Stewards - "siiiiit down!!!"

[Top Flight]

Funnily enough I was saying to someone the other day about MLS "soccer". There's lots of cringey videos of the fans singing songs and rallying the other supporters, but I was saying that you can laugh all you want but they really do get involved and support the club.

Anyway, GO ROYALS!!!

Yes, they really do.

The Atlanta story is incredible. Out of nowhere. First game, 55,000 sell out, passionate crowd, As big as Liverpool or Arsenal from day one. What a story. David Beckham is right when he sees the potential in US Soccer. He wants to start a franchise in Miami.

Let's see if Atlanta can maintain the interest. They lost 2-1 in the first encounter in their history against the Red Bulls. They look like they have been there for years already with that kind of support.

[Hampshire Royal]

I'm 65 years old, middle-class and generally calm in my way of living. When I go to games, I prefer to sit in my seat and watch. However, I stand up when the teams come onto the pitch, which is, I suppose, just doing what everyone else does. The times when I involuntarily stand up are: When we score; when something exciting happens - on the Bobby Convey thread I, like every other Reading fan, can remember his goal against Millwall when we all stood when he got the ball in our half and scored; when the opposition or the referee do something outrageous; I have even been known to stand and applaud a player being subbed after a good display.

Should I be thrown out of the ground like the fan in Y26 was, even though there was no sign of trouble?

[Top Flight]

Everyone should act together in solidarity. If someone gets marched out of the ground for standing up and singing for the team then every one should march out with that person and vacate the stadium on mass.

That probably wouldn't happen because we've all become so selfish and wouldn't want to miss any of the game after paying for our season tickets.

[Royal Lady]

I'm 65 years old, middle-class and generally calm in my way of living. When I go to games, I prefer to sit in my seat and watch. However, I stand up when the teams come onto the pitch, which is, I suppose, just doing what everyone else does. The times when I involuntarily stand up are: When we score; when something exciting happens - on the Bobby Convey thread I, like every other Reading fan, can remember his goal against Millwall when we all stood when he got the ball in our half and scored; when the opposition or the referee do something outrageous; I have even been known to stand and applaud a player being subbed after a good display.

Should I be thrown out of the ground like the fan in Y26 was, even though there was no sign of trouble?

That is perfectly acceptable - it is PERSISTENT standing which is against the law and why people are asked to sit down. I've had protracted "discussions" on the 1871 FB group about this yesterday and most are whinging kids who reckon they should be allowed to do what they want and "let's all stand up during the whole game tomorrow night" so I hope they all get thrown out. Rules are rules. I'd love to see safe standing sections, but they are not the law yet - stand for a goal, a penalty or whatever, just don't stand all game.

[Hampshire Royal]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

[Royal Lady]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Are you absolutely sure about that - persistent standing is an offence - or people wouldn't be campaigning for safe standing areas....

[RG30]

http://www.theifo.co.uk/adjudications/Reading.pdf

[Hampshire Royal]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Are you absolutely sure about that - persistent standing is an offence - or people wouldn't be campaigning for safe standing areas....

Yes, i am absolutely sure about that. People are ejected from grounds not due to the Law, but because they contravene the regulations pertaining to the ground itself. As I said earlier, that then is a civil rather than a criminal offence.

My opinion is why should anyone want to 'persistently stand' while watching a game when there is a perfectly good seat provided for them? As someone said above, the disaster at Hillsborough wasn't caused by hooliganism, unlike the Heysel disaster, and football hooliganism has largely died out in grounds, mainly due to separation of opposing fans.

[Top Flight]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Are you absolutely sure about that - persistent standing is an offence - or people wouldn't be campaigning for safe standing areas....

Yes, i am absolutely sure about that. People are ejected from grounds not due to the Law, but because they contravene the regulations pertaining to the ground itself. As I said earlier, that then is a civil rather than a criminal offence.

My opinion is why should anyone want to 'persistently stand' while watching a game when there is a perfectly good seat provided for them? As someone said above, the disaster at Hillsborough wasn't caused by hooliganism, unlike the Heysel disaster, and football hooliganism has largely died out in grounds, mainly due to separation of opposing fans.

The reason some people want to stand is because they want to sing, shout and support their team vocally for longer periods in a game. In my opinion they should be allowed to do that. It doesn't happen every where in the ground. Just in blocks Y25 and Y26. Designate those areas as places where people can stand. Anyone who wants to sit can move to any other part of the ground.

I won't go in blocks Y25 and Y26 because if everyone stands then my 7 year old won't be able to see without perching on and balancing himself on his seat. He has had to do that at several away games this season including Fulham and QPR where it can get very cramped in their seats and it is tiring for me making sure he doesn't stand on the wrong part of the seat and fall off causing himself an injury.

Therefore I will avoid blocks Y25 and 26. But, people who want to stand must be accommodated. Just because I don't want to stand doesn't mean that no one should be allowed to stand. The club have to think about this and not alienate certain sections of our support. We should be welcome at RFC at every stage of our lives. Younger fans must not be discriminated against. In ten years time my 7 year old will be 17 and he will want to stand with the lads and sing for the Royals. The yoof are fans like all the rest of us and must be looked after and encouraged otherwise the future will be bleak.

Marching out some of our younger enthusiastic fans in recent weeks is an absolute disgrace. I'm ashamed of our club for doing that to people who's only crime is to stand and support the team. Be Loud, be proud and back the boys and make some noise is all they were doing.

[bobby1413]

Why is it not possible to shout, sing, screem while sitting down?

Why is standing so important?

Is it becuase so many people have their heads up their arses?

You're boring arn't you

Maybe he's old and doesn't fancy standing up for 90 minutes, or maybe he takes a child who can't see anything if everyone stand up.

I'm all for safe standing or designated areas where you can expect the majority to stand but until we have that, standing for 90 minutes isn't fair or those who can't

I always assumed Y25/Y26 was the sort of area of the ground where it was more likely to hear bad language, more boisterous behaviour and standing.

If I had a child and wanted to wrap them up in cotton wool or not expose them to bad language (god forbid), I'd avoid the East stand at all costs and stick to the "family zone".

http://www.theifo.co.uk/adjudications/Reading.pdf

Very interesting reading

[LWJ]

My opinion is why should anyone want to 'persistently stand' while watching a game when there is a perfectly good seat provided for them? As someone said above, the disaster at Hillsborough wasn't caused by hooliganism, unlike the Heysel disaster, and football hooliganism has largely died out in grounds, mainly due to separation of opposing fans.

Especially for away game I prefer to stand as I have generally just spent 2 hours + driving with another 2h + to do on the way back.

I prefer watching football whilst stood up personally as well.

[ayjaydee]

It is not beyond the wit of decent stewards/leadership to sort out a situation like this.
I recall going to Norwwich a few seasons ago and there was potential for some upset with a lot of the younger vocal support having tickets in the lower half of the stand. One on the chief stewards got involved and quickly reallocated seating. Those at the back wishing to sit were asked to move slightly further forward allowing the "yoof" to move back and stand.

[AthleticoSpizz]

I prefer watching football whilst stood up personally as well.

alas, we all used to.

We have gone a whole generation (and-some) of football fans who have never known "standing on terraces" in Reading, surprisingly or not, the whole notion of it (standing up for a couple of hours) hasn't disappeared.
Stop whinging on here and take it up with the club, there is a real case for allocating areas for "turning a blind eye" to those standing up.....as some here have already alluded to.
It's common practice for the police to recommend such "inaction" to avoid the escalation of conflict....for those that want/need to be seated.....there are plenty of other empty blue seats to choose from elsewhere I guess.

[Emeraldroyal]

The lad looked like an actual real life scrotum tbf though

Good grief

What does one of them look like ?
Grabs mirror...nods

[No Fixed Abode]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Are you absolutely sure about that - persistent standing is an offence - or people wouldn't be campaigning for safe standing areas....

Yes, i am absolutely sure about that. People are ejected from grounds not due to the Law, but because they contravene the regulations pertaining to the ground itself. As I said earlier, that then is a civil rather than a criminal offence.

My opinion is why should anyone want to 'persistently stand' while watching a game when there is a perfectly good seat provided for them? As someone said above, the disaster at Hillsborough wasn't caused by hooliganism, unlike the Heysel disaster, and football hooliganism has largely died out in grounds, mainly due to separation of opposing fans.

What I don't understand is that many football fans are for segregation to keep undesirables apart but the same fans are opposed to the USA building a wall on the Mexican border.

[Stockport Royal]

Nothing worse than getting to your seats on an away day, looking across the netting and seeing some real bad hombres in the home end.

Ruins it for me.

[Nameless]

The law states that PL and Champ clubs must provide seating , not that spectators must sit in them. Each individual club can make their own rules re spectators having to sit, but this is then a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Are you absolutely sure about that - persistent standing is an offence - or people wouldn't be campaigning for safe standing areas....

Yes, i am absolutely sure about that. People are ejected from grounds not due to the Law, but because they contravene the regulations pertaining to the ground itself. As I said earlier, that then is a civil rather than a criminal offence.

My opinion is why should anyone want to 'persistently stand' while watching a game when there is a perfectly good seat provided for them? As someone said above, the disaster at Hillsborough wasn't caused by hooliganism, unlike the Heysel disaster, and football hooliganism has largely died out in grounds, mainly due to separation of opposing fans.

I don't think you are right that club's make their own rules.
Surely the rules are set by the local licensing authority, who grant the safety certificate without which grounds cannot open.
So RFC must enforce the no standing rule in line with how the licensing authority tells them. Different authorities will have differing views on how strictly the no standing rule should be enforced and how the club enforces it will also depend on whether they have inspectors at a game or are about to need a license renewal. It is quite possible that the local authority have done an inspection recently, noted that RFC seemed to have relaxed their approach and told them to tighten up.
Whether standing is a criminal or civil offence is a technicality, legally you aren't allowed to stand at a football match if that contravenes the requirements of the safety certificate.
It would be nice if there was a change, but that is not something RFC can do. The club have been openly supportive of safe standing for some time.

[loyalroyaldaz]

Im have no desire to stand and im sure i would be pissed off if those in front of me stood up but if they do they do so i have to stand to see as well.
The main issue i see with this is that the away fans are basically left to do what they like.
If its a law or ground regulation then Its the same for all fans surely.
You see little or no attempt to make the away fans sit.
Chuck a few of them out as well and maybe you have a chance of keeping the home fans settled !

[double d]

Well I will be standing and abusing all those filthy northerners tonight that's for sure I will be flicking the v and giving them the vvanker sign all night.. I don't care if the stewards try and kick me out I'm well up for a brawl and will have it out with them and the Newcastle fans at the three guineas let's have it! I am a reading fan and it's my right to do what I like as a paying customer.

[AthleticoSpizz]

["AthleticoGreen" asked]How was it for you Dd?

You bad boy[/quote]