The Safety of Fans in the North Stand

[CaptainRed]

Sorry but thats bollocks, are you old enough to remember away fans in south stand? Fair enough odd few teams would sell out and create atmosphere/banter but a lot of the time, even in the prem, teams would struggle to bring more than 1-1.5k and end was empty - it looked shite on tv as well.
Atmosphere has suffered massively due to the worst period of football in the clubs history, not the away fans moving imo.

I'm 54 and up until 2019 I'd attended every single game played at the SoL bar 2. Atmosphere suffered immediately after the away fans were shifted. That was nowt to do with the football. The SWC was a fantastic area and because of the acoustics of it, they could drown out the away supporters next to them. What we have now is nowhere near as good as what we have and there's now zero interaction between home and away fans which is traditionally a big part of the atmosphere at a football ground.

 

[Bossworld]

Does this happen at st james

I’ve not seen it happen (I’ve been with Wolves for the last 11 years that the sides have met) but others’ experience may be different

 

[samaistonsrightfoot]

Mouthpiece?

Two people got caught throwing something and both got arrested. Hopefully they both get a long ban at least and a prison sentence if throwing anything dangerous.

A mate of mine (Sunderland supporter before you say anything) only saw a flare coming down. Don't know what the other item was. But yes we do have a few idiots just like you do. The vast majority of us are OK and had a good time mingling with your supporters. Just how it should be.

Club has confirmed nobody has been arrested (as of yesterday) so I'm not sure why this is being pushed.

 

[Roker Scoreboard]

Leave them were they are.

Put a couple of decent static super high Res cameras on the roof/wall along with a retractable net.

A good few thousand pound and that's it sorted for me, and I sit slap bang in the middle of the lower north stand.

Yeah agree. This can be sorted immediately by the club but they are choosing to do nothing.

Club has confirmed nobody has been arrested (as of yesterday) so I'm not sure why this is being pushed.

Confirmed they have passed the cctv images of someone who is believed to have thrown the bottle, but you're right no one has been nicked as yet.

 

[Bossworld]

I'm 54 and up until 2019 I'd attended every single game played at the SoL bar 2. Atmosphere suffered immediately after the away fans were shifted. That was nowt to do with the football. The SWC was a fantastic area and because of the acoustics of it, they could drown out the away supporters next to them. What we have now is nowhere near as good as what we have and there's now zero interaction between home and away fans which is traditionally a big part of the atmosphere at a football ground.

Agreed - I’ve posted about my experiences back in 2011 and 2012 at the SoL with Wolves, was one of the few places we were audibly outsung

 

[CaptainRed]

sorry like, but you can't just say something is 'fact' when its an absolute load of bollocks. i had my ST in the SWC for years and years and we were screaming out for a bigger singing section because the SWC was impossible to expand and regularly got outsung by the away fans. there was about 2000 of us penned in, and regularaly 3000+ away fans.

now, we have a 'home end' stretching from the SWC to the SEC, potentially upto 10,000 in the singing section, and you are telling me that the old SWC 2000 lads were louder? you are talking utter shite, you have no idea what you are talking about

And in reality your 10,000 singing section is a few hundred grouped at the back of the South Stand doing all the singing.

 

[houghton cut head]

SWC to its former glory? Nowt like rewriting history. It was slated on here for years - "charva corner" "not as loud as they they think they are" "can't be heard from the north stand" "songs and patter is shite " - these were comments aimed at the SWC endlessly on here

Now we have a 'singing section ' stretching across the south stand and south west corner, probably 4000-6000 in size depending on the game, and you want to give the south stand to the away fans and force all of our chanters into a section less than 2000 seats big.

You have fell into the trap that believes that having 3000 away fans filling the stadium with thier chants from behind the goal in the south stand equates to the SOL having a 'good atmosphere '

Just put a net up

Exactly mate, the "atmosphere" that supposedly got worse, was actually the away fans totally drowning out the home fans. I would much rather the 6,000 home fans doing their turbo versions of our songs than just hearing the away fans most of the time. At least where they are now you can barely hear them past the half way line

sorry like, but you can't just say something is 'fact' when its an absolute load of bollocks. i had my ST in the SWC for years and years and we were screaming out for a bigger singing section because the SWC was impossible to expand and regularly got outsung by the away fans. there was about 2000 of us penned in, and regularaly 3000+ away fans.

now, we have a 'home end' stretching from the SWC to the SEC, potentially upto 10,000 in the singing section, and you are telling me that the old SWC 2000 lads were louder? you are talking utter shite, you have no idea what you are talking about

Spot on - 100% correct

 

[CaptainRed]

Agreed - I’ve posted about my experiences back in 2011 and 2012 at the SoL with Wolves, was one of the few places we were audibly outsung

Back in the day away fans would have thought the SoL was a vibrant, hostile place. They'll think it's shite now.

 

[Born Safc]

We've got the Mags,Spurs vs Arsenal,Portsmouth vs Southampton etc .....If any Coventry fan on here can they say who their real rivals are or does nobody consider them as out and out rivals.....serious question

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

Club statement

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[Durhamish]

Pony statement

 

[Ferryhill Exile]

Club statement

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Would be no need for a statement if they'd just done something about it after the last time these thugs came up and tried to kill people.

 

[Chewit]

Back in the day away fans would have thought the SoL was a vibrant, hostile place. They'll think it's shite now.

25 years ago mate. The people who first populated the SWC had just checked out of RP. Different generation now.
The kids rely on being tanked up and a bit of coke to make an atmosphere.
Raw passion is what has always driven Sunderlands atmosphere

Club statement

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Let’s hear the plan to eradicate it this time. No brushing it under the carpet

 

[Guinness Guzzler]

Club statement

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Glad they're saying it won't be tolerated, and that they're going to liaise with supporters groups about it. I've asked RAWA to let me know what these discussions entail because they really need to be held to their statement that appropiate preventative measures will be put in place. Be very interesting to see what they deem as appropriate because we can't have anything like this happen again given this was far from the first. We're very lucky that no one seems to have been seriously injured yet but it's only a matter of time

 

[Woodman Boy]

Club statement

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Fine words, but action needed

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

Glad they're saying it won't be tolerated, and that they're going to liaise with supporters groups about it. I've asked RAWA to let me know what these discussions entail because they really need to be held to their statement that appropiate preventative measures will be put in place. Be very interesting to see what they deem as appropriate because we can't have anything like this happen again given this was far from the first. We're very lucky that no one seems to have been seriously injured yet but it's only a matter of time

I know Davison says he doesn't want to put a net up. Even disregarding cost, it's a bit shit for the well-behaved fans. But I think there's now really no choice, given the police are likely to oppose relocating them to minimise trouble outside the ground.

 

[Guinness Guzzler]

I know Davison says he doesn't want to put a net off. Even disregarding cost, it's a bit shit for the well-behaved fans. But I think there's now really no choice, given the police are likely to oppose relocating them to minimise trouble outside the ground.

I'd agree. We either move them (which won't happen any time soon), we put netting up (whether for every game or just for "high risk" fixtures) or we try and ensure the front few rows are never taken (depending on away ticket sales, but even then it wouldn't take much to throw something over from ten rows back!). I'm normally very much opposed to the majority of well behaved fans suffering because of a few idiots, but in this case my desire to see our fans in the home end unhurt would trump that every time. If we need a net putting up then so be it

 

[tunstallhill]

And in reality your 10,000 singing section is a few hundred grouped at the back of the South Stand doing all the singing.

I said 'potentially' . It currently is between 3000-6000 in that area that makes noise , depending on the game. If we have success in this league and the next league above, that area of lively, loud home support could expand to 10,000+ with relative ease. In fact, it would just happen naturally.

In your scenario, you are proposing that we limit the lively section of home support to 2000 max, the SWC only, and thats all it will ever be. No room for expansion.

That's the problem with people wanting to move them downstairs, no one has thought it through. I'm thinking about the future, the potential of the club if we get back to the top table, the atmosphere at home games with sunderland fans all around the pitch would create a dynamite atmosphere, as it has done when we've had glimpse of it

See, I want to realise the potential of the club, you want to restrict it

Back in the day away fans would have thought the SoL was a vibrant, hostile place. They'll think it's shite now.

Who gives a fuck what the away fans think of us. I hope they go home from every visit miserable as fuck

I'd agree. We either move them (which won't happen any time soon), we put netting up (whether for every game or just for "high risk" fixtures) or we try and ensure the front few rows are never taken (depending on away ticket sales, but even then it wouldn't take much to throw something over from ten rows back!). I'm normally very much opposed to the majority of well behaved fans suffering because of a few idiots, but in this case my desire to see our fans in the home end unhurt would trump that every time. If we need a net putting up then so be it

Exactly, it's not rocket science.

As harsh as it sounds, fuck the away fans. What about all those times we've had to do bubble trips with police convoys to mags away, or kept in after the game at Boro for 45 minutes, or had restricted allocations, or shit kick off times in the arse end of the country... It's the normal well behaved fans that always get inconvenienced unfairly, but that's the way of the world unfortunately. The enjoyment of the match by away fans in our ground should be bottom of the priority list. Not having people have glass bottles smashed over thier head from 100 feet away should be near the top

 

[the sleeping giant]

Emailed that little idiot as well, doubt we'll get anything other than a standard response from his secretary but at least we've got evidence we've highlighted it to go after the club with should something unfortunately but inevitably happen.

No response yet so I'll be emailing again once he's had 48 hours grace.

There's also a number to call for EFL headquarters. Think I'll give that a bash and see what happens.

 

[tunstallhill]

I'm 54 and up until 2019 I'd attended every single game played at the SoL bar 2. Atmosphere suffered immediately after the away fans were shifted. That was nowt to do with the football. The SWC was a fantastic area and because of the acoustics of it, they could drown out the away supporters next to them. What we have now is nowhere near as good as what we have and there's now zero interaction between home and away fans which is traditionally a big part of the atmosphere at a football ground.

2000-2010 = regular good atmosphere at the ground due to us having the most successful team for decades, which bizarrely included 2 relegations and 2 promotions.

2010-2020 .. worst run of results in our history, double relegation , season after season of relegation battles , a year without a home win, league one football, dire, unprofessional team and club. = Poor atmosphere

It's got very very little to do with how many Burton fans were in the lower bowl