For me theres a difference between smokers and considerate smokers, as a non smoker myself I find the majority of smokers I come across in life are considerate, we go on holiday with friends who both smoke but they never light up in front of me and my mrs, I've never mention anything to them, it's just something they choose to do but just to play devils advocate I would have more sympathy for smokers if they haven't got a designated area tho to be fair I think there must have been a better place than the loos....on a side note my dad now suffers with COPD he stopped about 9 years ago and regrets everyday ever picking a cig up.
I spoke to a number of stewards asking to be let out for a crafty ***. They wouldn't let me. Well, they would, but if they did they wouldn't let me back in. I questioned the policy stating that if they don't let people out to have a cig they'll just have one in the bogs. I wasn't having a barny with them or owt, it just seems far more sensible to me to open the doors, let people have a cig then let them back in. We're people. I don't understand why, because we support a football team, we should be treated like prisoners. I often go to the theatre or to see comedy shows. During the interval they don't stop me going outside for a cig. The thought wouldn't occur to them to lock me in. I'm exactly the same person when I go to the Lyceum as I am when I go to Spotland. There's more of us at the Lyceum than there were at Spotland. Why can I have a cig when I go to watch Stewart Lee but I not when I go to watch Barnsley. All the stewards agreed with me but said it was out of their hands. The reason the bogs were so full of smoke was because the stewards were directing people to the toilets to have a cig. Speaking of those toilets - how many reds fans were there yesterday? Was it about 1200? How does a place with just one male toilet with just one door for all those people get a safety certificate? Because there was nothing about that that was safe.
As a smoker even I find the toilets pretty hellish at a lot of games when they are filled with smoke so I can't imagine what it's like for a non-smoker.
One toilet block, which was insufficient, but that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was there was only one door. That and the fact that the stewards were directing smokers to go to the bog to have a ***. There was even a steward in there smoking himself.
I might be being daft but isnt there only one door in and out of the toilets at oakwell? Rochdale should be reported to and charged by the police for allowing people to break the law on their premises
The one door to get in and out of the gents was no wider than a front door on an house, so about 3-4 times smaller than ours.
I don't know about other areas of the ground, but the bogs in the Ponty have two. One says Entrance, the other Exit. The famous west stand bogs have two as well. 800 folk went for a piss yesterday. Those coming out were feighting their way through those trying to get in. There was a crush and a considerable one.
Posh ponty end buggers. The east stand toilets only have one door but as dreamboy explained they are wider (double) doors. The ladies in the east stand have a single door but I guess they get away with that due to less female fans.