Clueless stewards barring innocent fans

[Ulvbluebird]

As I was entering the match on Saturday with a few friends all 19 -21, a steward told us to wait by the turnstile so he could have a chat with us. He told us that there had been some bother with some younger fans on Tuesday night. He then told us that if we caused any trouble we would be kicked out and banned. He then said we have already turned away some "D*ckheads" from Tuesday night. I wasn't too bothered about the whole situation, however a younger fan may have found this behaviour intimidating. Also swearing whilst you're a representative of the club is just unprofessional.

[barrowfan_chris]

If we can't steward 15 kids at a segregated match without the need to ban them completely that speaks volumes about how poor our stewarding is.

I notice they are good at intimidating kids yet when it comes to adults they seem to back off and let them get away with whatever they please Macclesfield fans openly drinking beer and Wrexham fans running on the pitch.

The real problem is this lets all hold hands attitude segregate every game IMO the fans can mingle before and afterwards if they want.

[spirit of 1990]

segregate every game IMO the fans can mingle before and afterwards if they want.

Unfortunately, this now looks the case Chris.

Whatever anyone's point of view, its pretty sad that its come to this in non league football.

[extrover]

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" (Juvenal) - "Who guards the guards"

The stewards were, no doubt, operating to instructions from...well Who?

Glad to see the those who bring our club, town, county and country into disrepute barred from Holker Street but definitely not at the expense of decent, honest supporters of any age.

I saw, at first hand, one very upset young lad who had purchased his ticket for last Saturdays game against Solihull and was tirned away by a an over-enthusistic steward at Gate M. ABSOLUTELY NOT ACCEPTABLE. The steward was obviously acting on instrution. WHOSE INSTRUCTION??? Don't want to be part of this. Perhaps I won't bother to come where people are not welcome.

To me, one of the great joys of "Non-League Football" is the (mostly) lack of crowd segregation. Of course one wants victory for one's own team but we can share our joys and woes and have a good laugh and a pint about it.

[barrowfan_chris]

segregate every game IMO the fans can mingle before and afterwards if they want.

Unfortunately, this now looks the case Chris.

Whatever anyone's point of view, its pretty sad that its come to this in non league football.

We are in a national league that is mostly full time teams and ex league teams. We have big ambitions for playing in the football league where every game is segregated!

Some of you lot need to understand where we are going I would suggest looking elsewhere for this non-league family nonsense.

[spirit of 1990]

Some of you lot

Thanks very much.....

I give you an answer to your post and get that in return!

[Matty]

Also swearing whilst you're a representative of the club is just unprofessional.

Happened to notice this on Tuesday night on the popular side, effing and blinding while responding to people (some with youngsters in tow) asking what queue to be in etc.

[xerxes]

Why aren't they situated ..... on the terracing at either of the sides of the main stand?
And please don't reply with: Because the club thinks the Corporate Diners won't like walking past the away supporters

Agreed. With regard to the terracing on the Steelworks side of the main stand, it probably is due to the Corporate Diners. But I can't see why visiting supporters can't be accommodated on the terraces on the other side of the main stand, and on the corner, rather than in the Holker End itself. There might be an issue on the rare occasions when we are expecting a large number of away supporters, but that's hardly insurmountable.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

segregate every game IMO the fans can mingle before and afterwards if they want.

Unfortunately, this now looks the case Chris.

Whatever anyone's point of view, its pretty sad that its come to this in non league football.

Please SEGREGATE Sensibly!


WHY DOES THE CLUB PERSIST WITH THIS BIZARRE SEGREGATION SET-UP?????

Spirit of 1990 (Ian) I implore you to discuss this situation with club officals before it is too late.
House the traveling support as far away as possible from Barrow fans.

Suggestion: either side of the main stand. OR Cross Bar End.
Forget the concerns of the Corporate Diners (I think this was a concern of the previous owners of the club).
I don't think the club will worry too much about Corporate Diners if their regular fan base starts to dwindle because of hostility on the terraces.

Ian, you refer to Non-League Football. There are a few National League sides (ex Football League) who have organised hooligan elements within their fan base. And I'm not talking about groups of kids, either. So far we've had 'handbags at dawn', coin throwing and smashed coach windows by a group of kids. Somebody on this thread has already passed comments on our stewards not taking action against Macc and Wrexham fans because of their (supposed) fear of those fans. How would these stewards react if a full blown fight broke out between these young kids and organised hooligans? And what about the safety of our stewards?

A SIMPLE solution would be to keep rival support as far away as possible from home fans. I've already incated 2 possible solutions. I'm certainly no expert but it doesn't need expert analysis to see that the CURRENT SEGREGATION policy does NOT work!

I look forward to hearing your response on this matter.
I hope that you may be able to discuss alternative segregation with club officals in the very near future ...
We could have a disaster... just waiting to happen with this current policy of segregation

[Steeley]

Unfortunately, this now looks the case Chris.

Whatever anyone's point of view, its pretty sad that its come to this in non league football.

A SIMPLE solution would be to keep rival support as far away as possible from home fans. I've already incated 2 possible solutions. I'm certainly no expert but it doesn't need expert analysis to see that the CURRENT SEGREGATION policy does NOT work!

From what I can gather the segregation works, only when games aren't segregated there are issues, sensible option would be to segregate all matches regardless of competition or opposition.

I think you have more of an issue with away fans having a small part of the HS end, each to their own but its not a problem for me, there's plenty of it left for Barrow fans for the few halves of football matches it is actually used.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

A SIMPLE solution would be to keep rival support as far away as possible from home fans. I've already incated 2 possible solutions. I'm certainly no expert but it doesn't need expert analysis to see that the CURRENT SEGREGATION policy does NOT work!

From what I can gather the segregation works, only when games aren't segregated there are issues, sensible option would be to segregate all matches regardless of competition or opposition.

I think you have more of an issue with away fans having a small part of the HS end, each to their own but its not a problem for me, there's plenty of it left for Barrow fans for the few halves of football matches it is actually used.

Segregation works!
So how do you explain the pushing and shoving of Taunton fans at the replay?
The coins that were thrown?

You'd have to have Bionic Arms to participate in such activities - if segregation was a good distance from opposing supporters.

True; the Holker End should be primarily HOME Turf IMO but I have no issue with away fans currently being positioned there (apart from the safety issues I've pointed out). Different matter when the roof is installed, though!

My concerns are based on safety of the fans - home and away - and our stewards.

[32mile_cul-de-sac]

From what I can gather the segregation works, only when games aren't segregated there are issues, sensible option would be to segregate all matches regardless of competition or opposition.

I think you have more of an issue with away fans having a small part of the HS end, each to their own but its not a problem for me, there's plenty of it left for Barrow fans for the few halves of football matches it is actually used.

Segregation works!
So how do you explain the pushing and shoving of Taunton fans at the replay?
The coins that were thrown?

You'd have to have Bionic Arms to participate in such activities - if segregation was a good distance from opposing supporters.

True; the Holker End should be primarily HOME Turf IMO but I have no issue with away fans currently being positioned there (apart from the safety issues I've pointed out). Different matter when the roof is installed, though!

My concerns are based on safety of the fans - home and away - and our stewards.

segregation does work, the Taunton fans were NOT segregated but should have been. The holker end segregation is fine IF implemented for EVERY GAME regardless. There is no place on the terraces to house away fans that a coin cant reach if someone wants to do that sort of thing, hopefully the Stewards would see the culprit do it and deal with it. A big knee jerk this because the club got it wrong over segregation.

[spirit of 1990]

Tomahawk kid, I'll try to get you answers to your questions....I'm not sure you'll agree with them though.

This is one of them questions that keep popping up every now and then and the answer is always the same, doesn't matter whether it was when the club was run under the old BoD's or under the current board.

I personally think it works ok where it is, the distance between the fences meets the guidelines, it's high enough to work but not restrict supporters views and fairly easy to steward. Having said that, I don't like giving over any of the HSE to away supporters - never have done, I'd much rather it remain for the home support but I just don't think it will happen.

Anyway, I'll post the answers as soon as I get them mate.

[Moribund]

Short of making the segregated gap wider, there's not many ways it could be "safer". And if the issue you have is coins being thrown, well good luck finding a space in the ground that couldn't be reached by a chucked coin!

Either side of the main stand - I would imagine - have restricted views if there's more than about 50 travelling fans.

Seems like people are trying to find issues where there aren't any, because on the pitch it's okay for now.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

Tomahawk kid, I'll try to get you answers to your questions....I'm not sure you'll agree with them though.

This is one of them questions that keep popping up every now and then and the answer is always the same, doesn't matter whether it was when the club was run under the old BoD's or under the current board.

I personally think it works ok where it is, the distance between the fences meets the guidelines, it's high enough to work but not restrict supporters views and fairly easy to steward. Having said that, I don't like giving over any of the HSE to away supporters - never have done, I'd much rather it remain for the home support but I just don't think it will happen.

Anyway, I'll post the answers as soon as I get them mate.

Thanks.

I may not agree with them but that's not the issue.