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The Safety of Fans in the North Stand

Guinness Guzzler said:
From my point of view, I can certainly say that it's bullshit to suggest RAWA are happy with whatever platitudes the club put out.

The smoke bomb today sailed over my 9 year old's head and we were fortunate that he wasn't hit. I immediately messaged the other members of the RAWA board to say how serious it was, and how it illustrated that the current measures are nowhere near sufficient.

The club said they'd weighed everything up and said they were happy that this was a good enough solution. We've given them the benefit of the doubt. As expected, however, some stewards saying "empty your pockets please lads" hasn't been sufficient. The societal study into why pricks act like pricks also, unsurprisingly, hasn't materially changed away supports in football.

RAWA have immediately sent out a tweet to canvass opinion and it will 100% be brought up at the next meeting, and hopefully before. For me, a "we'll look into it" won't be enough either, they've taken months to look into it and what they came up with isn't sufficient. And that's before we talk about the lad from the FSA who has reported the club to the independent ombudsman because he thinks the approach is unfair, which might mean they have to change it anyway.

It's not good enough, and today has demonstrated once again that they haven't done enough
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I didn’t suggest RAWA were happy with the platitudes. I said we should be tougher and I’d interested in how the next meeting would go as I believe the club will try and play this down.
 

Guinness Guzzler said:
From my point of view, I can certainly say that it's bullshit to suggest RAWA are happy with whatever platitudes the club put out.

The smoke bomb today sailed over my 9 year old's head and we were fortunate that he wasn't hit. I immediately messaged the other members of the RAWA board to say how serious it was, and how it illustrated that the current measures are nowhere near sufficient.

The club said they'd weighed everything up and said they were happy that this was a good enough solution. We've given them the benefit of the doubt. As expected, however, some stewards saying "empty your pockets please lads" hasn't been sufficient. The societal study into why pricks act like pricks also, unsurprisingly, hasn't materially changed away supports in football.

RAWA have immediately sent out a tweet to canvass opinion and it will 100% be brought up at the next meeting, and hopefully before. For me, a "we'll look into it" won't be enough either, they've taken months to look into it and what they came up with isn't sufficient. And that's before we talk about the lad from the FSA who has reported the club to the independent ombudsman because he thinks the approach is unfair, which might mean they have to change it anyway.

It's not good enough, and today has demonstrated once again that they haven't done enough
Click to expand...
You’re a good bloke GG, and I think RAWA do a good job - but not on this. Giving them idiots “the benefit of the doubt” over this simply isn’t enough. It wasn’t enough at the last meeting, the one before that or the one before that - and it certainly isn’t enough now.
 
Grimes said:
I didn’t suggest RAWA were happy with the platitudes. I said we should be tougher and I’d interested in how the next meeting would go as I believe the club will try and play this down.
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Sorry mate, I was going to clarify that I know you weren't suggesting that. The post you quoted said "RAWA seem to achieve very little and always seem happy with whatever the club spout" and that's the bit I was aiming that first comment at. Quoted you because I wanted to respond to the rest of your post
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
From my point of view, I can certainly say that it's bullshit to suggest RAWA are happy with whatever platitudes the club put out.

The smoke bomb today sailed over my 9 year old's head and we were fortunate that he wasn't hit. I immediately messaged the other members of the RAWA board to say how serious it was, and how it illustrated that the current measures are nowhere near sufficient.

The club said they'd weighed everything up and said they were happy that this was a good enough solution. We've given them the benefit of the doubt. As expected, however, some stewards saying "empty your pockets please lads" hasn't been sufficient. The societal study into why pricks act like pricks also, unsurprisingly, hasn't materially changed away supports in football.

RAWA have immediately sent out a tweet to canvass opinion and it will 100% be brought up at the next meeting, and hopefully before. For me, a "we'll look into it" won't be enough either, they've taken months to look into it and what they came up with isn't sufficient. And that's before we talk about the lad from the FSA who has reported the club to the independent ombudsman because he thinks the approach is unfair, which might mean they have to change it anyway.

It's not good enough, and today has demonstrated once again that they haven't done enough
Click to expand...
The problem is this is too late. They needed moving and now we have to wait a year
 
MiddleAgedMan said:
I didn't say that was what I wanted, just you can do it. I'd have the family zone in the north east corner and the away fans in the southeast. Not next to corporate, but near cells and not moving the atmosphere, just improving it.
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Sorry mate, it's just a narrative that's been pushed by a few on here for a while buts it's usually by people who sit in areas in which it would actually make sense to move.

The club needs to do something about, unfortunately it will move some season ticket holders but thats for the best of our fans safety. They just have to move them to the least disruptive position.
 
dred73 said:
Surely the police can look at the cameras after the game then arrest him
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Have you tried watching CCTV footage of more than 1000 people packed closely together and picking out the exact person who does something wrong? Unless you are very lucky it's sadly not very likely
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
Sorry mate, I was going to clarify that I know you weren't suggesting that. The post you quoted said "RAWA seem to achieve very little and always seem happy with whatever the club spout" and that's the bit I was aiming that first comment at. Quoted you because I wanted to respond to the rest of your post
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No worries mate, I’d gathered that of sorts but just wanted to make myself clear also for yourself and anyone else reading.
 
Ferryhill Exile said:
You’re a good bloke GG, and I think RAWA do a good job - but not on this. Giving them idiots “the benefit of the doubt” over this simply isn’t enough. It wasn’t enough at the last meeting, the one before that or the one before that - and it certainly isn’t enough now.
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I guess it's not so much benefit of the doubt, but initially they said they'd spoken to all the key stakeholders and keeping them where they were was the best solution. They also said they were happy that the new measures would work. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do at that point, but it was always likely that it wouldn't take long to demonstrate that the new measures weren't going to cut it. I just hope no one was seriously hurt today. Now it's been demonstrated that their further measures are completely insufficient, I believe RAWA can push further for a proper solution, which for next season needs to be a net
 
Piss take today, in the BCB with my son and you could smell the smoke at the opposite side of the north stand! No good for the people who were close by!

Away fans should have been moved to north east or south east corner next season! A search on the turnstiles by dumb and dumber won’t prevent anything.
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
I guess it's not so much benefit of the doubt, but initially they said they'd spoken to all the key stakeholders and keeping them where they were was the best solution. They also said they were happy that the new measures would work. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do at that point, but it was always likely that it wouldn't take long to demonstrate that the new measures weren't going to cut it. I just hope no one was seriously hurt today. Now it's been demonstrated that their further measures are completely insufficient, I believe RAWA can push further for a proper solution, which for next season needs to be a net
Click to expand...

I agree that a net has to be tried but I’m not sure how one could work logistically that would capture small objects that carry 30 yards beyond the overhang and also not impede sight lines.
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
I guess it's not so much benefit of the doubt, but initially they said they'd spoken to all the key stakeholders and keeping them where they were was the best solution. They also said they were happy that the new measures would work. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do at that point, but it was always likely that it wouldn't take long to demonstrate that the new measures weren't going to cut it. I just hope no one was seriously hurt today. Now it's been demonstrated that their further measures are completely insufficient, I believe RAWA can push further for a proper solution, which for next season needs to be a net
Click to expand...
Appreciate that, and I know you sit in the North Stand so won’t be taking this lightly personally!

Myself and a number of friends are writing to HSE.

The club can do one.
 
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