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The East Stand One

I sent the following letter the night I got home from the match and it explains the situation succinctly. 

9 March 2002

Copied to:
Carlisle United Internet Mailing List
Carlisle United (Press Officer and Safety Officer)
Cumberland News
Radio Cumbria
CFM
CCUIST


On Saturday 9 March Neil Davidson of Carlisle was banned from Brunton
Park until the end of the current season.  What, you may wonder, was his
offence?  Foul and abusive language?  Racist comments?  Intimidatory
gestures?  No, he was banned for standing up in the back row of the East
Stand.  Apparently, this is a more heinous crime than the others that I
mentioned.  During the course of the same game, other Carlisle United
fans were heard to swear and were seen to use antagonistic gestures
towards Swansea fans.

This incident has been brewing for the last couple of years.  Several of
us have been repeatedly told to sit down, even though the back row of
the East Stand has less leg room than the other rows and standing does
not affect anyone's view of the game.  It could even possibly be argued
that the limited legroom in the back row is unhealthy.

Over recent weeks we have been told that the Football Association has
said that all fans in a seated area are required to sit down.  When we
repeatedly asked the stewards to see a copy of this rule, they refused
to show us it.  In fact, I and Neil were at the Lincoln City game last
Saturday and I specifically asked a steward there whether he was aware
of any such rule.  He was not.  At the time we were stood in a seated
area and that steward said he did not have a problem with the situation.
Also, there was a Manchester City fan next to me today, visiting with a
CUFC supporting friend.  He was at the Bradford City versus Manchester
City match last night (8 March) and told me that there were over 2000
Manchester City fans standing in a seated area at that ground.

At a time when Carlisle United should be seen to be building bridges
with fans and stewarding should be more low key, the stewards seem to be
more antagonistic than at any time in the last five years.  Today's
incident caused more resentment from fans.


Dave Atkinson - Reeves is offside again!

To date, I have not yet received a reply from Carlisle United, but others have. One email which another fan received from Brian Fenwick, the Safety Officer, was posted on the Monday and, whilst not stating a direct connection to the Neil Davidson ban, does read as if it may be. The following is my letter to the Safety Officer

Further to my previous email, to which I have not yet received a reply,
I have read the following email you sent to Ian:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: 
>To: 
>Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 4:27 PM
>Subject: Stewards
>
>
>: Thank you for your e mail of 6/3/02. I apologise for the delay in
>: replying.
>:
>: We have had a minor problem with a small number of home supporters in
>: the Esat Stand acting in a disorderly and abusive manner and
>: persistantly standing throughout the game in contravention of the
>: Football League ground regulations. we are adreesing this issue as a
>: matter of urgency.
>:
>: I apologise if your enjoyment of the game was spoilt. You will
>: appreciate that the weather and pitch conditions did not lead to a good
>: game although we more than made up for it on Saturday.
>: Brian Fenwick
>: Safety Officer

If this email is referring to Neil Davidson and the others which
sit/stand in his vicinity then my girlfriend and I take great exception
to be referred to as "disorderly and abusive".  We have not in any way
acted in such a manner.  The most I personally have done is query and
debate the rule for us to remain seated.  As I stated in my previous
email, we repeatedly requested seeing a copy of these supposed rules.
On every occasion, our request was ignored.

I await your prompt reply.

In addition, I have now decided not to renew my season ticket for the
coming season and will be writing separately to confirm this.

Interestingly, one of the other letters sent out from Mr Fenwick states that the ground regulations are on display. In response to this, I sent the following email:

Further to my two previous emails, for which I have not yet received a
reply, at the Oxford match yesterday I read your letter to Mr
Egglestone.  Whilst I cannot comment on the incidents on the concourse
or afterwards, since I was not present, I can comment on other things.

You state in your letter that Mr Davidson and others were repeatedly
informed of the ground regulations.  This is true, we were, but as I
stated in my emails to you, we repeatedly asked to see the regulations
and were ignored by the stewards.  You also state that the regulations
are on display and so they were, when we went looking for them as we
left the ground.  However, they did look like they had only just been
nailed up, and I cannot recall seeing them previously.  I am not
suggesting that they were not there previously, however.  I am curious,
though, as to why the stewards did not simply tell us that they were
available to be viewed downstairs.  Would you like to comment on this?

I think it is only fair to tell you that I have written an article about
these events for my website.  The article is at:

http://www.kynson.org.uk/RIOA/club/east_stand_1.htm

I accept that as a private venue the club can make and enforce whatever
rules it wishes, however all we have asked for is that these rules are
enforced fairly and equally and that misbehaviour more serious than
standing is punished first.

I have done further research into the issue of seating space (defined as the gap between seat backs) and I found the following:

There is no distinction made for short or long flights for these measurements. It could be argued that the seating space on planes sets a precedence which should be applied to all seated activities.

Finally, in response to a letter to the Football Licensing Authority, I received a copy of the draft regulations relating to standing in seated areas. Whilst I do fully accept that as a private venue the club can make and enforce whatever rules it wishes, it is interesting to note the following paragraph from within the draft regulations:

It is important that supporters are engaged in the process where possible and that they understand why the proposed action is both necessary and ultimately for their benefit. A heavy-handed approach that was perceived to penalise the innocent could be counterproductive and might exacerbate the situation.

This was our main issue with the handling of the situation by the stewards and employees of Event Cover.

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