Good morning.
A novelty item and so straight to our friends psychological case studies down the road in Woolwich.
Two brothers have been banned for eight years, yes eight years from the Emptycrates after an altercation over ‘standing up’ escalated into an incident where the pair were restrained by coppers HERE.
The charges ranged from abusive behaviour to causing fear of violence and in addition to the bans the dastardly duo picked up fines totalling a little over a grand.
Was this harsh? Well, I’m not privy to the specifics of just how they instilled a fear of violence. Making threats to kill can land you in jail, so presumably it was less nasty than that. Something between, ‘You’re bally well heading for a bunch of fives!’ and, ‘You’re gonna get striped right up the wrong un you slag!’
Now I get get being told to sit down. I like everyone sat down. I’d go to more games if there were comfy chairs or at least cushions provided. My will to live drains when the, ‘Stand up if you hate Arsenal’ gets an airing. I’ve heard the argument/excuse it’s a way of outfoxing the stewards – but to what purpose?
That song has all the wit and imagination of Jeremy Kyle’s haircut.
Standing up when the action reaches fever pitch is of course natural, good honest and right. But otherwise it’s completely selfish. I can just about and I mean just about cope with some idiot insisting travelling to a football ground and buying a seat next to me in order to noisely slug back a tuna bagel, but I draw the line at paying to watch a football match and only getting to see bits of it thanks to some pilchard with an attention deficit disorder.
I don’t believe that several thousand people all on their feet as Azza cuts into the penalty area and weaves past a defender is the nub of the matter.
It’s the thoughtlessness and arrogance of the few that believe that rules don’t apply to them ‘cos they’re at a football match. Like they’ve entered some magic kingdom where it’s somehow alright to do as they please.
Bless ’em.
If you consider the atmosphere and increasing attendances at Bundesliga matches, surely safe standing areas for home fans must be at least considered? It’s financial madness in the current climate to invest in new stadia, when a cheaper,more viable and ultimately popular solution is at hand? Spurs used to get 57k before all seating came in, and I’d reckon about a 40-42k would still be attainable provided it was sensibly administered with an electronic entry and max pre-paid facility. Many of the incidents that occurred during the standing years were caused by pay at the turnstile and poor ticketing/policing, whereas a members only section would eradicate that, so where’s the problem?
We can’t be seen to be enjoying ourselves in this day and age my friend, since I started attending football matches they have banned drinking alcohol, smoking, standing, swearing in the stands and most forms of physical contact on the field of play…..for a treat these days I stand up at home with a beer, a cig and watch a match from the 70’s on espn classic whilst calling any one who’ll listen a c*nt!
Sounds great,can I come round? I’d bring a bag of sharpened 2 pence coins to throw at your wife(she could run up and down in front of us holding a red and yellow flag)and a stanchion to lean on that could serve as a pissing post at half time.
I once made enough for a Holsten pils whilst being escorted passed the home fans at the Shay, Halifax Town back in the 80’s…..FW you’re more than welcome, why not bring some darts with you as well for when she starts throwing the coins back at us, coz she will….
‘We can’t be seen to be enjoying ourselves in this day’
To right! There’s only two things certain in this life…..death and taxes. You lost the right to enjoy life when your parents signed you over to the state. Check out your B’certificat.
Anyway my Jewish cousins good luck against the irishman’s lot.
It used to make me laugh, when in the east stand they used to have a part-time smoking ban, but you could have a fag at HT in the stand, madness because the fog was unbearable and if you’ve got a thousand guys lighting up and puffin’ away in a 10-15 minute window, you’re asking for trouble, but you’re right, if it’s enjoyable they’ll either tax it or kill it, either way, it’s an homogenised and boring existence designed to curtail the majority, because a minority can’t look after themselves….IE On a packet of Peanuts, the health warning say’s ‘This product contains nuts’ FFS!
a fag… and a beer!, Fcuk me, you’re LOADED mate
It was always said: “A standing prick has no conscience.”
I stand in the South Lower. I have no conscience about it. Does that make me a prick?
Can you imagine everyone sitting at WHL? You’d have the atmosphere generated by the West Stand times four. That is, no atmosphere whatsoever.
Standing areas will come in, eventually, just as video technology will, one day. We ‘ll just have to stand around waiting for it.
If I go to a game by train , I pay to sit but stand. If I go by car, the traffic is pants , so I sit at endless lights, which I can’t stand ! I stand in the queue for a burger which is odds on to have me sitting sooner or later ! I get into the ground to my seat which I sit in ……. Until game starts, then I stand! At half time I sit , then of course, when game starts I stand
The moral of this rubbish
WTF
I can’t stand it anymore…… :shocked2:
That’s a bit stand offish.
Better than sitting on the fence though, dontcha think?
I just leg it..
On the steward’s behaviour in this I want to add…
You know those signs you see increasingly these days on trains, in building societies etc? The ones that say that abuse towards our staff will not be tolerated… those ones?
I firmly believe that the abysmal behaviour and near zero social skills of the staff themselves have created the need for signs that effectively say, ‘please don’t threaten to kill our sh*t staff.’
Clearly there is a genuine case for segregation of fans who wish to stand and those who do not. That’s cool and I hope that Levy & Co. dwell on that with the new design.
My constant peeve among so many is man’s inhumanity to man. Not on any grandiose level, but the everyday simple things like having and displaying an awareness of others.
Make sure you don’t clip other’s heels with your buggy or your supermarket trolley or push chair. Make sure you stuffing a Burger King down your throat in a packed train carriage doesn’t make everyone else want to self harm. When you buy headphones, do you care if they leak sound? Are you, basking in your own liberty spoiling someone else’s?
The rules are brought in to nullify the minority who spoil it for the majority.
Yeah, couldn’t agree more. I don’t think this is really about the relative merits of standing vs sitting. I don’t think it’s about safety. The bottom line is that as a society we’ve lost the ability to be considerate of others. The vast majority of people you meet out there are completely oblivious to the discomfort the practicing of their liberties imposes upon others. It’s the age old chestnut – rights have to be exercised responsibly, otherwise they get curtailed simply because they impose / inhibit others from exercising their rights.
Perhaps it’s a sign of old age, but increasingly it seems the norm not to respect this. I’ve no problem with standing at games, but if you’re being an asshat and restricting the view of the kid behind you and doing nothing to help out, and if you can’t recognise that, then it does end up with people having to ‘police’ it to try and make sure things are as fair as possible for the most number of people. It’s called society, and if we don’t like overly officious officials, we need to take more collective responsibility at football games, on public transport, in fact, in any kind of public space we need to share with others.
Surely that’s the bottom line. It’s not so much about power as our collective inability to be fair to others.
Who the fuck said you could have any right’s? Your lucky I am allowing you ro have an electronic opinion online. Right’s? I can’t believe people still think they still have right’s.
What a wanker! However he has a point.
Hahahha Cheers Dave, I apologise.
If the snow breaks – can we window a BBQ?
The one that annoy’s me is on the Severn Bridge, when I’ve just paid 10.80 and they’re Welsh..so why not give out a little bit of abuse, fairs fair!
i am a musician too and gigs aint safe. But thats down to a collective mindset that gets tribal, adrenaline and beer. Its a good job going to a football match aint like that…… :whistle:
that was a reply to 2.58 – sorry
Bloody online reverb :freu