supporters standing at the same time, yeah? , kick the first hundred out and see how many stand after that. From a business perspective why does it matter if there are a couple of hundred Mancs who won't come back to Ewood next year, there's millions more out there to take their places.

This is an absolutely shocking decision from a business viewpoint for the club to make, having been somewhat involved with the people in the club's administration over the past few years I thought Blackburn Rovers were finally shedding their image as a Premiership team with Third Division organisation, it seems not. Rightly the club can't afford to alienate the corporate box owners, they pay a lot of money each year, how many fans can the club afford to lose over this petty issue? 500? 1,000? More? And for what? To get a few people to sit down more? Utterly unbelievable.

I've never been impressed with the stewarding at Ewood, in contrast I've never had a problem with the police. The stewarding I have experienced wouldn't make me less likely to go to Ewood myself, but it would make me less vociferous in encouraging others to go, kind of a problem when that's one of my main aims in being involved with Blackburn, there is no alternative, it's shocking the way Rovers treat their fans at times, this wouldn't happen in sport over here nor anywhere else I've been to sporting events. How can I possibly encourage people to spend a lot of money going to see Rovers if they risk being hassled? Save your money and stay at home.

The Fans Forum, I think it's a joke, it seems to exist more to give its members 'sneak previews' of certain things Rovers related and placate them in that way rather than be the force for change it should be. It's a token gesture and in my opinion will never achieve anything unless it's precisely what the club wanted to achieve itself, the illusion of power.

For the record, Glenn, I've never had any problems receiving swift replies from Barbara Magee, or anyone else at Rovers, over any of our dealings with Rovers, in email, regular post or any other form.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I'm sorry to say Colin but if you have away fans literally feet away in the home fans section and deliberately being provocotive just what the hell do you expect the reaction to be....give them a friendly wave and send them a round of drinks?

What we need is a simple explanation from the club as to why this standing rule is not equally enforced with the away fans,that is all we ask.

We wait with baited breath....................................................................

Edited October 18, 2004 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[den]

This is the third time I've asked the question. WHY were the rovers fans being thrown out?

Was it merely for standing, or was it because of some kind of ill-disciplined, aggressive reaction to the boro fans. Was there an ugly situation brewing that might have become a real problem. If rovers use this scenario to defend the actions of the stewards, then the simple "we were thrown out for standing - they weren't" argument, will be hard to substantiate.

[Paul]

This is the third time I've asked the question. WHY were the rovers fans being thrown out?

You are quite right den but we will only get an answer to that when someone who was thrown out posts on here.

I can state quite clearly I was told I would be ejected if I did not return to my seat. This during a heated conversation in the FS concourse.

[SouthAussieRover]

This is the third time I've asked the question. WHY were the rovers fans being thrown out?

You are quite right den but we will only get an answer to that when someone who was thrown out posts on here.

I can state quite clearly I was told I would be ejected if I did not return to my seat. This during a heated conversation in the FS concourse.

Things are truly bad down Ewood way if you were threatened with ejection

[Dan Furness]

I got threatened when getting a scouser moved last season, same with chelsea game too.

if reports of a steward/copper getting a slap are true i thank the guy for letting off the steam some of the rest of us keep inside

[Will]

Seeing what was going on on Saturday and reading the posts on here.

Why doesn't someone try and organise a walk out during the game ??

It would prevent anyone from losing their season tickets.

And come on, it's not as though you would miss much !

[bob]

Posted a few times in the past about the stewards at Ewood they are in the main young girls and teenage boys marking the stairwells and then some sort of supervisor (That’s not much better) I would love to know the entry requirements certainly in any sort of physical area the above are just not up to the job and as I have said many times should no be allowed.

I commented to some friends on Saturday about the Middlesbrough lot standing didn’t notice any more than usual standing at the BB end, seems very heavy handed going by all reports I certainly saw some disturbance but didn’t realise at the time the problem.

Hope whoever got thrown out comes forward and can explain the reasons and what happened the club seem to have some explaining to do.

[Dan Furness]

about as much use as wen the dingles turned their back on the game. your still/have paid/paying, so why would they give a flying hoof?

[Glenn]

Unlikely, because nobody has yet said WHY the fans were ejected for one. Currently the only grounds for any campaign would be for equal treatment of home and away fans seeing as nobody seems willing or able to give details of the cause of Saturdays ejections.

This can be merged with the existing thread on the topics

[ace]

I sit in NO5 and occasionally stand to scream "USELESS" or some other appropriate adjective. It really annoys me to see OUR fans being picked upon both Home and Away for persistent standing when we see thousands of away supporters at Ewood doing precisely that in the Darwen End, and at Old Trafford etc.

Just as an aside, I attended Youth game at Ewood last season when about 60 were present in the Blackburn End , lumbered up to the back row for the view, leant against the wall and a yellow coated jobsworth was promptly despatched to tell me that it was "unsafe" to stand. No adverts were covered -which is the reason given at the Rebok, nor was there anybody in the boxes!

Doubtless we will all soon receive a missive from the Chief Security Officer telling us our lives are in peril if we stand , inconsistent application of the "rules" makes the law an ass..and we should be focussing on something far more important- the future of BRFC.

[MarkBRFC]

At Southampton away this season a few of us were stood up at the back of the stand and were promptly asked to sit down, a couple didnt and after a few warnings were threatened with being ejected.

However right next to us there must of been a good few hundred southampton fans stood up throughout the whole game, from what we could gather they never seemed to get asked to sit down at all.

I have no problems with sitting down at all but surely it should be the same for both sets of fans.

When asking the stewards why they were allowed to stand for the whole game and why we wernt they just simply said "there steweded by a different company to us so theres nothing we can do about it"

Sounds similar to saturday at Ewood only the other way around!

Makes you wonder.

[grizfoot]

Did anyone see the fans and police round the BB, JW stands area after the match. Well first off a chorus of you 'only sh1t on your own fans'. Then Police got camera's out and threathened to take a picture. Then started singing 'you can shove your @#/?1n camera's up youR a$$'.

All i can say they brought it on thereselves. We don't get many fans as it is without driviing them away.

GET IT SORTED !!

Edited October 18, 2004 by grizfoot

[Tony Diamond Inc]

Going back to Modi's point about the importance of writing to the club rather than emailing them.

Try to include reference to the following passage from Rovers customer charter.

The Club endeavours to respond to any contact from a customer within 3 working days. If it is not possible to provide a full response to the issue raised within that time, an acknowledgement will be sent and a detailed response will follow within 14 days of receipt of the original communication. The Club responds by whatever method is appropriate taking into account the nature of the initial contact

However, I have sent dozens of emails to people at the club and the ONLY people that have ever replied are Lynsey Talbot (On behalf of JW and Lyndsey has responded to every email, promptly and efficiently) and Lee. Only Barbara McGee has failed to answer a written letter (and failed to return phone calls and forward requested information).

So go on, write now, right now !

PS It was intresting just how many sections of the Charter the club has managed to break in the last few years

Presumably there will be a better chance of receiving a reply if the email is sent to whoever and copied to John Williams. Failing that copy it to the LET. They are up Rovers arse for obvious reasons but they also struggle to fill the paper every night.

As for that twit John Newsham...... what a ferkin jobsworth he is! I had caue to bollock him a few years ago when at his insistance and for no goo reason the gates at the rear of the Riverside were kept closed at the end of games. It must have done some good cos it wasn't long before they were opened again.

BTW Dunno if its true but somebody told me that when the ground was being re-developed Newsham (who lived locally) was one of the chief objectors and main organiser of the local residents opposition to the plans and that he was given the advertised job to shut him up and control him.

Newsham was already on the staff before Ewood was redeveloped. He started as a perimeter steward on the Riverside close to the Darwen End and was promoted by the ex-copper who was the first Safety Manager.

Tis true. The former being Mel Highmore

[CAPT KAYOS]

Unlikely, because nobody has yet said WHY the fans were ejected for one. Currently the only grounds for any campaign would be for equal treatment of home and away fans seeing as nobody seems willing or able to give details of the cause of Saturdays ejections.

This can be merged with the existing thread on the topics

I questioned one of the police on my way to confront the Stewards who said he didn't know much just that you had to be there ?? whatever that meant and things had been taken in hand to address what had happened including the boxes.

As I have mentioned on another thread, I wasn't the only one who was questioning the Police and officials on Saturday but to me this highlights the feeling within the game with regard to the choice of being able to stand - see the 'Standing Up Campaign' thread

Incidents as such as Saturday are not unique to our club - it is happening at almost every ground ( would just appear our club is totally useless at dealing with it) and don't understand the feelings of us as Fans.

I have also questioned the purpose of the Fans Forum on this MB previously and agree entirley with Morph in saying its just a whim for the club.

I am a Pro stander but understand the club has to be shown to be trying to enforce the rules - however they have the power to take things forward to question the moral of these rules and the way they are enforced along with all the other clubs. We should have the choice to stand and if this means signing a declaration of some kind they so be it - at least it will be a choice.

If something is not sorted soon, something far greater than what was happening on Saturday will happen which will then question the safety on seating - might not be at Ewood but could well be the catalyst of the Liverpool game if things are not going well on the pitch.

There where alot of disgruntled fans on Saturday - lose them at your peril Rovers