Police and Steward 'Kettling'

[Christof]

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left. For those that moan that this should have been communicated before the match well maybe some events led to the decision being made late?

Also I would guess that the club received a few complaints after the Derby game where there was also a lot of coach double parked and it was quite intimidating walking down there.

So we had to walk a little bit further and it was a but more busy than usual. Personally I would rather have that than a potential flashpoint around the coaches.....

I originally thought this, but maybe the Reading fans in the South Stand had a bit more to put up with.

Why? Exit stadium, turn right and walk around in front of the hotel. So it was a bit further to walk but there again that is the problem with modern day society........

It was more a case of 'exit stadium, turn right, realise that there were vehicles blocking all bar 8 feet of pavement, with consequent congestion as a thousand or so people tried to get through a small gap.' If the road had actually been clear to walk down past the hotel I would not be moaning about it.

[Sarah Star]

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left. For those that moan that this should have been communicated before the match well maybe some events led to the decision being made late?

Also I would guess that the club received a few complaints after the Derby game where there was also a lot of coach double parked and it was quite intimidating walking down there.

So we had to walk a little bit further and it was a but more busy than usual. Personally I would rather have that than a potential flashpoint around the coaches.....

I originally thought this, but maybe the Reading fans in the South Stand had a bit more to put up with.

Why? Exit stadium, turn right and walk around in front of the hotel. So it was a bit further to walk but there again that is the problem with modern day society........

tbh, from all the moaning, I'd thought it was a bit more than that.

[Forbury Lion]

The West Lower rebelled and forced their way out of the emergency exits after stewards blocked them off and forced everyone to squeeze out of one door.

Have they not heard of Hillsborough?

[Wycombe Royal]

tbh, from all the moaning, I'd thought it was a bit more than that.

This is HNA. It doesn't take much to get people moaning.

Even if there is nothing to moan about someone will still find something and that is why I take such a cynical view of any moaning on here.

[Sarah Star]

It was the stuff about being held back and lines of police that made me think it was a bit different from my experience.

[Wycombe Royal]

It was the stuff about being held back and lines of police that made me think it was a bit different from my experience.

It's a football match, there was police there so what else where they going to use for crowd control? You also need to remember who we were playing.

If they hadn't taken such action and violence had broken out everyone would just be moaning that the police didn't do enough, so it's basically a "no win" situation for them.

[Sarah Star]

It's a bit more than just having to walk a bit further though, I thought.

[Bandini]

It was the stuff about being held back and lines of police that made me think it was a bit different from my experience.

It's a football match, there was police there so what else where they going to use for crowd control? You also need to remember who we were playing.

If they hadn't taken such action and violence had broken out everyone would just be moaning that the police didn't do enough, so it's basically a "no win" situation for them.

If it was that obvious, it would have been a simple matter to put in place arrangements to divert everyone the other way around the stadium.

[Royal & Ancient]

Probably time to wrap this up. Some interesting points made over security announcements which the Club should take on board. Perhaps the bloke with the hand mike at the start would be better than the incomprehensible chap muffling in his beard. Perhaps they could make use of the video screen as it is not a lot of use during the game.
For me, coming up to 80 and supporting since 1946 (remember the one policeman sitting behind the goal?) this was not a pleasant experience nor was it, I believe, for those families with children or the disabled. It was not feasible to "walk round the ground" as it seemed this meant going down to the A33 past B & Q, a long trudge for those elderly and incapacitated amongst us.(Going round the Stadium surely meant meeting the Cardiff fans through the "back door" and was presumably blocked off anyway!)
And the police attitude was far from the friendly bobby on the beat. In their "hard" gear they looked and acted like thugs waiting to lay into you if you dared to step over the line. And the "Chief" I spoke to seemed to be more worried about the 2000 Cardiff fans being set upon by the 20000 Home supporters! Extraordinary!
Dont often post these days but glad to see there is still some humour about. Sorry,Royal Lady, but Harpers sign response did make me smile. Brilliant (if, by interpretation these days, a bit sexist!) Do hope you are now O.K. R.L.
And, being positive, I have renewed my S/T but realistically expect still to be in this Division!

[Svlad Cjelli]

From what I know about this it looks like what was done was sound but the communicating of it was pretty poor. So no great surprises there.

I'm also surprised that they didn't open all of Lower West exit doors, but instead directed people out of the Upper West exit through a single door. Not a great hardship but I'm not sure they can legally do that, as I was under the impression that the safety certificate meant all exit doors had to be opened at the end of the game, not just selective ones.

[Royal Lady]

R&A - glad you're still going to games. I chuckled too at the road sign picture - so no worries!

I'm fine now, but I think the club should look at pre-planning such things a bit further in advance in future. We, too, had to walk past B&Q and along the A33 and, as I said, we encountered a few groups of Cardiff fans, but absolutely no police - so it could have got nasty there. I think the club are lucky that there were not any serious injuries what with all the pushing etc in what appears to be those exiting the South Stand home area, the West and those of us in the East who were forced "the long way round". And I will re-iterate what I have said before. We have had far more than 2000 cardiff fans at the Madejski before, so WHY did the club think Friday was going to be any different to other times. We've had a full away end of Wolves fans, a fair few Millwall in the past, Swansea etc and I don't remember this before.

[Svlad Cjelli]

RL, you're opening a potential can of worms here.

The club only have to pay for police on the stadium property. TVP are responsible for all policing costs away from the ground.

Police forces across the country want "full recovery" - so that they can charge the club for all police costs that they (the police) deem necessary - including policing the station, policing trains, policing the town centre on match days, etc.

There's all sorts of political arguments going on, but the bottom line is that this would bankrupt football and hand police forces a blank cheque to charge football whatever they felt appropriate.

So the distinction is very clear - on the stadium is paid for by by the football club, everywhere else isn't. The latter is TVP's responsibility and up to them to decide what police resources are required and deployed .

[Jerry St Clair]

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left.

Was it? I didn't hear it at the back of Y25 (though I could hear the microphone moron bellowing "Back the boys....." before the game loud and clear. That's clearly far more important than safety announcements).

[Jerry St Clair]

So the distinction is very clear - on the stadium is paid for by by the football club, everywhere else isn't. The latter is TVP's responsibility and up to them to decide what police resources are required and deployed .

When I spoke to a police sergeant he advised me to "email the club. We're working for them and they've told us to do this".

Do you think that can possibly be true?

[Wycombe Royal]

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left.

Was it? I didn't hear it at the back of Y25 (though I could hear the microphone moron bellowing "Back the boys....." before the game loud and clear. That's clearly far more important than safety announcements).

I heard it loud and clear in Y21.......

[RoyalBlue]

RL, you're opening a potential can of worms here.

The club only have to pay for police on the stadium property. TVP are responsible for all policing costs away from the ground.

Police forces across the country want "full recovery" - so that they can charge the club for all police costs that they (the police) deem necessary - including policing the station, policing trains, policing the town centre on match days, etc.

.

Greedy effing pigs! By that logic it would be far better to charge pubs for all of the policing costs throughout the town. Pubs are a far greater drain on police resources and source of crime and public disorder than football clubs!

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left.

Was it? I didn't hear it at the back of Y25 (though I could hear the microphone moron bellowing "Back the boys....." before the game loud and clear. That's clearly far more important than safety announcements).

I heard it loud and clear in Y21.......

Doesn't mean everyone in the stadium could. Nor that it couldn't have been far better publicised and handled. What's more, I'm sure I'm not the only one who isn't completely sure what all of the roads around the stadium are called (I tend to associate them more with B&Q and Costco).

[Skin]

Yet again Reading fans moaning again. It was announced during the match that Hurst Way was going to be closed until the coaches had left.

Was it? I didn't hear it at the back of Y25 (though I could hear the microphone moron bellowing "Back the boys....." before the game loud and clear. That's clearly far more important than safety announcements).

I heard it loud and clear in Y21.......

Hmmm wonder why?

[Rex]

RL, you're opening a potential can of worms here.

The club only have to pay for police on the stadium property. TVP are responsible for all policing costs away from the ground.

Police forces across the country want "full recovery" - so that they can charge the club for all police costs that they (the police) deem necessary - including policing the station, policing trains, policing the town centre on match days, etc.

There's all sorts of political arguments going on, but the bottom line is that this would bankrupt football and hand police forces a blank cheque to charge football whatever they felt appropriate.

So the distinction is very clear - on the stadium is paid for by by the football club, everywhere else isn't. The latter is TVP's responsibility and up to them to decide what police resources are required and deployed .

All for 6 hours.

[Wycombe Royal]

Was it? I didn't hear it at the back of Y25 (though I could hear the microphone moron bellowing "Back the boys....." before the game loud and clear. That's clearly far more important than safety announcements).

I heard it loud and clear in Y21.......

Hmmm wonder why?

[Svlad Cjelli]

So the distinction is very clear - on the stadium is paid for by by the football club, everywhere else isn't. The latter is TVP's responsibility and up to them to decide what police resources are required and deployed .

When I spoke to a police sergeant he advised me to "email the club. We're working for them and they've told us to do this".

Do you think that can possibly be true?

The plans and the whole crowd control process are actually owned by the safety Advisory Group, a body convened and chaired by the local licensing authority (RBC). That's from a general planning and safety management point of view.

On match days, the crowd control is all managed from the control box at the back of the West Stand, which has reps from many agencies. RBC traffic management staff are there controlling the A33 traffic lights to prioritise buses, RFC safety management staff are there controlling stewarding and car parks, and the police are there to control their resources.

The key question here is whether this was planned on the night (which I personally doubt as it seems quite a grandiose operation) or whether it was pre-planned. If the latter it would almost certainly have been jointly planned by TVP and RFC when they did the pre-match risk assessment - no one agency can really put something like this together on their own because they all coordinate so closely.

So the simple answer is that it would be a jointly planed thing, and not just down to RFC, so I think the Sergeant was just trying to get you off his back.