A Steward's viewpoint

[Skin]

Look, i'm not here to try and change your views, i'd lose that battle straight away, I only wanted to make you aware and possibly understand that the abuse stewards get is out of order.

I would be ashamed of anyone that condoned abuse of stewards, BUT
there is an underlying issue here which IS NOT going to go away!
The sooner the FLA do something about it the better, for stewards and fans alike, and then we can just concerntrate on what we want to do, support the team on the pitch. You must agree with that?

[Yellow Jackets]

Without blowing my own trumpet I always try to be curtious towards fans so I cannot say I have experienced the rude stewarding, but I believe you and apologise on behalf of them.

Many probably get annoyed with having to tell people the same thing week in and week out without people listening, as the fans get annoyed for hearing the same things week in and week out

[Yellow Jackets]

Look, i'm not here to try and change your views, i'd lose that battle straight away, I only wanted to make you aware and possibly understand that the abuse stewards get is out of order.

I would be ashamed of anyone that condoned abuse of stewards, BUT
there is an underlying issue here which IS NOT going to go away!
The sooner the FLA do something about it the better, for stewards and fans alike, and then we can just concerntrate on what we want to do, support the team on the pitch. You must agree with that?

In my personal opinion I agree with you

[Dirk Gently]

Look, i'm not here to try and change your views, i'd lose that battle straight away, I only wanted to make you aware and possibly understand that the abuse stewards get is out of order.

I would be ashamed of anyone that condoned abuse of stewards, BUT
there is an underlying issue here which IS NOT going to go away!
The sooner the FLA do something about it the better, for stewards and fans alike, and then we can just concerntrate on what we want to do, support the team on the pitch. You must agree with that?

I certainly do, and I think everyone must. Having to enforce inappropriate and unworkable rules inevitably causes conflict. But that doesn't take away the need for the club to be seen to be enforcing them as much as possible.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I do not have the stats i'm afraid, I just turn up and try to do my job and the people upstairs look after that sort of stuff.

Would you really want to test the water of the FA's threats?

Chill Winston. I'm not having a pop at the stewarding or the stewards, you will find no lambasting of them on this thread or the other one. I am perfectly happy with the stewards in the North Stand where I sit, a few people stand up for periods of time but end up sitting down again once it calms down. The only gripe I have is the speed at which they let people out for smoking, they could do with an extra turnstile being open on Gate 5 & 6.

Regarding the FA threats, there would be uproar if they did anything other than reducing a few away allocations. Do you really think they would close an entire stand for a match, I don't.

[RoyalBlue]

I do not have the stats i'm afraid, I just turn up and try to do my job and the people upstairs look after that sort of stuff.

I bet they do. No doubt a mix of Campbellites and former staff writers at Pravda!

Does the Freedom Of Information Act apply to official RFC records?

Sadly I doubt we will ever see the truth.

There are a large number of good, professional and friendly stewards at the Mad Stad, far outnumbering the small number of *rseholes that do exist.

It's a shame that some stewards get 'abuse' although at least YJ has acknowledged that 'Stand up if you hate stewards' isn't really that bad.

However, perhaps those stewards should have words with their employers who, through persistently applying double standards in enforcement, place them in such an untenable position. Perhaps the fans' song should be changed to 'Stand up if you hate Clive Doyle'!

[Dirk Gently]

Does the Freedom Of Information Act apply to official RFC records?

Nope, since they are a private organisation. Ditto the FA, although many people think it should.

However, it does apply to FLA and DCMS, and the FSF has already used to to obtain information to assist the Safestanding campaign.

[Yellow Jackets]

I do not have the stats i'm afraid, I just turn up and try to do my job and the people upstairs look after that sort of stuff.

Would you really want to test the water of the FA's threats?

Chill Winston. I'm not having a pop at the stewarding or the stewards, you will find no lambasting of them on this thread or the other one. I am perfectly happy with the stewards in the North Stand where I sit, a few people stand up for periods of time but end up sitting down again once it calms down. The only gripe I have is the speed at which they let people out for smoking, they could do with an extra turnstile being open on Gate 5 & 6.

Regarding the FA threats, there would be uproar if they did anything other than reducing a few away allocations. Do you really think they would close an entire stand for a match, I don't.

I don't know what would happen to be perfectly honest. As a football fan I would not like to think about the consequences if it happened to a club that I followed.

I have worked on the East Y25/26 and I can tell you a minority of fans are not that approving of staying seated

[Forbury Lion]

a large part of the block started shouting expletives and the area roused itself into a chorus of "W**ker" at the steward. This is completely unacceptable.

Shut it w**ker

As the hobnob equivallent of a steward I believe you can learn from our example, when someone is out of order we stop them from logging in and don't tell them why.

Just deactivate the smartcards of those who stand and that way any trouble will be outside of the ground and not your responsibility.

HTH.

PS - Keep your identity secret otherwise the club may take action against you for going public.

PPS - Tell Big Clive to stop eating all my friend's biscuits when he pops round.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I do not have the stats i'm afraid, I just turn up and try to do my job and the people upstairs look after that sort of stuff.

Would you really want to test the water of the FA's threats?

Chill Winston. I'm not having a pop at the stewarding or the stewards, you will find no lambasting of them on this thread or the other one. I am perfectly happy with the stewards in the North Stand where I sit, a few people stand up for periods of time but end up sitting down again once it calms down. The only gripe I have is the speed at which they let people out for smoking, they could do with an extra turnstile being open on Gate 5 & 6.

Regarding the FA threats, there would be uproar if they did anything other than reducing a few away allocations. Do you really think they would close an entire stand for a match, I don't.

I don't know what would happen to be perfectly honest. As a football fan I would not like to think about the consequences if it happened to a club that I followed.

I have worked on the East Y25/26 and I can tell you a minority of fans are not that approving of staying seated

It's unworkable. How would you tell a whole block of people not to turn up at the ground on the day because they were banned due to persistent standing? Send them a strongly worded letter saying that their pass had been deleted for that game, they would simply turn up still and find grievance with any nearby stewards/ticket office and you would have a riot on your hands. Reducing away allocations only works on persistent standing of the fans away from home, otherwise you are punishing those that aren't even involved

[Yellow Jackets]

It is not the whole block that stands, just certain sections

There are fans who often complain to us about the persistant standers

[MartinRdg]

Look, i'm not here to try and change your views, i'd lose that battle straight away, I only wanted to make you aware and possibly understand that the abuse stewards get is out of order.

The issues you have with standing should be taken up with the FA or the club, not the men and women who turn up on a saturday to do they job they are told to

I think everyone on here will accept that abusing stewards is out of order, and I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Would you however accept that some stewards themselves need to take a look at the way they deal with fans. Some of them are just plain rude and are quite clearly failed applicants for the police service on a power trip. It normally takes two parties for a confrontation to start...

I would completely agree with that. I think the chants against them were a chance for fans to get their own back to some extent. If the stewards were a bit nicer towards fans in the first place it may not have happened.

[RoyalBlue]

Does the Freedom Of Information Act apply to official RFC records?

Nope, since they are a private organisation. Ditto the FA, although many people think it should.

However, it does apply to FLA and DCMS, and the FSF has already used to to obtain information to assist the Safestanding campaign.

Dirk, I did put a wink after my question!

However, the club do have to comply with the Data Protection Act. I know they can charge a fee but maybe anyone who has been banned or threatened with a ban should request a copy of the info the club hold on them - might be interesting/worrying reading.

[Forbury Lion]

Can you comment on the suggestion that asking those standing at the front of the group will lead to those behind being more inclined to sit as they can then see the game and not the back of the person in front of them?

[Dirk Gently]

Does the Freedom Of Information Act apply to official RFC records?

Nope, since they are a private organisation. Ditto the FA, although many people think it should.

However, it does apply to FLA and DCMS, and the FSF has already used to to obtain information to assist the Safestanding campaign.

Dirk, I did put a wink after my question!

However, the club do have to comply with the Data Protection Act. I know they can charge a fee but maybe anyone who has been banned or threatened with a ban should request a copy of the info the club hold on them - might be interesting/worrying reading.

Indeed, but before that anyone banned has a right to see any evidence against them and in particular this means CCTV pictures or wrongdoing.

And to be honest I doubt the club are switched on enough to have realised that any such information about people banned is subject to the DPA - which of course it is!

[MartinRdg]

Can you comment on the suggestion that asking those standing at the front of the group will lead to those behind being more inclined to sit as they can then see the game and not the back of the person in front of them?

Yes. Exactly wjy do they start to ask people at the back to sit down before people at the front?

[Yellow Jackets]

Can you comment on the suggestion that asking those standing at the front of the group will lead to those behind being more inclined to sit as they can then see the game and not the back of the person in front of them?

Yes this makes sense, and recently stewards have started working from the front backwards. Though I can see your point, in the past the stewards may have concentrated on the persistant standing at the back.

However the persistant standers are usually towards the rear, even when the people in front of them aren't standing and so stewards have to be deployed to the back of the stand and so when the back stands on it's own - which to be fair often happens - the have to act and respond to those around them

[Winchester Royal]

Yellow Jackets, do you think that Standing in a football ground is unsafe?

Persistent standers have bought seats at the rear so that they don't inconvenience other people when they stand. I sit/stand in the back row because I know that when I jump up in moments of excitement, I won't be upsetting people behind me. I won't stand up on my own in the back row, and I will only stand up persistantly when somebody is standing in front of me. We pay a lot of money to watch the team play, and if somebody is standing in front of us, we will stand up to see what we've paid for.

I do not condone Steward abuse, however I do think that the steward in question needed to undertake his responsibilities with a little more sense. Wading to the middle of the row to reprimand a fan who was the last to sit down was stupid considering the steward was blocking the views of a fair few people in the rows immediately behind, and refused to acknowledge or apologise for that. A little respect will be reciprocated, I'm sure.

If you want to make your job a lot easier and more pleasant, I would suggest that you do all in your powers to persuade your colleagues and manager to get behind the cause for safe standing.
I am a regular poster on the forum on http://www.standupsitdown.com and I'm sure they would welcome input from a steward.

[Royal Lady]

I'm sorry if this has already been said. but in the case of persistant standing either from away fans, why can't they be threatened with a ban from their HOME grounds? Maybe if all clubs got together to agree this then away fans would think twice before standing and this would then encourage our home fans to remain seated.

[Winchester Royal]

I don't think the solution is to find ways to make people sit down by punishing them for standing. This will only make them resent the club.
The club need to support the safe standing cause. Until they do that, people will stand up and resent being told to sit down.

We're their customers, they need to find ways to cater for us, not irritate and aggravate us.