Stewards

[WoodleyRoyal]

Bunch of jobwerths, grabbed and manhandled outside the ground for persistant standing. stood with my mate only the two of us, if I were with the standers in y23 I would have been fine but they picked on the small group I was in the brown hoodie in y24 had my season ticket taken off me and now have a meeting with the safety officer next week how was what I was doing any worse to the y23 lot? Even had a fan come up to us to shake hands on what were trying to do

[Stuffed Crust Pizza]

Agreed! The stewards today were once again disgraceful. I stood for the majority of the 90 minutes near the back of Y25 and was constantly harrassed by the overzealous stewards who go about their job in the most arrogant fashion imaginable. An end of season non-event against Peterborough hardly calls for a stewards presence and they did nothing but inflame the situation. My good friend was chucked out at half time for the heinous crime of being the last one to sit in our block!

It was however fantastic to see supporters stand up for one another in full support. Following on from the GU1 experiment in which we were harrassed and manhandled I will be putting my views on email to the customer service department. However I very much doubt little attention will be paid and the standard reply of its an all-seater stadium and a few quotes of the Taylor report and increased pressures from the Football Licensing Authority will be mouted.

Lets not forget the the Madejski Safety Officer is an ex-policeman who has apparently been quoted as saying "for every thug we lose, we gain a family of four".

[Boyle the Royal]

Bunch of jobwerths, grabbed and manhandled outside the ground for persistant standing. stood with my mate only the two of us, if I were with the standers in y23 I would have been fine but they picked on the small group I was in the brown hoodie in y24 had my season ticket taken off me and now have a meeting with the safety officer next week how was what I was doing any worse to the y23 lot? Even had a fan come up to us to shake hands on what were trying to do

The stewarding today in the East stand was crazy. Considering we were 4-0 up and were attacking more or less constantly the entire first half, you'd thing the stewards would let us stand up and enjoy the game. Instead they tried to kill the atmosphere by getting everyone to sit down and caused unnecessary arguments which nearly resulted in a guy near me getting kicked out.

I know its the law and everything but is it really worth all that hassle just to get a few hundred people who aren't blocking anyone's view to sit down?

[WoodleyRoyal]

exactly its just over the top, I've been a season ticket holder since elm park days and no what an atmosphere should be like. The stewards are doing everything possible to stop this! The bloke who sits behind me is my mate so no worries of him complaining, dont no what the problem is, its obvious to any fan that's been in the area the last few games, the atmosphere has improved dramatically since people have made a decision to stand i for one will not be bullied into sitting on my arse for an entire game clapping like the west standers, if i wanted to do that i would sit in the west stand!

[Stuffed Crust Pizza]

exactly its just over the top, I've been a season ticket holder since elm park days and no what an atmosphere should be like. The stewards are doing everything possible to stop this! The bloke who sits behind me is my mate so no worries of him complaining, dont no what the problem is, its obvious to any fan that's been in the area the last few games, the atmosphere has improved dramatically since people have made a decision to stand i for one will not be bullied into sitting on my arse for an entire game clapping like the west standers, if i wanted to do that i would sit in the west stand!

I feel your pain and saw first hand the trouble you had with the stewards. Even tried to help your cause with a chorus of "Stand up if you love Reading". There was absolutely no need for the stewards to wade in today, the atmosphere was fantastic and absolutely no agression was apparent until they intervened.

I'm sure that getting in contact with STAR would be of no use as they seem more interested in promoting a family-friendly club and generally not wanting to upset the club when the old-skool fans have a problem. Perhaps our sort would be better served by an independant supporter's group who can represent views of the our more traditional support (ie, those who prefer to stand and vocally support the team ala the Elm Park days). After all we the ones who will follow the club through thick and thin, we are the hardcore, we are the diehard. The family of four will soon piss off should the club disappear into the abyss of League One & Two and we will still be here.

[tomrfcurz]

So fed up of all this, its just stupid stewards need to understand they are not there to be the police of pointlessness at a football match, one person (or a few) stand up and they're treated like a common criminal, for someone to have their ticket taken away for standing up is disgusting, maybe a few of them should head over to the dug out and tell McDermott to sit down next! Absolutely stupid and what makes me fume even more is usually these incidents come with away fans also standing up and fcuk all being done to them; just because it is possible to punish an RFC fan with ticket taken away and not the same for away fans DOES NOT make it ok to do so at all. I'm genuinely starting to think of starting a group, similar to STAR but for the people like us, who aren't going to a football match to sip tea and cheer at the odd goal, its needed!

[Wimb]

Whilst I sympathise with the plight of those thrown out whilst supporting the team and by the sounds of it treated rather heavy handidly.....

The fact is it's an all seater stadium. Yes we'd all love it to be like the South Bank at Elm Park but the stadium has a safety licence awarded to it on the basis that persistent standing is not permitted and that fans are required to sit down.

Some fans might not 'make a fuss' about you standing but that family of 4 you talk about is the future of the bloody club because if those kids don't come back because they missed the football because you lot insisted upon standing then congratulations

I'm all for safe standing areas but until that's brought into the game then stop complaining.

At the end of the day you've broken the T+C's of your season ticket and so I don't see what there is to complain about really.

[FORSTERS_RIGHT_FOOT]

I'm all for safe standing and the stewards doing their job.

BUT...

4000 Newcastle fans stood up on tuesday with no bother. 15 boro' fans today? 5 stewards.

Pathetic.

[Jerry St Clair]

4000 Newcastle fans stood up on tuesday with no bother. 15 boro' fans today? 5 stewards.

If Millwall and Leeds come up, these cowardly kunts will be nowhere to be seen.

I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse set of stewards than those at the Madejski, and I've been to over 70 grounds.

[biscuitman]

Notts Forest easily.

[Jerry St Clair]

Notts Forest easily.

Nottingham Forest

[biscuitman]

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest FC

[SHORT AND CURLY]

I noticed from the North Stand today a handful of Peterborough fans being hassled by the stewards.

One question!

WHERE WERE THESE COWARDLY STEWARDS LAST TUESDAY???

[WoodleyRoyal]

We cant let them win! We need more people to stand for longer, from start to finish, they cant ban 1000 fans, I think Mr Madjeski might have something to say about it!
Since Christmas there's been a massive change in the atmosphere due to more people standing and the banter has improved, no longer getting owned by the away fans.
Make a stand, Ignore the stewards,stand during the last game. Preston are doing a fancy dress day, I'm sure they'll all be standing. I'm not going to be there due to my impending ban, don't let em win!

F*ck you stewards!

[Sun Tzu]

They will 'win'.

Just go along to your meeting with Mr Doyle, apologise and promise to behave. You'll get your ticket back (possibly moved to the North Stand).

If you go and try and argue with him then you won't get back in.

You may think he's wrong, you may dislike the stewards but they hold all the power (and have the ground regulations and the law behind them).

If you think the law is wrong then get involved with the fans groups who are trying to change it. Seek confrontation in the ground and you will come off second best.

[PieEater]

How did they take your season ticket off you? If they asked for it, just refuse.
If they threatened you, just walk away, they have no power to detain you.

[WoodleyRoyal]

mate four of them grabbed me and bundled me into a corner just next the jazz cafe very little i could do, just spoken to my mate who i was with before we got split up. He's been accused of skinning up, caught on camera apparently, he was also man handled and has had his season ticket off him for rolling a fag i am really oxf*rd annoyed

[PieEater]

So you mean you just gave it to them.....

Right.

[Stuffed Crust Pizza]

So you mean you just gave it to them.....

Right.

What does it matter? The fact is that a fellow Royal was once again treated like a football hooligan and our overzealous stewards have used their bully-boy tactics - forgetting said supporter is a paying customer, and has been for many years.

I was nearly fooled into giving over my season ticket after last years GU1 experiment when a tango simply asked to see it. Thinking better of handing it over I declined the offer and kept hold of it. It would have been easy in the heat of the moment to give in to their demands. Lets try to remain on subject shall we.

[Boyle the Royal]

Since Christmas there's been a massive change in the atmosphere due to more people standing and the banter has improved, no longer getting owned by the away fans.

Pretty sure that's because results have improved, which has led to fans being happier and consequently singing more. We're scoring more goals and creating more chances so fans stand up more, that's why the atmosphere's improved.