The Safety of Fans in the North Stand

[Horley Chorley]

Ok so you think empty seats looks poor on TV?

Well imagine this

Look North music starts and serious looking Mag news reader intones “Sunderland Football club were today ordered to pay £1.2 million pounds compensation to the family of eight year old Jordan Rogers after he sustained a life changing traumatic brain injury after being hit on the head by a beer bottle thrown from the upper tier of the Sunderland stadium. The judge increased the award as this occurred after a series of similar incidents and it appeared the club had failed to act on the advice of Safety Officers and fans representatives. Nobody at Sunderland was available for comment so we go over now to the Al Qaeda Stadium to discuss the issue of fan safety in football grounds with Amanda Stavely”

That a good look?

My thinking exactly.

It'd be much cheaper to deal with the problem & take preventative measures now, rather than burying their collective heads in the sand, and hoping no serious injury will occur, and then suddenly having to deal with a very costly law suit, brought against the club, by a seriously injured fan.

 

[Big Jeff]

Those sitting in the South Stand were the last to occupy their seats.

Many fans have been in the same seats since the ground opened.

Despite the inconvenience for those loyal fans currently in the away fans area of the south stand - the relocation of the away support is the sensible option.

The time for action is now to draw up options to give the moved fans some form of compensation for the inconvenience, sort out logistics around security and policing and prepare revised ticketing procedures.

I hope we hear something from the club this week.

 

[DJC60]

that was a reason as to why the away fans were moved from the south stand to the upper north in the first place.
due to the poor attendances for most away teams, it looked bad for advertising revenue, to have a very poor away attendance.
it also looked poor on tv when it looked as though the ground was empty
we were one of a few teams, who allowed away fans behind the goal, this gave the away teams an encouragement as the fans were closer and more vocal.
it also meant our keeper was subjected to a half of abuse.
It also meant that funnels of away fans prior to and after the match, would merge with home supporters.
Most of the time, no problem, but on a few occasions, there was bother. remember the barriers that used to be put up, to stop opposing fans fighting.

there was a lot of conversations about the rights or wrongs of the move., but remember the ones to blame are the nuggets who are throwing objects.
As far back as I can remember, it has always been an offence to throw things at a match.
fans complain about too much policing or stewarding at a game.

 

[soapster]

what an intelligent reply. How do you keep your 2 brain cells occupied all day

 

[seaham ftm]

Netting and increased cctv as first choice. If moving them put them where our crazy corner used to be. Close to south stand for police control, off screen from the main tv camera so it doesn’t look as bad if fewer away fans, won’t stop missile chucking if they’re that way inclined but won’t be coming down from a height onto unsuspecting fans.

Won’t be put in swc due to the executive boxes above.

 

[Super Hodge]

that was a reason as to why the away fans were moved from the south stand to the upper north in the first place.
due to the poor attendances for most away teams, it looked bad for advertising revenue, to have a very poor away attendance.
it also looked poor on tv when it looked as though the ground was empty
we were one of a few teams, who allowed away fans behind the goal, this gave the away teams an encouragement as the fans were closer and more vocal.
it also meant our keeper was subjected to a half of abuse.
It also meant that funnels of away fans prior to and after the match, would merge with home supporters.
Most of the time, no problem, but on a few occasions, there was bother. remember the barriers that used to be put up, to stop opposing fans fighting.

there was a lot of conversations about the rights or wrongs of the move., but remember the ones to blame are the nuggets who are throwing objects.
As far back as I can remember, it has always been an offence to throw things at a match.
fans complain about too much policing or stewarding at a game.

Literally none of what you said stops nets from being put up in that area.

 

[soapster]

Netting and increased cctv as first choice. If moving them put them where our crazy corner used to be. Close to south stand for police control, off screen from the main tv camera so it doesn’t look as bad if fewer away fans, won’t stop missile chucking if they’re that way inclined but won’t be coming down from a height onto unsuspecting fans.

first choice is that the efl step in and give Burnley a massive fine this week.

All clubs should be sent a warning about the behaviour of their fans and the dangers of throwing objects and the fines that could be imposed should they not adhere to the rules.

 

[DJC60]

what an intelligent reply. How do you keep your 2 brain cells occupied all day

You think one of the reasons the away fans were moved is because our keeper got a full half of abuse?

I think your the one with the two brain cells pal

 

[soapster]

Literally none of what you said stops nets from being put up in that area.

I am not saying they should not be put up. I am explaining the logic of the decision (as I recall) in the first place, as some people are merely going over old ground and not fully aware of the cost and disruption of moving home and away supporters again.

You think one of the reasons the away fans were moved is because our keeper got a full half of abuse?

I think your the one with the two brain cells pal

did I just mention one cause. Did I not mention a few.

 

[Market Where?]

Exactly, half the reason i keep reporting it. At least I could use it as evidence to bring the bastards to justice should the worst ever happen. Maybe it could help some poor family at some point. Our club is an absolute disgrace off the pitch like.

This is a good point. Perhaps even worth mentioning in any communication that if any case is taken by an injured fan against the club then the communication will be offended to the injured fans legal team. Might focus a few minds!

 

[DJC60]

did I just mention one cause. Did I not mention a few.

Erm yes that’s why I said you think ONE of the reasons the away fans were moved because our keeper got a full half of abuse

You’ve got the nerve to say other people have got a couple of brain cells as well

 

[Wearside Wanderer II]

Steve Davison and his cohort Steve Neil are gonna end up in court one day.

 

[Dundas street kid]

Well remembered Hank. Pitchside in the PL for tv atmosphere reasons. This was in the media about a year to eighteen months back. There was even talk in media circles of this happening BEFORE ES moved the away fans upstairs.

A particularly handsome witty charming modest smbr mentioned it a few times in the numerous away fan location threads we have every few months only to be shouted down with the usual whatabout this club and that club which to some on here obviously meant it had nivver been mentioned etc. The smb loves a kill the messenger angle.

ES was wrong to move em up there, the twat twins were wrong to leave em up there and these current lot are also wrong to leave them up there. It’s been a catalogue of stupidity by a series of rich owners with no knowledge of football attendance as experienced by the majority of fans.
SAFCs current owners need to sit down with the R&W Army, local polis, council and an architect to thrash out an agreement that doesn’t put attendees lives at risk every time they set foot in the SOL and creates the best atmosphere possible for TV. A great atmosphere with players filmed against a background of their own fans creates great TV and that’s where the money comes from. Get the away fans back downstairs asap.

It has to be the SW corner for me. Current ST holders will need to be compensated with more than club shop vouchers or out of date shirts which won’t go down well with the owners, but it’s about time someone ower there other than the fans started thinking long term and an atmospheric stadium that looks exciting to visit has to be the priority. Give those required to move a free ST for a year in the other corners minimum.

Its long past the time for put up or shut up for those drawing salaries and/or prestige from SAFC. Ferchrissakes at least look on it as keeping yourselves out of court if the worst should happen.

The PL and TV companies want away fans on TV more readily.

They will be but that won’t be any use to someone in a wooden box marra.

I agree with just about all that Hank has said here except compensation, when we were moved from the premier concourse all we got was our choice of seat anywhere else in the ground with a slight reduction which was about £100 on a BCB seat this was for three years and a promise of our old seat back when it re-opened, certainly not for free.
however i re-iterate that the away supporters need to be in the south stand and anyone that needs to be moved have a choice, move or bugger off and stop twisting on about it.

 

[Steesafc]

The solution is as simple as putting a net up. Ridiculous it hasn't been done already.

Arsehole behaviour throwing stuff over onto home fans.

 

[Dundas street kid]

To move the away fans into a fixed area of say 3000 seats would invariably lead to empty seats more often than not.
This was the main driver to move them up to the North stand, “like at the mags”

The current position allows the club to set the away capacity to as many or as few as they want. Flexible. Can’t see it changing.

My mate the guru of all thing Sunderland says that when the stadium opened there was a movable barrier installed so variable amounts of away fans could be housed and the unused seats could be purchased by the daft lads that are only interested in hurling abuse at the away mob, used to be some atmosphere then

 

[Big Jeff]

The solution is as simple as putting a net up. Ridiculous it hasn't been done already.

Arsehole behaviour throwing stuff over onto home fans.

There are many issues around putting a net up

I will list 4

1 - Fire safety - if you are stupid enough to throw things onto rival fans below you might set fire to the net.

2 - chucking things to stick on the net - I’ll leave it there.

3 - Attempting to climb the net

4 - Viewing quality - they aren’t great to look through.

Thats just off the top of my head - I’m sure there are many more.

 

[soapster]

Erm yes that’s why I said you think ONE of the reasons the away fans were moved because our keeper got a full half of abuse

You’ve got the nerve to say other people have got a couple of brain cells as well

why separate that out
it was one of the reasons. whether you believe it was said or not, I dont care. There were a number of reasons given, whether something different was said in the boardroom I dont know, but it was said. Got to be taken in the context with the other reasons they gave.
It is not my opinion, as I was actually against the move

 

[JPS]

Until we extend the NEC so the aways are on two levels

For now, I would stick them in the NEC into the east stand, they’ll still be near the coaches at beacon

Then hopefully it’ll bring the North stand on again as a proper home end with two tier capacity of 10k

 

[soapster]

My mate the guru of all thing Sunderland says that when the stadium opened there was a movable barrier installed so variable amounts of away fans could be housed and the unused seats could be purchased by the daft lads that are only interested in hurling abuse at the away mob, used to be some atmosphere then

your mate is right. It extended from part of the south stand, over into the SE corner. I can only recalled being moved once though (had seats in se corner as it was a discounted area). I seem to recall that generally the barriers did not actually move that much. Maybe because crowds dropped a bit so no real demand to fill every seat. Some of the away supports were terrible but they still had that large area to fill, which a good number of them did not.

 

[BucketBiff]

The south stand, with its movable divider, was specifically designed to do this.

The police control and CCTV area was specifically located in the south stand.

The issue that is not being mentioned is the home fans reaction to being moved from their south stand seats to accommodate the away fans.

I just don’t get why we moved them, other than copying the mags. It was fine where it was. Made for a better atmosphere. Shift them back. Fuck the end named by Del Boy and Rodney to gain brownie points with the fans. The north stand could be a monster of a home stand and a least it actually points towards Roker.