For 5 years now i have sat, quite happily, in the same seat in the Vicarage Road end and i have enjoyed every game i have been to. However, i have never seen the stewards intervene when the away fans get abusive and aggressive. This is ever so slightly worrying given that we are talking about grown men getting abusive to young children. For the Forest game I decided to join TYO and our lady Hornette in the Rookery and i have to say TYO were excellent but the stewards were not! It was agreed that TYO could move as long as they behaved, and 99% of them did. However, each time they stood up the stewards would get involved and make them sit down. Then they got 3 stewards to 'police' the group. They then got 2 police officers to stand in the SW corner and watch over them. This is not the first time this has happened, they were hassled week in week out when they began. This is ridiculous when you compare what they do to the actions of the away fans. What is it with our stewards and being heavy handed with our fans. What do they think TYO will do? Start a riot?? Thankfully TYO and several other fans, myself included, started the "stand up if you love watford" and this seemed to confuse the steward and he backed of briefly. This brings me onto the next point. Why is our ticket office so disorganised?? Im sure we all saw 2RJ's Ticket office shockers thread where his tickets were rejected at the turnstiles. This time however the club issued a statement regarding TYO's move to the bottom corner of the rookery stating "There has been a substantial block of seats kept free for both the Nottingham Forest and Millwall home matches in order to give this trial relocation a proper chance." (http://www.watfordfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~2457469,00.html) However, there were a few families with season tickets who were unhappy to find that there were people sitting in their seats. Why could the club not organise this properly and make sure that there were no tickets sold in that area as they promised!!
Its not as if there were load of you guys either causing trouble but guess the stewards need to feel they have to do something to stop themselves falling asleep.
Those "Response Team" pocket Hitlers in The Rookery are always looking to push their considerable weight around - they just looked so pathetic on Saturday. I was quiie expecting the OB to start filming the rowdies in case there was some trouble. Once again Watford shoots itself in the feet...
I think the stewards at trent bridge are some of the best I have come across, show you to the lift ,show you to your seat , and tell you where the nearest bar and loos are located
I dont understand why the club has all this trouble with tickets is it something to do with the "technology" or is just plain incompetance! 2RJ had a problem and got two free tickets , if they do this for each complaint it is going to hurt revenue from ticket sales and with the small crowds we get .........
BHD has a point. I was in Lower Rous about 10m away. Saw the steward guy try to get people to sit - but there was no-one behind them! They dont bother with the people at the back of the Rookery who always stand. Seems a reasonable idea though - just not sure that corner is the right place.
I am sure it is against Health and Safety law to allow people to stand in a football stadium, partly because of what happened at Hillsborough in 1989. Therefore, if Watford FC are going to officially endorse a supporters club, they have to ensure they don't breach H&S. It isn't about blocking peoples views, but ensuring safety. A couple of thousand people, on a pitched stadium in close proximity is potentially a huge risk.
We're not the only victims of this and I guess BBW is correct. Reading have the exact same issues so the stewards are under instruction to make sure the fans sit as is depressingly the way these days at football. I wish we'd have given them something to really do and had someone go and punch Miller's lights out when he went right over infront of them, giving verbal and celebrating. You get booked for joining your own supporters celebrating but not for clearly looking to incite the opposition supporters apparently.
Si, the players get booked for taking a shirt off !! but nothing for trying to incite a riot ! Cmon you know common sense left the game a long time ago!
Well i mentioned to the steward that no one was telling the hundred or so Forest fans to sit, but they will tell the home supporters to sit, and i think i heard them threaten to remove those who didnt (but cant be sure). I know the rules say its an all seater stadium, but they are only a small group and they are not blocking peoples view like you say. I think there is a lot less of a risk of the Hillsborough disaster happening, simply because people will take a seat and stand in front of it, so they dont cram in to every space. Well there was one idiot who threw a plastic bottle half full of water at him. He was promptly removed by the police and the bottle forensically collected!
Whether it is 1 person, or a group of thousands, the rules have to be applied. Through endorsing the Yellow Order, Watford FC are effectively saying, "this is how we want our fans to behave", resulting in higher surveillance. Crowd management is very difficult, and one method of controlling is by enhancing authority. Like you say, the risk of a Hillsborough like disaster are very small, but nevertheless, still a risk.
But where do you draw the line of no standing. They could make everyone sit for the entire game, much like arsenal get most of the time, but then this would turn the vic into a graveyard. They only really stand when we are attacking and when we score. Just like the rest of the ground. I just think there has to be a balance, but i know common sense died a long time ago. So much so the steward behind the goal against QPR said it was not his job to prevent the QPR fans entering the pitch.
It is difficult to strike a balance, and I would say generally the stewards do a good job. You obviously can not prevent people from standing up all the time, but it is important to remind "repeat offenders". But you have to always accept the attention will be more on the Yellow Order. Also, common sense never died, it was never born!
Beg to differ there BBW in the days before the health and safety elves got way too much power ,common sense was alive and well ! talking maybe 20 odd years ago ! However soon it will just become a fairy tale!
"Back on the day", people were much more resilient. You can see where the "put up and shut up" comment comes from! Now, we live in a blame culture. Someone has to be held accountable should something go wrong. I do feel this goes hand-in-hand with the increase in H&S, which has made people very soft. And, I've mentioned it before, but common sense is a myth. What appears to be a common sense way of doing something to one person, is the opposite way someone else would do it, ie not common sense! Common sense is only common to you.
A very interesting argument BBW I certainly agree with you that we have gone "soft" and the US blame style legal culture is certainly partly to blame ! However I am sure others would agree with me about H&S , thus its not just me and therefore at the very least a titchy bit more common!
If the stewards were like that on Saturday when we were only playing Forest, what are they going to be like tomorrow when there is potentially a greater risk of trouble?
Same as they did last season against the Mockney's - absolute sweet FA. Despite drink bottles being thrown at Danny and seats being ripped out and thrown at our supporters in The Vic...they only like to push their weight around against a few yoofs who want to stand up and make a noise..truly pathetic
