On the way home from todays game, a good point for us and an encouraging performance.

However... The stewarding seemed very excessive today, for most of the time there was a mixture of over 20 Cops and stewards hanging around the small section, maybe 50/75 younger fans at the back of the stand. At the time I thought the reaction from the stewards was OTT as almost straight from kick off they were in and pulling people out for standing. Having the local polis up and blocking half the stairways didn't help and all in all it just seemed a bit daft. The unfortunate consequence was that the longer the hi viz presence remained, the more the fans played up to it, which didn't help the situation in the least.

Just wonder what people thought of it today, whether the Polis/security overreacted and caused the young guys to play up a bit or whether the young guys should have just complied and done as told?

For what it's worth, I didn't see anything that was really a problem and still can't understand why the Police were hanging around on the stairways. I'd go as far to say that episodes like today may well explain why a lot of fans are put off from going to games as it seems it is all too often this is how the authorities treat paying customers.

My first post! Used to go to matcheS for a number of years and now able to go to more so will be using this site more often........

I thought the reaction fae the stewards / police was ridiculous... yes the longer the police stood there (blocking peoples views) the more the fans would wind them up...but the police were the ones instigating it. Hibees were standing but nothing was done. The police created the problem and i thought our fans were fantastic.. don't think any one was out of line despite the victimisation from the police... we have the best supports in the SPL in terms of behaviour and lack of sectarian songs. I think the Caley fans should be proud of themselves!

Is it worth, as many folk as possible complaining to Lothian and Borders Police?

Is it worth wondering if Johndo's green dot record breaking post may have drawn the attention of football "intelligence" police unit and that they would have been wary about not being seen to do something? What happened the last time there was a suggestion of trouble at TCS? As I recall there was an increased police presence.

No idea if or why Peter Paul got evicted (as suggested on another thread), but at HT whilst he was at the edge of the pitch I saw that he was talking to a policeman, and it looked like it was about the stewarding as they were looking up to where all the ejections had taken place.

I was also told that IHE got chucked out during HT for expressing his views to a steward.

The stewarding and policing today was an utter joke. I'm sure there was 7 or 8 separate ejections, the first after no more than 5 minutes.

A few folk tend to play up for effect but the reaction from the forces of order today was way over the top.

We're paying £22 each to be entertained and these jumped up muppets behave like we're some sort of sub-species to be spoken to like schoolchidren.

If they tried this on with the old firm there would have been a riot, of that there can be no doubt.

It's time the club addressed this issue with the likes of Hibs and United.

At the end of the day can the SPL afford to repeatedly treat their ever shrinking customer base in this manner?

Edited September 11, 201015 yr by ymip

Might be worth phoning Jim Trayor and talking about the draconian measures, I bet a lot of people have similar gripes regarding excessive stewarding.

Well today was utterly ridicolous. One of my friends got arrested, at 15, for chanting at one of the security guards in particular. I can not beleie how ridsiclous they were. If we were to sit down, why aren't they?

Well today was utterly ridicolous. One of my friends got arrested, at 15, for chanting at one of the security guards in particular. I can not beleie how ridsiclous they were. If we were to sit down, why aren't they?

In all fairness, was this not a reaction to a quite insulting (albeit a little amusing) chant at the steward who was slightly, er... rotund?

I would agree that although it's a little frustrating to see the other set of supporters standing without apparent intervention from stewards, rules are rules. If you're told to sit down, just bloody sit down mun, make the most of your entrance fee by watching the game rather than winding up the fluorescent men.

It seems crazy after so many years of this, that nobody on either side of the standing/sitting divide has ever clarified what the law is.

TBH- in the past I've always said if the law says we have to sit down then we should regardless of what any other group within a ground is doing and I sort of see the police and stewards side when they say they are not in control of the entire stadium. However until theres 100% clear rule regarding what we're too do in a football stadium then fans of any club are entitled to say 'if 4,000 Old Firm fans can stand then why cant 400 ICT fans?'.

If anything, having 20 odd "officials" standing in the stairwells is both a fire hazard and health and safety risk.

It's alot easier to make an example of a small group, even if there is no real reason for it.

Its typical bullying tactics , pick on the ones that wont fight back . Do you think the Old Firm or Aberdeen get treated like that ? There'd be a riot if they did .

All it would take would be for the every single away fan to walk out and people would start noticing pretty quickly.

one of the police was saying that he couldn't care less if the fans stood and it's the G4 people who persist to get the fans to sit down and apparently the old firm fans aswell

All it would take would be for the every single away fan to walk out and people would start noticing pretty quickly.

Would never happen, then we'd have noone there to support the team and create an atmosphere. Maybe consider it if we were already a couple of goals up, but yesterday at 1-0 down the team needed us to get behind them.

Johndo was down trying to reason with stewards at HT, who then decided he had been inciting others to stand up. Despite him turning round and telling folk to sit down all the time. Okay so it may have been sarcastic, but still there was absolutely no need for throwing him out. Numerous other lads were chucked out throughout the game aswell, just for standing. It was a complete and utter joke, and I made a point of making sure they knew about it, along with a couple of others who went ot try and have a word with them during the 2nd half. To which the responses I got were: Do you want to be the next? And It's were job. Complete and utter jobsworths, who ruined an otherwise brilliant away day.

I didn't think the fans were doing anything wrong. They were standing but they were not blocking any ones view.

I think we are not treated the right way. I bet they don't treat other fans in the same way.

I didn't think the fans were doing anything wrong. They were standing but they were not blocking any ones view.

I think we are not treated the right way. I bet they don't treat other fans in the same way.

When I asked will they be so quick to tell all the Old Filth fans to sit down I was told 'No, there's too many of them.'

It is a complete joke, but that's what we are faced with, being a wee team with a wee support. Simply just makes an easy target for these tubes to pick on.

For those who weren't there yesterday here's a wee piccy from the Hibs end.. Pretty sure there was 4 or 5 of Lothian and Borders finest standing at the top each stairway at one point though.

Welcome to the SPL.

All it would take would be for the every single away fan to walk out and people would start noticing pretty quickly.

Would never happen, then we'd have noone there to support the team and create an atmosphere. Maybe consider it if we were already a couple of goals up, but yesterday at 1-0 down the team needed us to get behind them.

That's the point. If everyone walks out, the players then suddenly start to question what the hell just happened. So does Terry and Mo, and the club. This gets the problem noticed. At the moment, everything is just swept under the carpet.

Click

Hibs fans views on the matter, quite a few complaints being written to their club about the treatment it would seem. The frustrating thing is it's one rule for the big boys and another for us, no wonder in this day and age people are being turned away from football when the prices are extortionate and you get treated like a pack of animals.

For those who weren't there yesterday here's a wee piccy from the Hibs end.. Pretty sure there was 4 or 5 of Lothian and Borders finest standing at the top each stairway at one point though.

Thats totally OTT for such a small support . What did the old bill think you's were going to do ffs ? Must be a copper for every 4 fans .

This is one of the reasons why I can't be bothered with going to SPL (away) games. The thought of the 600+ miles round trip, paying ?20+ to get in and then to be treated like a 5 year old kind of puts me off a little.

Its fukin hilarious!

The amount of abuse we took from overzealous policing, yet I can still smoke 3 ciggys at the game and no one noticed. Do your job! Im delighted to see the fans had made a point of contacting the club. This really needs to be curbed. As they said....... wtf are the young team??? really WTF are they going to do! What? Shout and sing and provide the only thing I enjoy about watching absolute mince. Im going to Grahams right now to buy some flares and lets really give them something to complain about! Ill enjoy a night in the hamilton cells!

Hello. I'm an Aberdeen fan, but i've joined this forum as I was stewarding in your end yesterday.

If you were there, I was the guy standing outside beside the ticket office at the away end with the envelopes with the comps. This meant I missed the first half and the start of the nonsense that went on. I was in the stand itself from just before half time. From what I gathered, it was the Hibs security who had decided to clamp down on...well, apparently everything. They insisted that everyone HAD to sit down and if they didn't, they had to be ejected. From a personal point of view, I think it was an absolute farce. I've been at away games as a fan and stood the whole time with little hassle (apart from in Dundee for some reason, where they are particularly petty at times). Yesterday was the first time i've seen a club be that heavy handed and OTT about it. Trust me when I say, quite a few of us stewards couldn't believe it either.

While technically, yes, it IS against the rules to stand at the footy, there are ways to go about these things and yesterday clearly wasn't it. I will point out that the general guideline is that if the whole stand is standing, they will be left to it (bar ensuring stairways/walkways are kept clear or the odd occasion when they WILL try to make them sit) but if it's just a smaller group, they will be asked to sit. As I say, I missed when the whole thing started (in fact, the first 2 guys that were chucked out asked me where to complain to while I was still outside) but having been asked to watch in the 2nd half, I couldn't believe how badly it'd been handled.

Nobody really comes out of this one with any real credit and it's a poor situation. I can say sorry to you, but that is only from myself alas.

PS Whoever came up with the Monster's Inc stuff...that was some funny ****

I didn't think the fans were doing anything wrong. They were standing but they were not blocking any ones view.

I think we are not treated the right way. I bet they don't treat other fans in the same way.

When I asked will they be so quick to tell all the Old Filth fans to sit down I was told 'No, there's too many of them.'

It is a complete joke, but that's what we are faced with, being a wee team with a wee support. Simply just makes an easy target for these tubes to pick on.

They are too scared to pick on the OF. And when ever anything is said about their fans they say that they are being victimized. We are just a "wee" team from the highlands and no one is scared of us.

The OF fans can sing bigot and sectarian songs and nothing is done. We sing a few offensive songs and they are on our backs.

It's something that us fans are just gonna have to live with as I don't think anything will change.

The OF fans can sing bigot and sectarian songs and nothing is done. We sing a few offensive songs and they are on our backs.

What was being sung by our fans that was offensive?