Grealish

[king_dezeeuw06]

At many away games we've been over the years there are multiple big burly stewards sat in front of the stand with their back to the pitch facing the fans and watching us at all times for 90 mins. If the stewards do that there is no way that guy gets out of his seat, runs down to the front, climbs over the advertising boards and then runs about 30 or 40 yards unchallenged to get on the pitch to Grealish - they'd have him grabbed before he got anywhere near a player.

While at other away games we've been the stewards aren't watching the fans like this or even worse they are in position but they are sitting watching the game instead. Another potential reason is they are putting people into this role that are completely inappropriate - if you are organising your stewards you wouldn't have a older gentleman or teenage girl in that role - you'd have them helping people to their seats or doing other parts of stewarding rather than on pitch security as you need someone who can hold pitch invaders down if needed.

What happened with Grealish is a failure in stewarding by the clubs organisation being sub standard or more likely some individuals just weren't doing / able to do their job properly. This weekends events will likely see the standard of stewarding improve as some of the individual stewards or clubs who had become complacent about things like this have had a big reminder of the reason that role is so important. There is no way a fences are going back up and they aren't needed if the stewarding is done properly.

 

[moonay]

At many away games we've been over the years .....................

Thing is though KDZ, there aren't the same number of stewards allocated to watch over the home fans (maybe except for Derby on tuesday....... there were bloody millions !)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there should be .................. just that the chances of a home supporter getting onto the pitch are much better than for an away fan.

 

[Kenny Morris]

What happened with Grealish is a failure in stewarding by the clubs organisation being sub standard or more likely some individuals just weren't doing / able to do their job properly..

It was a failure in stewarding but also a sign of the failures in society where social media is being allowed to be used in an aggressive, nasty, threatening manner and then by extension people think it's OK to move that into real life. Yes there was violence at matches 30- 40 years ago and the odd bit now but it's another level when players are attacked and I believe FB, Twitter etc are responsible by tolerating extreme views which then creep into wider society as what some people think is acceptable behaviour

 

[exiled tic]

It has to be point deduction, if clubs are faced with possible relegation or missing out on promotion because of some numpty it will make them think more of measures to stop this!

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

Thing is though KDZ, there aren't the same number of stewards allocated to watch over the home fans (maybe except for Derby on tuesday....... there were bloody millions !)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there should be .................. just that the chances of a home supporter getting onto the pitch are much better than for an away fan.

You are certainly right home sides assume that their own fans will behave and don't really take watching them as seriously - that is exactly the type of thing i was talking about when i mentioned complacency. At the DW we've never had any visible on pitch security unless we are expecting a pitch invasion so i imagine most other clubs have been doing exactly the same and it's a bit daft. I suspect that stewarding resources will start to be repriortised to have on pitch security around the ground rather than just in front of the away end. You don't even need hundreds of extra stewards just need to position them strategically as i imagine that if people see the they are being watched and someone is their to grab them it will act as a deterant and if it doesn't we've got someone in place to see what is coming and get them.

I think this is a wake up call and as rare as these instances are hopefully this one will mean we don't have enough like it again.

 

[Made in Wigan]

It was a failure in stewarding but also a sign of the failures in society where social media is being allowed to be used in an aggressive, nasty, threatening manner and then by extension people think it's OK to move that into real life. Yes there was violence at matches 30- 40 years ago and the odd bit now but it's another level when players are attacked and I believe FB, Twitter etc are responsible by tolerating extreme views which then creep into wider society as what some people think is acceptable behaviour

Aye, but you don't complain when your momentum chums do just that.

 

[Made in Wigan]

Anyway, 14 weeks, out on a tag in about 4. That'll deter other tools from doing the same. Not.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

You will never stop it and blaming stewarding isn’t the answer 30k fans and potentially 30k people who could go on the park, you can never get enough stewards to police that.

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

You will never stop it and blaming stewarding isn’t the answer 30k fans and potentially 30k people who could go on the park, you can never get enough stewards to police that.

But how many people try to run on the pitch from week to week in games very very few - so if you steward properly you aren't policing 30k pitch invaders just the one lunatic that happens to have a mad moment like that Birmingham lad that happens once every blue moon. That's what you can effectively guard against.

I bet there were a handful of potential incidents like that we will never ever hear about as it was nipped in the bud before it became an incient where some idiot was set on running on the pitch but was tackled before they even cleared the advertising boards by vigilent stewards.

If 1 person can get onto a pitch and run 30-40 yards without being tackled by a steward then you're security has failed and it was avoidable.

 

[TRUE BELIEVER]

Could we be over reacting a tad here. If you count the number of incidents that happen where people actually get on to the pitch and put this against the number of games that go ahead with no incidents I am sure the percentage is miniscule. I am not saying that we should not react but the reaction has to be relative to the amount of incidents. It would no doubt cripple some clubs to have to put in place extra stewarding because one idiot in the crowd is intent on getting onto the pitch. Regardless of how many stewards are around the perimeter it would be doubtful that they would stop the most determined idiot from encroaching. I think the fact that three incidents took place over the weekend will be enough to focus the minds of club safety officials and persuade them to remind them not to be complacent when stewarding games.

In my opinion the sentence handed out by the court was too lenient given that it was a premeditated assault, I am sure that if this had happened on King Street the court would have taken a harsher view. Perhaps a review of the sentencing is what is needed and longer sentences envisaged. Maybe this would deter would be idiots, or not.