Customer charter/Terms and Conditions Barnsley fc

After reading the extensive argumeets about racist chants, smoke bombs etc and fan behaviour I looked at Barnsley F Cs customer charter and Terms and conditions foe supporters attending matches. The club's stance is documented in the above. Being able to enforce these policies is of course another matter. Ticket pricing for away fans is also mentioned and why we cannot charge the £39 that our own fans were charged at Sheffield Wednesday.

 

From the various comments on the BBS regarding flares and racist chanting etc, it's patently
obvious that " we" as a Club and a mainly responsible fan base have got a serious problem
that really needs to be addressed.

Would it be worth mentioning at the next fans/ Board get together to see if some kind of group
could be set up to really deal with it. ?

I fully empathise with fans who are getting fed up , but it should be the perpetrators of these mindless
acts who should be prevented from attending games not the dedicated fans who are complaining
in increasing numbers about a minority of cretins who persist with their anti social behaviour.

 

Zero tolerance; start banning folk.

Racism, pyrotechnics and vandalism aren't something we should have to put up with.

 

I stopped going to away matches years ago for similar reasons. Also the abuse stewards and catering staff receive is appalling. These thugs wouldn't do it in any other environment, so what gives them the right to behave like this in a football stadium. Same rules should apply.

 

This item now being reported on Sky Sports. Publicity we can well
do without.

 

The Club's got it wrong - shot itself in the foot with such an explicit statement - did the very thing it wanted to prevent - that being, giving publicity to the chants

 

If these rules exist, they need actually implementing rather than just being a set of written words that some folk choose not to abide by.
Now our idiots have got us on the news, we risk getting a reputation that we do not want and risk being compared to the Millwall's of this world.

 

I was thinking along the same lines JBD. They might also enjoy their notoriety and do
it even more now. Here's hoping that without putting themselves in danger fans in the
same area as them, might film them on their phones and report them.

 

You do realise Millwall were family club of the year. 2017. That went down well.

 

Clubs in their wisdom tend to rely on stewards to save money. These pillocks have no respect and abuse them at will. Put a few coppers in there. The ringleaders may not respect em but at least the hangers on will tend to back off instead of joining in. To be honest I don’t care if your in the vicinity of such behaviour and get nicked. Move on. The police have done a job on the hangers on in recent years. And visited their parents. Most take heed. some say oh it can’t be my little lad. Close their eyes on little Johnny.

 

Your sentiments are correct but "Clubs tend to rely on stewards to save money" is incorrect. The police dictate the category of a game, the number of stewards is around 100/120 per game and relatively constant throughout the season. What these 'Muppets' don't realise that their defiance of the club's statement will be used by SYP to upgrade the game category and increase the clubs policing costs.

 

The club needed to be clear on which chant is unacceptable because a lot of idiots are dismissing it as "only a laugh". If anybody has found out about it and starts singing it they deserve to be banned.

 

We moan about different kick off times and allocations compared to other clubs, when our fans behaviour is the reason why.

 

I’ll stand corrected George. But when I attended the fans engagement forum. As I understood it any policing costs outside the stadium should fall on SYP. (I do know it was a bone of contention)
Inside the stadium costs. fall on the clubs. Whilst I can see SYP insisting on cover inside the stadium. I’m not sure as to the extent. I also believe the club can request policing inside the ground but at a cost. I will attempt to qualify my thoughts at a meeting on Thursday with SYP Hopefully with a true reflection of the guidelines.

 

Categorisation of games is done shortly after fixtures are announced. Whilst this is meant to be a negotiation between the Club and SYP the final decision is that of the Police and the club pays for their decision. You are correct that outside the curtilage of Oakwell policing is entirely the responsibility of SYP. However the location of the allotted officers is not always that defined. Some years ago Ipswich were refunded substantial payments from Suffolk police for police allotted to the ground being relocated outside.

 

Know where your coming from George but im trying to clarify whether or not a football club can hire police to patrol so to speak certain areas of the ground. Eg the concourses where most problematic incidents occur. ( I may have dreamt it but thought it was a possibility) At Hillsboro I do not recollect seeing any police on the concourse. This was a common sight at one time.

 

Essentially no - however you can get SIA staff as opposed to stewards who have the power to eject and detain. To get police on you usually need to pay bit wont get a 'beat' presence, but more of a presence to deal with major incident/unrest.

 

This is a very complicated issue. Safety at football stadia is the sole responsibility of the clubs. The football clubs procure ‘Special Police Services’ (SPS) from their area Police Authority. The Police provide SPS for clubs for the primary purpose of preserving public order at matches and providing other services that can best be provided by the Police at such events. Theoretically this means that the police are acting as contractors to the club (particularly as the Club is paying for these services) as per section 3 of HSWA 1974, the police will never accept the Club as their employer and will not accept instructions from the Club. It becomes more complicated because the enforcing authority on health and safety for football stadia is the 'Local Authority' whilst the enforcing authority on the police in such matters is the 'Health and Safety Executive'. It is further complicated by responsibility when an incident occurs aa to who takes 'precedent'. The waters are muddied further by the fact that the vast majority of 'Football Safety Officers' are ex police and not safety practitioners. It is possible for a conflict of interest to arise. It is far too a complex issue to explain in detail in this forum, but if you are interested as a Chartered safety practitioner and qualified football safety officer I was commissioned to publish a paper on football stadia safety and policing by 'SHP', the journal of the safety profession. It is a long read but if you are that interested or suffer from insomnia it will explain in detail the dilemma that football faces between football clubs and the police on safety and public order. There is a link below.

https://www.shponline.co.uk/emergency-procedures/sports-ground-safety-safer-united/