Stewards

[tomogull]

That's a very full and helpful reply from Andy. But I'm left wondering why taking photos became an issue at Saturday's match? Not only was there the incident in the Grandstand, a young lad was spoken to on the Pop side at the end of the match although in this instance, the lady steward dealt with it sensibly by just telling the lad he shouldn't take photos. So who decided to suddenly enforce the 'no photos' rule in a draconian way? I haven't noticed it done at previous matches except where a chap had an expensive camera with an array of lenses. As Andy hinted, it is nigh on impossible to stop people taking photos on mobile phones. For goodness sake, at the recent Commonwealth Games and European Athletics, the paying public were - horror of horrors !! - even allowed to take selfies with competitors after events.

[ethantufcbaker]

That's a very full and helpful reply from Andy. But I'm left wondering why taking photos became an issue at Saturday's match? Not only was there the incident in the Grandstand, a young lad was spoken to on the Pop side at the end of the match although in this instance, the lady steward dealt with it sensibly by just telling the lad he shouldn't take photos. So who decided to suddenly enforce the 'no photos' rule in a draconian way? I haven't noticed it done at previous matches except where a chap had an expensive camera with an array of lenses. As Andy hinted, it is nigh on impossible to stop people taking photos on mobile phones. For goodness sake, at the recent Commonwealth Games and European Athletics, the paying public were - horror of horrors !! - even allowed to take selfies with competitors after events.

That's what i wandered and the "young lad" was my mate and he was confused why. There were loads taking photos around us but only he was spoken too.

[Dave]

To be fair I've seen the no taking photographs rule enforced a few times over the last couple of seasons, it does however, almost seem to be at the discretion of the steward to me, on Saturday there was a lad two steps in front of me with his mobile held above his head, with a steward stood at the back of the yellow steps who would have seen him and another just in front of him, who would have seen this as well, yet nothing was said.

Do not think for one moment AC is given permission for rules to be broken, my take is he's asked for stewards to be a little bit diplomatic on how they deal with it. I would suggest those who want to take photos and videos use a bit of common sense and be discrete in how you do it, if your going flaunt the fact your taking photos expect to be spoken to.

[taxilady]

Thanks very much to Andrew for taking time in his extraordinarily busy week to deal with this very promptly. It is quite ridiculous that this escalated in this manner. With our lowered gates currently, & not many away fans, Plainmoor should hardly need stewarding at all !

[Safety Officer]

I have decided to post on the site in response to the comments, both fair and unfair,within this thread.
Firstly, articles 16 & 19 of the Ground Regulations, issued by the Football League, refer to the use of mobile phones and camera's for taking. images/recordings of the match. However, after a discussion with Andrew Candy the club, as you already know, have requested a more lenient approach. To effectively 'police' this we will no longer be 'bullying' supporters who use their mobiles to record still images of the game. However, the club have decided that recording action on any device will not be permitted and stewards will be instructed to request such recordings to be deleted. Flash photography and the use of camera's will not be permitted at any time.

Secondly, I would like to apologise to all supporters who attended the match, and those not present, for my over zealous reaction to supporters who use empty seats as footrests. I place the blame firmly on my parents who raised me to respect other people's property and keep my feet on the ground. i would like to add that we have had a few complaints from supporters with regard to the state of some seats. In future stewards will not speak to any supporter who feels the need to use empty seats as footrests.

Thirdly, 'agent 007' was acting on instructions passed on by myself and should not take the blame. Whilst not all the facts of the eviction are not included in the posts on this thread (sorry, no I will not elaborate), the incident was escalated by other supporters becoming involved which made the incident harder to deal with.

Finally, I have had time to reflect upon my decision to evict the two lads and realise that I probably over reacted. If anybody knows the two guys I would personally like to refund their admission fee and arrange for two free tickets for the next game (courtesy of Andrew Candy). As people have mentioned the stewards are in attendance to ensure the safety of everybody who attends the game and to uphold the Ground Regulations and club policies. Something we all agree to adhere to when purchasing a ticket. So, in future I will try and ensure that all stewards act in a diplomatic and professional manner in an attempt to alleviate the 'bully boy' image perceived by some supporters.

Once again, i would like to apologise to any supporter who feels that they have been mistreated by the stewards. I am available on match days to discuss these matters further if anybody wishes to contact me, via their nearest steward. I am sure that you will find me to be a reasonable and fair person who is just trying to do their job. After all we are all governed by rules and regulations that we have to abide by and let's face it.....damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Thank you for reading this post.
Yours
Rob Stanley

[taxilady]

Thanks for 'standing up to be counted' Rob, & not being afraid to being 'where the buck stops'. Can't argue with your statement (though one or two may try).Part of the attraction of Plainmoor is in its 'small & friendly' ethos; increasingly , rules & regs are taking the 'humanity' out of society. The above sounds like a fair compromise to me, though I do agree about people not having enough respect generally these days for other people's property or feelings on occasion. Now we can concentrate on discouraging seagull invasions of The Bench !

[taxilady]

Thanks for 'standing up to be counted' Rob, & not being afraid to being 'where the buck stops'. Can't argue with your statement (though one or two may try).Part of the attraction of Plainmoor is in its 'small & friendly' ethos; increasingly , rules & regs are taking the 'humanity' out of society. The above sounds like a fair compromise to me, though I do agree about people not having enough respect generally these days for other people's property or feelings on occasion. Now we can concentrate on discouraging seagull invasions of The Bench !

[hector]

I think the comment from the 'Safety Officer' is fair enough. I think it has to be a case of common sense. Common sense dictates that stewards/police cannot possibly prevent every member of the crowd from taking photos on their phones. How would they be able to discern whether photos or video footage has been shot in any case? If they attempt to stop one person, then that person is entitled to feel hard-done by when so many other people are doing the same.

Even at concerts now, where the footage would have once been described as 'bootleg' concert organisers probably realise they are fighting a losing battle and now filming on phones is commonplace. Its not like you could film for very long before your phone died anyway. Most of the stewards I encounter at Plainmoor, to be fair, are fine. One or two meat-heads, in the past, have overstepped the mark but on the whole, they are generally fairly polite.

I think the 'turning a blind eye' to people taking snaps on their phones, would be a sensible approach because to get heavy-handed about it is making mountains out of molehills and creating an unnecessary issue. Also, the next fan that is prevented from doing so is likely to add fuel to a fire that Andrew and Rob appear to have worked hard to quell.

[lucy6lucy]

I have decided to post on the site in response to the comments, both fair and unfair,within this thread.
Firstly, articles 16 & 19 of the Ground Regulations, issued by the Football League, refer to the use of mobile phones and camera's for taking. images/recordings of the match. However, after a discussion with Andrew Candy the club, as you already know, have requested a more lenient approach. To effectively 'police' this we will no longer be 'bullying' supporters who use their mobiles to record still images of the game. However, the club have decided that recording action on any device will not be permitted and stewards will be instructed to request such recordings to be deleted. Flash photography and the use of camera's will not be permitted at any time.

Secondly, I would like to apologise to all supporters who attended the match, and those not present, for my over zealous reaction to supporters who use empty seats as footrests. I place the blame firmly on my parents who raised me to respect other people's property and keep my feet on the ground. i would like to add that we have had a few complaints from supporters with regard to the state of some seats. In future stewards will not speak to any supporter who feels the need to use empty seats as footrests.

Thirdly, 'agent 007' was acting on instructions passed on by myself and should not take the blame. Whilst not all the facts of the eviction are not included in the posts on this thread (sorry, no I will not elaborate), the incident was escalated by other supporters becoming involved which made the incident harder to deal with.

Finally, I have had time to reflect upon my decision to evict the two lads and realise that I probably over reacted. If anybody knows the two guys I would personally like to refund their admission fee and arrange for two free tickets for the next game (courtesy of Andrew Candy). As people have mentioned the stewards are in attendance to ensure the safety of everybody who attends the game and to uphold the Ground Regulations and club policies. Something we all agree to adhere to when purchasing a ticket. So, in future I will try and ensure that all stewards act in a diplomatic and professional manner in an attempt to alleviate the 'bully boy' image perceived by some supporters.

Once again, i would like to apologise to any supporter who feels that they have been mistreated by the stewards. I am available on match days to discuss these matters further if anybody wishes to contact me, via their nearest steward. I am sure that you will find me to be a reasonable and fair person who is just trying to do their job. After all we are all governed by rules and regulations that we have to abide by and let's face it.....damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Thank you for reading this post.
Yours
Rob Stanley

full respect to your reply

[A Realist]

Secondly, I would like to apologise to all supporters who attended the match, and those not present, for my over zealous reaction to supporters who use empty seats as footrests. I place the blame firmly on my parents who raised me to respect other people's property and keep my feet on the ground. i would like to add that we have had a few complaints from supporters with regard to the state of some seats. In future stewards will not speak to any supporter who feels the need to use empty seats as footrests.

Its a shame that they didn't also teach you that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and that if your attitude is reflected in the way your staff deal with fans then there will be more unnecessary problems.

[Gullscorer]

Its a shame that they didn't also teach you that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and that if your attitude is reflected in the way your staff deal with fans then there will be more unnecessary problems.

This 'Realist' obviously doesn't know the meaning of the word 'sarcasm', has no sense of social responsibility, no regard for etiquette and good manners, and no consideration for other people. Realist, you should be ashamed of your own attitude, because whatever the lax and lenient responses may be in the future to using empty seats as footrests, the fact remains that seats are for sitting on, not for putting dirty shoes and feet on.

[A Realist]

This 'Realist' obviously doesn't know the meaning of the word 'sarcasm', has no sense of social responsibility, no regard for etiquette and good manners, and no consideration for other people. Realist, you should be ashamed of your own attitude, because whatever the lax and lenient responses may be in the future to using empty seats as footrests, the fact remains that seats are for sitting on, not for putting dirty shoes and feet on.

Well clearly that went straight over your head and I would guess, given your response, that its not the first time something has. At no time have I advocated people putting feet on empty chairs. My entire point was the sarcastic and condescending nature of that part of his reply. In fact, given the tone of your post, you would probably fit in well with said stewards.

[gullintwoplaces]

Whilst the Safety Officer's reply is welcome, it is a pity that he had to take his ball home on the feet on seats issue. People shouldn't put their feet on seats, and should be asked to remove them, but that is not the issue. The issue is the overbearing, bullying, patronising and unfriendly approach adopted by some of the stewards. The Safety Officer's reply states that the two fans should not have been ejected, well I think that is a shocking admission. Two fans who paid their entry fees were wrongly thrown out because of an over zealous stewarding approach. If those fans don't come back to Plainmoor then that is a very expensive mistake to make.

I think we should move on from this now, but I just hope that promises turn into action. All in all we have a pretty decent, well behaved set of fans at Plainmoor, and it is a real pity that they have not always been treated as such by ALL the security staff.

[Dave]

Yep, it does seem as if the safety officer has gone some what for the moral high ground with that statement, no need for that at all, we all make mistakes, even those well brought up by their parents. Totally agree with g-i-2-p. Plainmoor remains by far one of the safest grounds for any fan to visit, whether their with the away club, a neutral fan, even home fans, seriously no need for the safety officer or stewards to create problems where they simply do not exist.

[tomogull]

Yep, it does seem as if the safety officer has gone some what for the moral high ground with that statement, no need for that at all, we all make mistakes, even those well brought up by their parents. Totally agree with g-i-2-p. Plainmoor remains by far one of the safest grounds for any fan to visit, whether their with the away club, a neutral fan, even home fans, seriously no need for the safety officer or stewards to create problems where they simply do not exist.

That is the crux of the matter. There have been one or two (a very few) stewards who have looked for trouble where there isn't any. It's as if they have to justify their reason for being there. Full marks to Andy and Rob Stanley for addressing this problem quickly and for Rob for carrying the can - let's hope it leads to more relaxed stewarding in future. We recognise that the stewards have to be there and they've got a job to do but there are ways of doing it. By the way, I reckon there will be a long queue of lads outside the office tomorrow morning claiming to be the two lads ejected on Saturday .......