No.13 - Will We Turn Up?

[West Stand Man]

Brendan needs Us!!

...
Rodgers told the Royals' official website: "Our supporters are absolutely vital. They are down as number 13 on the teamsheet and they certainly are just that. The atmosphere they can create and the intensity of their emotion, it helps the players, no question.

Last day for season ticket renewals is Friday and the manager comes out with a call to the supporters

Maybe I am just synical?

Its called marketing. Most businesses do it.

[West Stand Man]

You are actively encouraged to 'make some noise'

You aren't really though are you. You are actively encouraged to bring children and a bloody clapper.

The vast majority of people I've seen getting grief from the stewards have either been frothing at the mouth, pissed out of their heads or pushing their luck by drawing attention to the fact they're flagrantly breaking the H&S rules the club HAVE to be seen to be enforcing.

Frothing at the mouth indeed ; you don't have to be mad to support Reading FC.....but it helps.

The H&S rules - and what a crock of bullsh*t they are - seem to be more rigorously enforced at Reading than anywhere else I have attended. And I have attended an awful lot of palces. To suggest that the Madejski is full to bursting with hoardes of truculent knuckle dragging home fans would be an absolute nonsense, but this seems to be the default position our Safety Officer has in tandem with Nigel Howe.

You really do have a balanced pair of chips on your shoulders don't you?

[floyd__streete]

You really do have a balanced pair of chips on your shoulders don't you?

Sitting in the West Stand do you have a balanced pair of prawn sandwiches on each shoulder? There's more atmosphere in your local cinema than there is in the West Stand.

[Ian Royal]

You are actively encouraged to 'make some noise'

You aren't really though are you. You are actively encouraged to bring children and a bloody clapper.

The vast majority of people I've seen getting grief from the stewards have either been frothing at the mouth, pissed out of their heads or pushing their luck by drawing attention to the fact they're flagrantly breaking the H&S rules the club HAVE to be seen to be enforcing.

Frothing at the mouth indeed ; you don't have to be mad to support Reading FC.....but it helps.

The H&S rules - and what a crock of bullsh*t they are - seem to be more rigorously enforced at Reading than anywhere else I have attended. And I have attended an awful lot of palces. To suggest that the Madejski is full to bursting with hoardes of truculent knuckle dragging home fans would be an absolute nonsense, but this seems to be the default position our Safety Officer has in tandem with Nigel Howe.

How many of those places have been as a home fan?
Stewards crack down on home fans harder because it's safer and there are fewer excuses not to. They also have more evidence over the course of a season. If you repeatedly flout the rules, then their patience will get shorter with you.

You are right the H&S rules are a joke. But the club has no say in them and HAS to be SEEN to be enforcing them.

And I've seen nothing to suggest that the majority of fans are considered to be trouble makers.

If people weren't so confrontational and just sat down for a few minutes before starting a new song and standing up they'd get far fewer problems with the stewards. Shout less rabid abuse at the opposition (and I see a plenty of people who are virtually frothing at the mouth the way they are behaving) and again there'll be fewer problems.

[floyd__streete]

Luckily for the Safety Officer and his band of trumped up bouncers, the team itself have made great inroads in recent times towards making the stadium atmosphere even more sterile than before with their plodding, listless - not to mention dull and uninspiring - brand of football. With some of our better players bound to leave us, Rodgers has it all to do to arrest that particular slump.

[handbags_harris]

How many of those places have been as a home fan?

Knowing Floyd as well as I do, I would say quite categorically that there are a fair number of grounds he has done as a neutral in the home end...

[Schards#2]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

Well let's face it, on the whole we are just a bit of a soft supporter base to be honest. Granted there are a few that would kick up a fuss with stewards but it's a tiny minority

[Jerry St Clair]

You are actively encouraged to 'make some noise'; the issue comes when people find it impossible to make that noise in English and without using offensive or foul language.

.......and as long as you bring a small child, a clapper and don't stand up.

[Ian Royal]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

That's strange because people quite often post on here about how lenient stewards were towards them as away fans at other grounds and how they could stand up without any problem.

[handbags_harris]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

That's strange because people quite often post on here about how lenient stewards were towards them as away fans at other grounds and how they could stand up without any problem.

And they also quite often post on here about how Hitler-esque stewards were towards them. I have been to 67 of the 92 league grounds for this coming season, and I can categorically state that I have come across overzealous stewarding (whether it involves me or not) at some point in half of those grounds. IMO, the north east has some of the most pathetic stewarding known to man, namely Newcastle Utd, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough.

I have a suggestion Ian - go and visit the grounds yourself and compare, rather than using messageboard ammo to bolster your arguments.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

That's strange because people quite often post on here about how lenient stewards were towards them as away fans at other grounds and how they could stand up without any problem.

And they also quite often post on here about how Hitler-esque stewards were towards them. I have been to 67 of the 92 league grounds for this coming season, and I can categorically state that I have come across overzealous stewarding (whether it involves me or not) at some point in half of those grounds. IMO, the north east has some of the most pathetic stewarding known to man, namely Newcastle Utd, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough.

I have a suggestion Ian - go and visit the grounds yourself and compare, rather than using messageboard ammo to bolster your arguments.

'greed - not had the "pleasure" of going to Boro yet but the other two were pathetic bordering on ridiculous.

handbags - have you overtaken Compo yet with regards to number of current league grounds visited?

[Dirk Gently]

Certainly there are some grounds where stewards are a lot more officious and a lot more zealous than at the MadStad - and certainly there are numerous examples of away fans being treated badly by MadStad stewards - I can think of at least 3 matches in the last half of last season where I saw legitimate complaints from away supporters against MadStad stewards.

But (as stated hundreds of times already) :

- the majority of action against visiting supporters happens in the concourses rather than the stands (for instance when the targeted people go for a drink or a p*ss), so the perception that no action is taken is not correct.

- no stewards or stadium officials will be able to take action against a large mass of people determined to stand. It needs a critical mass to be reached and then no action can be taken - which is why at Liverpool, Newcastle, West Ham, Cardiff and many other clubs then there is mass standing an the ground officials can't stop it - and ditto when they visit us and everyone stands.

[The 17 Bus]

so all RFC need is mass standing, never going to happen though is it.

Why have these grounds not had areas closed down by the authorities??

[Dirk Gently]

so all RFC need is mass standing, never going to happen though is it.

Why have these grounds not had areas closed down by the authorities??

Yes, that would do it.

Because the FLA and the local councils know that they'd be clobbered in the press and there'd be mass protests if they were the first to shut an area down - been threatened many times but never actually happened yet.

And don't forget they'll get no support from any football club - shutting a stand hurts their income, so they'll do anything they can to fight it.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

- no stewards or stadium officials will be able to take action against a large mass of people determined to stand. It needs a critical mass to be reached and then no action can be taken - which is why at Liverpool, Newcastle, West Ham, Cardiff and many other clubs then there is mass standing an the ground officials can't stop it - and ditto when they visit us and everyone stands.

And why, at Ashton Gate last November, the back 10 or so rows were left alone.

[Dirk Gently]

- no stewards or stadium officials will be able to take action against a large mass of people determined to stand. It needs a critical mass to be reached and then no action can be taken - which is why at Liverpool, Newcastle, West Ham, Cardiff and many other clubs then there is mass standing an the ground officials can't stop it - and ditto when they visit us and everyone stands.

And why, at Ashton Gate last November, the back 10 or so rows were left alone.

Good example.

It really is a question of strength of numbers - if a club can persuade their local FLA rep that they'll be unable to prevent standing then the stewarding emphasis changes to keeping aisles and exist clear, instead of trying to stop people standing.

[Royalshow]

- no stewards or stadium officials will be able to take action against a large mass of people determined to stand. It needs a critical mass to be reached and then no action can be taken - which is why at Liverpool, Newcastle, West Ham, Cardiff and many other clubs then there is mass standing an the ground officials can't stop it - and ditto when they visit us and everyone stands.

And why, at Ashton Gate last November, the back 10 or so rows were left alone.

Good example.

It really is a question of strength of numbers - if a club can persuade their local FLA rep that they'll be unable to prevent standing then the stewarding emphasis changes to keeping aisles and exist clear, instead of trying to stop people standing.

y25 and the top part of y24 stood against Burnley.If they do that every game the club can do oxf*rd all.

[handbags_harris]

handbags - have you overtaken Compo yet with regards to number of current league grounds visited?

It is imminent...

[Ian Royal]

Reading is, literally, the only ground I can think of that i've ever visited where the home fans are inconvinienced to avoid any clash with away fans, rather than the away fans being inconvenienced to avoid them clashing with the home fans.

Also where the full weight of stewarding enforcement is applied to home fans but not away fans, the reverse seems to apply at pretty much every other ground.

That's strange because people quite often post on here about how lenient stewards were towards them as away fans at other grounds and how they could stand up without any problem.

And they also quite often post on here about how Hitler-esque stewards were towards them. I have been to 67 of the 92 league grounds for this coming season, and I can categorically state that I have come across overzealous stewarding (whether it involves me or not) at some point in half of those grounds. IMO, the north east has some of the most pathetic stewarding known to man, namely Newcastle Utd, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough.

I have a suggestion Ian - go and visit the grounds yourself and compare, rather than using messageboard ammo to bolster your arguments.

The few grounds I've been to I have had absolutely no problems what-so-ever. My point is not that there are no problems, but that Reading Stewards are not the worst, and Reading fans are not victimised.