Stewarding and the club/fan relationship

[Mike Graham]

I've watched Rovers since the late 1960's through thick and rather alot of thin.

I spend good money: 2 tickets in the JW; 75% of away games; carparking etc etc and sometimes a fair bit on corporate hospitality for clients and mates.

I love my team, no question.

quite frankly Rovers are clueless when it comes to the core support. We want atmosphere like most other Premiership clubs not home fans who are treated like morons and not allowed to enjoy themselves. It reminds me of a few years ago with Manure at home and I was in the Darwen End home section with my young daughter; the area was also being used by very p****d corporate guests who were constanty threatening Rovers fans. I stood up for myself as I always will and was threatened with ejection. I complained to Beamish (Commercial Manager) who was on the concourse and he just smiled and walked away like a dummy. I saw the the same person being challenged today and he just walked straight on.

quite frankly we cannot afford to loose the core fans, but what is happening is just that. If rovers want a home fans to act like like a regimented group of people sat in their seats and clippy clapping in tune to a sponsored drum beat then why bother going...why not watch Sky and save the dosh for a few slurps and a curry instead

[TROOPER]

Can somebody tell the rest of us what actually happened?

[Gav]

Playing devils advocate here.

Blackburn and Darwen council insist that Blackburn Rovers enforce the no standing law throughout the season. Yes the away fans stand up but not the same people week in week out like in the home areas if you get my drift.

What people must understand is that it’s not a club directive but a local council directive and like elsewhere in the country local councils must ensure that this rule is enforced or risk sections of the ground closed for future games.

Don't blame the club.

Closing sections of the ground?...........row 20 seat 1 please

[Mike Graham]

Trooper, Rovers fans reacted to Boro fans in box backing on to BBE where those in the box were taking the michael out of the Rovers fans when when Boro scored (twice). Police reacted, very slowly mind you, and picked on rovers who in turn reacted. One rovers lad was then thrown down the steps to the concourse. The major issue is a few stand up every game and get instruced to sit down when the visiting fans stand en masse and get left alone; there is also the general issue of being treated like scum.

I realise it may sound somewhat pathetic but a lot of rovers fans are sick of the garbage football and being treated like 2nd class citizens. The result is the fans are deserting in droves. This is a very dangerous downwards spiral with no end in sight.

[Gav]

Trooper, Rovers fans reacted to Boro fans in box backing on to BBE where those in the box were taking the michael out of the Rovers fans when when Boro scored (twice). Police reacted, very slowly mind you, and picked on rovers who in turn reacted. One rovers lad was then thrown down the steps to the concourse. The major issue is a few stand up every game and get instruced to sit down when the visiting fans stand en masse and get left alone; there is also the general issue of being treated like scum.

I realise it may sound somewhat pathetic but a lot of rovers fans are sick of the garbage football and being treated like 2nd class citizens. The result is the fans are deserting in droves. This is a very dangerous downwards spiral with no end in sight.

As stewards find a few faces week in week from the home support and you've got something to aim for.

Mugs stay standing up as a matter of principle and get thrown out.....why? .........sit down for a few minutes.

Sit the f**k down and you'll not get thrown out like that complete prick behind me against Villa who never closed his mouth on the subject and I wanted to throw the b*****d myself.

Mugs stay standing up as a matter of principle and get thrown out, no leg to stand on as far as i'm concerned.

[92er]

I'm with Gav's argument:the club have to be seen to be getting the home supporters to sit down by taking action they could demonstrate if there were a major incident as a result of the supporters standing.

They can show copies of letters etc to home supporters.The people in the BBE have to understand the club have to do this. If all supporters stand, I'm sure the club could argue they have done as much as possible.

Outside the ground just seemed to be a group of yobos who wanted to have a go at the police in a way that was not a credit to the kids that took part.

[Alan75]

Playing devils advocate here.

Blackburn and Darwen council insist that Blackburn Rovers enforce the no standing law throughout the season. Yes the away fans stand up but not the same people week in week out like in the home areas if you get my drift.

What people must understand is that it’s not a club directive but a local council directive and like elsewhere in the country local councils must ensure that this rule is enforced or risk sections of the ground closed for future games.

Don't blame the club.

Closing sections of the ground?...........row 20 seat 1 please

I cant disagree with that. the Clubs hands are governed by the Safety at Grounds Act and Local Bye Laws.

However heavy handed ejection of supporters, ie throwing them down steps, will alienate the club from the people who pay their wages.

Continued practices of this nature by the stewards and the club wont have to worry about breaking regulations as there wont be any fans in the ground.

As the chant this afternoon suggested the club is s######'on its own fans. No action is being carried out against away supporters. And before someone says its difficult to control a thousand or so away supporters, they could start by sending stewards into the hospitality boxes.

I for one am sick and tired of the abuse given to Rovers supporters by the prawn brigade protected by their glass screens.

[Gav]

"Outside the ground just seemed to be a group of yobos who wanted to have a go at the police in a way that was not a credit to the kids that took part."

I thought we'd banned those hooligan types but maybe not...........Where they meeting next game as debs is interested in fronting the police.........

[92er]

Maybe the club should take on board the aggravation from the boxes at the BBE.

[Gav]

Playing devils advocate here.

Blackburn and Darwen council insist that Blackburn Rovers enforce the no standing law throughout the season. Yes the away fans stand up but not the same people week in week out like in the home areas if you get my drift.

What people must understand is that it’s not a club directive but a local council directive and like elsewhere in the country local councils must ensure that this rule is enforced or risk sections of the ground closed for future games.

Don't blame the club.

Closing sections of the ground?...........row 20 seat 1 please 

I cant disagree with that. the Clubs hands are governed by the Safety at Grounds Act and Local Bye Laws.

However heavy handed ejection of supporters, ie throwing them down steps, will alienate the club from the people who pay their wages.

Continued practices of this nature by the stewards and the club wont have to worry about breaking regulations as there wont be any fans in the ground.

As the chant this afternoon suggested the club is s######'on its own fans. No action is being carried out against away supporters. And before someone says its difficult to control a thousand or so away supporters, they could start by sending stewards into the hospitality boxes.

I for one am sick and tired of the abuse given to Rovers supporters by the prawn brigade protected by their glass screens.

Didn't go today so am pissing in the dark here........................But

Like anyone who gains overnight power, someone is going to suffer and I understand the cr@p that has been going on.

Second Class citizens is an appropriate label. No Rights as a football fan is a disgrace and having seen my innocent girlfriend smacked in the face by a GMP Robocop I know where we're coming from.

[cletus]

I didn`t go today, but i did witness the nazi style stewarding at the recent England U21 game. It is totally ridiculous!! Why pay good money to be treated like 5hit & be totally unappreciated????

You wouldn`t accept it in any other aspect of your daily lives....so why at a football match?

[Morph]

As the chant this afternoon suggested the club is s######'on its own fans. No action is being carried out against away supporters. And before someone says its difficult to control a thousand or so away supporters, they could start by sending stewards into the hospitality boxes.

I for one am sick and tired of the abuse given to Rovers supporters by the prawn brigade protected by their glass screens.

Surely the company which leases the box in question should be brought to book. They allowed a bunch of drunken smoggies to goad the fans directly in front of them in the BBE, resulting in a potentially dangerous situation. Put another way, it seems to me that the Boro "fans" in the corporate box incited a response from the supporters in the BBE, and disorder then followed. Incitement to disorder is a criminal offence, as is facilitating such incitement. Does anyone know, or have any way of finding out, to whom the box belonged?

[JonnyH]

Mugs stay standing up as a matter of principle and get thrown out.....why? .........sit down for a few minutes.

Sit the f**k down and you'll not get thrown out like that complete prick behind me against Villa who never closed his mouth on the subject and I wanted to throw the b*****d myself.

Mugs stay standing up as a matter of principle and get thrown out, no leg to stand on as far as i'm concerned.

Thank you Gav. Abolutely right. I'm as big a rovers follower as there could be but I had to laugh at chants of "Stand up for the Blackburn End". Ok people want to vent their frustration at what is going on but I have bigger concerns in my life than Keith Lard chucking out a few chavs and thousands of people going ape sh1t at people on £5 an hour who do what they are told to do.

My mate's Dad went in for a routine operation and died of MRSA - erm not wallowing but come on . . .

I'm not dismissing people's right to follow football in what ever way they want and I'm not criticising those that felt they had to make a statement . . . but come on . . .

It's just a shame that I was compelled to see what was happening to my right as I missed Youri's perfectly good goal ( not seen it on TV so could be wrong) ruled out for offside.

Let's get things into perspective people. Please read Paul's thread from a few weeks ago should you need a glimpse of that perspective.

But come on . . . . .

[Morph]

There is perspective and then there is perspective Jonny. Personally I don't give two hoots about the "stand up / sit down" debate - I stand when it gets exciting and sit down the rest of the time along with everyone else. That isn't the issue at hand though. I am irked by Rovers fans in their own end being harassed by largered up oiks from the safety of their corporate cubes. The fans in the BBE shouldn't have risen to the bait, but the people who created the problem in the first place were allowed to conduct themselves with impunity. If they (the Boro fans in the corporate box) had infiltrated the BBE proper they would have been ejected in nought seconds flat. Instead they got to sit back and laugh at the whole scene from the comfort of their padded chairs.

Edited October 17, 2004 by Morph

[Mike Graham]

The Club will do nothing about the corporates. The boxes are £25K per season for a small box, plus booze on top of that. given Rovers cannot let all their boxes, probably the only club in the Premiership to fail to do so, then they are not going to upset these big spenders.

[Sysagent]

I would be interested to know which box it was that had the boro fans in that were being a nuisance.

Even a general location of the box (boxes?) in question would be appreciated..

i.e. Middle of the bburn end or the one far left / right in the corner etc.

Edited October 17, 2004 by Sysagent

[Paul]

Members clearly feel strongly over incidents in the crowd yesterday. Some of these thoughts were being lost in the Boro post match review, others were in the "Stewarding" thread.

I have tried to bring all the relevant posts together in one spot. This is an important subject for fans - can we please try to keep on topic. Discuss the game in the review topic and the crowd situation in here.

Thanks

Paul

[stuwilky]

I would be interested to know which box it was that had the boro fans in that were being a nuisance.

Even a general location of the box (boxes?) in question would be appreciated..

i.e. Middle of the bburn end or the one far left / right in the corner etc.

The box was the third one in from the Jack Walker side of the Blackburn End.

Thinking that the first was empty

The second had the kids drawing on the window (and Stuart Caley for part of the second half)

And the third being the muppets.

[Alan75]

Did anyone else have their Dino-card checked yesterday.

As I entered the Turnstyle G, I was unpolitely asked to show my dino-card to the steward.

[stuwilky]

Did anyone else have their Dino-card checked yesterday.

As I entered the Turnstyle G, I was unpolitely asked to show my dino-card to the steward.

Mine was turned inside out in the wallet, as suggested to me by the same steward who DEMANDED to see it yesterday.

After having to wait until 1.45 to be let in.

[boris bear]

  Does anyone know, or have any way of finding out, to whom the box belonged?

The company I work for has a box in the Blackburn End and we have advertising at the back of the Blackburn End underneath our box. Was there advertising under the box in question, as that could be the the company concerned (note could be, I'm not sure it must be)?

The boxes do have notices it them saying that they are behind an area of home fans and that people should behave accordingly. However if this is ignored then the club should take action against people inciting home fans. If you pay £25 - £30k for a box (can't remember exactly how much it is) then obviously you should be allowed to take customers who support the opposing team but they must behave appropriately ie an away fan would want to celebrate a goal but gesturing etc. crosses the line of what is acceptable.

I've been in the corporate area at Old Trafford and there was no problem being an away fan there (of course there's never any reason to celebrate there!).

[Sysagent]

I would be interested to know which box it was that had the boro fans in that were being a nuisance.

Even a general location of the box (boxes?) in question would be appreciated..

i.e. Middle of the bburn end or the one far left / right in the corner etc.

The box was the third one in from the Jack Walker side of the Blackburn End.

Thinking that the first was empty

The second had the kids drawing on the window (and Stuart Caley for part of the second half)

And the third being the muppets.

Thanks for that.

I think I know who's box it is....

Don't know how I am going to broach the subject of our Corporate guests acting like complete tw*ts in our box to the M.D. of our company.

Seen as though I am pretty sure that the MD will have been there whilst they were doing the above.......

That's assuming that the Corporate box in question was our one.

(of course)

Edited October 17, 2004 by Sysagent

[roversWASmylife]

I don’t know what to say.

The club are treating the fans like we’re nothing. I saw everything that happened in the Blackburn End, we were all laughed and had numerous gestures shown towards us by the Boro “fans” in the box behind us.

The club have to realise that they can’t keep treating us like this, it’s pathetic.

I was asked to show my card before going through the turnstiles, don’t know why they were asking for them.

I wonder what it’s going to be like against Liverpool?

[tcj_jones]

Thankfully i was not at the game yesterday. The last home match I attended I was sat in the corporate boxes overlooking the bbe - if i was there this time I could have seen exactly what happened.

I've read mention of our fans standing match after match and thus an aggressive approach is the result, but unless the seat numbers and faces of the individuals are remembered perfectly by the stewards then frankly I don't count that as an excuse for their behaviour at all. Every club will have fans that stand on occasion - the entire home stand cannot be victimised because of the actions of a few. If there are people standing week in, week out, address them individually.

To do this in a game we are losing heavily speaks volumes for the incompetance of the stewards - they must be aware that the fans will already be pretty furious with the rubbish on the pitch and that they are more likely to retaliate to thuggish policeing.

The last away match I attended was at Charlton. Towards the end, large sections stood for prolonged periods but the stewards let us be. If someone infront of you stands, you stand - the fans recognize this, as did the stewards, and nobody really cared. The result was a far more enjoyable match, despite eventually losing. There was absolutely no trouble to speak of... well I didn't see any anyway.

Edited October 17, 2004 by tcj_jones

[stuwilky]

I would be interested to know which box it was that had the boro fans in that were being a nuisance.

Even a general location of the box (boxes?) in question would be appreciated..

i.e. Middle of the bburn end or the one far left / right in the corner etc.

The box was the third one in from the Jack Walker side of the Blackburn End.

Thinking that the first was empty

The second had the kids drawing on the window (and Stuart Caley for part of the second half)

And the third being the muppets.

Thanks for that.

I think I know who's box it is....

Don't know how I am going to broach the subject of our Corporate guests acting like complete tw*ts in our box to the M.D. of our company.

Seen as though I am pretty sure that the MD will have been there whilst they were doing the above.......

My advice, dont bother.

IF our club decide to take action let them do it.

Edited October 17, 2004 by stuwilky