tufc4life1 wrote:
Some prat that had one pint to many, he was asked to stop swearing at away fans 3 or 4 times but carried on then a steward challenged him and he threw a punch so deserved it.
for the record he was a Torquay fan
I have three points to bring up one of which is Matts
I asked the chief steward what happened and he stated that this Torquay fan was pretty well plastered and wound up and wanted to have a go at the Stanley lot. There was on Stanley fan who he was aiming at particularly and when he lunged to break through the barrier set up by stewards he was grabbed and hauled out pronto right in front of us and he seemed hell bent on breaking free if he could but they seemed to have got a good hold on him.
I have to say that in defence of the stewards when constantly barracked by our lot for not moving the barrier closer to the Stanley fans to allow us more room. You need to understand that a reasonable gap has to be kept to allow for this sort of thing and they got it dead right this time. Those who don’t want to understand, then don’t go over there. Then you won’t have a problem which in many cases the fans caused in the first place by not moving up to allow more fans in therefore filling the empty gaps that were obvious in back. I also saw this in the end of the pop side where fans were remonstrating with stewards because they were causing congestion by blocking access by not moving over. Come on guys use a little common sense.
I have to say that the Stanley lot seemed good humoured and took a lot and gave a lot of banter. Some of our chants did have me chuckling a bit,
"Your hats are second-hand"
"You'll never get a job. Sign on sign on you'll never get a job" to the tune of You'll never walk alone.
To name but two.
But what really got me puzzled was our lot singing “we are French and we know we areâ€. after a an odd French chant. Now what was that all about?
As for atmosphere Hmmmn
I don't think it worked.
There was a good group singing away but not all the time.
There wasn't much room, and we were not allowed to get into the pop side to get refreshments when we wanted.
For H&S reasons we were not allowed the drum. In future it has to go in the pop side!
The singing was split again. I could see that later on in the match especially in the second half afte the goal the pop side got singing and the family stand joined in on occasions. but the away end never seemed to get into gear and no one joined in with us.
I also noticed that there was a small group trying to sing at the away end of the pop side too.
if we are to get the ground rocking it has to be orchestrated from one central point. I honestly though this had been decided on. But it seems that the message hasn't got through. and for once I have to say that the pop side has to be the point if we are to get the family stand involved. which I think will spread to Bristows Bench next year as the family stand will get the Bench rocking.
It reminds me of when Rovers where at Twerton Azteca. The singing section was on the side and they sang accross to the opposite side who replied back. this could be orchestrated by some in Bristow Bench. But you have to meet in advance and practice or it will never happen. Nothing works unless you practice a bit. otherwise the other side doesn't know what you are trying to achieve. We had some grief with Rovers fans over the summer. I hope it's all forgiven now. I think we could learn a hell of a lot from the Rovers fans as they really do know how to orchestrate the singing to get a max atmosphere from fewest fans. And in the lowest days of Twerton the crowds dropped to only 3,000 approx.
I tried to get our coffees (Timed by the Family stand clock at twenty to four). The stewards said we were not allowed across until the half time had gone and all the players had left the field. This was before the board was raised telling us there was a good few minutes of time added on. I could have got my coffee and been back well before half time. It took a good while to empty the pitch before they allowed us to go across by which time there was difficulty getting down the front of the pop side. And when we got to the refreshments there were large queues. Now with the best will in the world i don't think that this had been thought of before the match. it means that if we are to go for refreshments there is a risk we may not get enough time to get back
before the gates are shut again.
It seems that once you go into the away end that's it. now transfer back. and if you go for half time food and are too late it's nigh on impossible to get back into the away end as the gate will be close.
What we need to know before hand is what rules are to be applied to further matches when the away end is to be opened to home fans.
If Andrew Candy reads this, will it be possible to put the rules up on here as well as the main site to keep us in the picture. Then I hope some if not all of this confusion and congestion will be alleviated.
.
