Here is a summary of the things discussed at last nights Fan Working Group, as posted on CI(I shall add a few thoughts of my own later)... Introductions around the table were made. Ticketing: - Club hailing the season to date a success with 16,000 pass sales achieved - Half season pass sales are being prepared for sale in December. - Print at home tickets being introduced for the up and coming Southampton (H) fixture - No review on pricing for Category A games - Club to consider introducing a 12 month Direct Debit scheme for next season - Club may consider distributing unsold home tickets to disadvantaged groups in local society - Club unconcerned about public image disabled pricing policy, but may review next season - Subsidised tickets may be an alternative to subsidised travel for certain away games - No pass sales in last block of North Stand this season - Pass sales in last block of North Stand from next season - A structured and organised points system on ticketing almost certainly to be introduced - Information on ticketing change expected in January Match Day: - Club hoping to open additional bar in East Stand - Preliminary liaison with Hull City Council over use of West Park for 'fan park' Safety Advisory Group: - Pete Curry advised he is primarily tasked with safety and physical stadium aspects and regulations - Includes regular audits and reviews of procedures - Advised SAG meets 2-3 times a year with the police, club and SMC - Freedom of information is available on all previous meetings - A decision to allow supporter representation to future meetings to be approved by Hull City board Kits: - New kit to be launched 23rd October Social Media: - #UTT on Twitter staying until end of the season to remain aligned with programme etc - Group asked for request to include #hcafc in all official tweets to be put to senior management Name change arbitration: - Club believe they have 3 points on grounds for appeal lodged with FA - Club expect a decision by mid-November Club accounts: - One set published for Companies House - Once set published for football - 11 month filing to align the two accounts - Reduction to 4% interest rate on loans from Allamhouse AOB: - Group request for open fans forum with Steve Bruce, club to put in request to arrange - Asia Cup teams to be announced shortly, Hull City hoping to participate if asked
Allam is a ****, lowering the interest a nominal 1% as a publicity stunt to make people think he's being generous will not work. I see through it. So the club has got a win in the appeal process about the name change? The rest all sounds good. These meetings look as though they could prove to be very worthwhile. Thanks for posting vespaman.
A couple of thoughts/additions on the above... Match Day - Club hoping to open additional bar in East Stand - To clarify this point, the aim is to move the family bar into the South Stand and have a large bar in the East Stand, as they're obviously in the wrong place at the moment. There was also some humorous discussion about the Tiger/Tigress toilet signs, fair play to James Mooney for admitting this was down to him. Shame on you James. In addition, there was some discussion on the fact that Caravan Of Love wasn't working. For the next two games there will be an attempt to start it a little earlier and the words will go up on the big screen, if there is no improvement, it will be binned. All in all, the discussion were very worthwhile, they lasted well over three hours. There are some issues are that are unlikely to see much achieved within the fan working group, these relate to the name change, the badge, the #hcafc hashtag etc, but in other areas I believe there's a very good opportunity to improve things and I welcome this. Thanks to James for giving the fans the opportunity to state our case.
I don't know who they were(apologies, I don't think anyone took everyone's names), but there was James Mooney(HCAFC), Pete Curry(Council/SAG), Me(CTWD/not606), Andy(AN), Ian(CI), Charlotte(Tigerlink), Ron(OSC), a rep from the senior tigers, a rep from Away Direct, three Ulltras, Kate(speaking on the disabled issue), Angie(Hooligran) and about half a dozen others just representing themselves.
Pete Curry works for the council and part of his role is as chairman of the Safety Advisory Group. He's a nice bloke and is doing everything possible to try and improve communications between the police, stewards and fans, so that people have a better understanding of why certain decisions are taken. The most important of which is arranging for one of the Fan Working Group to attend SAG meetings and state the case for the fans and question the policing, stewarding, segregation etc.
He also went to great lengths to explain why the segregation at the KC is what it is, and why it's not physically or legally possible to reduce the amount of seating area between rival fans.
It's to do with legal requirements based on number of seats or distance that people have to travel to reach a gangway. Coupled with the concourse design for toilets and food concessions it's not possible to reduce the area that is left empty for segregation. OLM asked why removable barriers can't be used in the gangways, so that all seats could be used and the gangway becomes the segregated area, but those next to the closed gangway are too far away from a safe exit.
He told us the outline rules for what is and isn't allowed in a stadium, the recommended maximum distance from a seat to an aisle is 14 seats, the most you can possibly have is a block 36 seats wide with an aisle either end(seats need to be 30 metres from an aisle). He also gave us details of the rules regarding exiting a ground in an emergency, you have to be able to empty the ground in eight minutes and he had details of exactly how many people per minute could get through every individual exit in the ground. It's complicated stuff. We had a discussion about temporary rails with a gangway for segregation, as Arsenal had on Saturday(so every seat could be used), but he told us it was not possible to retro-fit these at the KC. He basically said that mistakes had been made with the design of the stadium, that the exits were not wide enough and as a consequence we can't increase the numbers of seats or use them all, something that wouldn't currently allow safe standing either. He also said the concrete used for the steps/gangways is too thin to sink barrier fixings into it, so the temporary rail system is impossible to implement.
Thanks Muffin and OLM. The safety issue sounds very complex. Probably something your average fan doesn't consider to be honest. The more info that can be shared the better so we all can appreciate what happens behind the scenes at a football match - something we all probably take for granted. As a separate issue, I'd like to see an attempt at an 8 minute evacuation ! I'd say it's highly unlikely for most fans and impossible for those in wheelchairs that rely on the lifts.
It takes more than 8 minutes to get out after a game sometimes and that's with the advantage of the hoards of pro Allam PLW's leaving 5 or 10 minutes prior!
Presumably in the event of an emergency the large doors on ground level (in the corners) would all be opened, so the exit in the event of emergency would happen very differently to how it does at the end of a match.
In reality, if there was an emergency, everyone would run on the pitch making the whole exit thing a bit of a nonsense, but them's the rules.
I wonder if the calculation involved the eight coppers and stewards often cluttering up the exits through the game.
I like the bit about getting unsold tickets into the hands of those who can't afford them . Get your finger out Mr Allam and we will fill the stadium every game I hope the new owner will up grade the stadium in the future to hold 32,000 - 36,000 Lots of things the fans group can work on once it's all set up
Only the Allam's could think losing 13.5% of the companies core customers is success after the most successful year ever.
