15yo. Think there was a thread a few weeks ago.

Stevenage @ home. East Stand ticket turnstile, 3 girls in front of us turned away due to age. They were confused and probably a bit upset. We did the decent thing and 'accompanied' them in with us.

Why is there a situation where youngsters can buy tickets but not get in? Is it their fault for not knowing the terms or the clubs fault for not making it clear?

Fair play to kids for spending their dosh on a ticket when they are at the age where hanging round the town centre might be more appealing. I went unaccompanied from about 13yo but that was obviously in the stone age.

Thoughts?

 

Stupid really. Beyond the age of 12 i see no reason for accompaniment

 

I'm not sure, you should be over 18 to see some of our defending!!

 

Used to go to matches with mates at about 11 or 12 back in 70s. Different world back then to be fair.

 

Age of 10 for my first visits and I can’t remember if I was with anyone or not - 1962

 

Over 14+ to be unaccompanied. Brings it in line with concert venues .

 

Went to first game on my own as a 10/11 year old In the 79-80 season but back then you didn't run the risk of walking in the bogs and seeing a set of morons doing Columbian marching powder off a bog seat. To be honest if my kids were still under 16 wouldn't want em going to oakwell without me at least being in the ground near by to keep an eye on em.

 

I would think kids were safer in oakwell than wondering the streets for a couple of hours

 

Football hooliganism was pretty rife late 70s and 80s and far more menace and aggression around then than there is now. I think we have the tendency to look back on things through a haze of nostalgia.

I went from about 13 on my own by 16 I was going away and regularly being chased, had abused chucked at me etc. in away grounds we were treated abysmally and many were patently unsafe and dangerous.

 

Having watched football throughout the 1980s and experienced first hand the appalling conditions we were subjected to, herded like cattle into pens, crushed like sardines behind metal fences, as well as watching in horror the scenes at Hillsborough and Heysel, not to mention the violence and racism present at almost every game, I'm at a loss as to how you can believe it's worse in 2023.

 

Yeah I don’t get the idea that grounds are less safe now. Football is more anodyne and safe than it’s ever been.

I’d happily let my daughter go on her own though she’s not bothered.

 

I get that grounds are safer but traffic is at least 10 times more than that back in the 70s/80s and public transport is a lot less reliable. There are other aspects to look at other than the match itself.

 

I was specifically talking about going to Oakwell not away matches. Unless you went looking for trouble even in the bad old 70s and 80s at home games you very rarely saw it close up. Used to go in the ponte with my mates walk to and from Oakwell from Kendray. At no time did I feel threatened by fellow reds fans you can't say that these days if it's not the I'll stand up If I want to brigade threatening anybody who complains its the pissed up drugged up idiots wrecking seats and toilets after doing a few lines off a bog seat in the ponte end.

 

The ticket situation is fairly clear, has been for years, and is the same as most clubs.

It’s a safeguarding issue, and rightly so - and considerations are not just about the game, but before and after etc.

Whilst there is less violence at grounds these days, there are other dangers.

 

U14s aren’t allowed in unaccompanied as per the matchday info they put out every game so if they were 15 as the op suggests then there is no reason they shouldn’t have been admitted

 

There was trouble at loads of matches at Oakwell in the 80s. The underpass was a Mecca for dickheads.

I had a black girlfriend for a while mid 80s. Taking her to Oakwell was a ‘treat’. I’d hope that these days people would challenge the racist **** we got.

 

Like anything these days - if the ages are borderline, ID is the safest option.

The club have to cover themselves and were acting accordingly.