[Official Site] PERSISTENT STANDING

Whilst I'm not completely against standing at football matches, standing up doesnt add anything to an atmosphere. Singing does, and you can sing when you're sat down. I don't think it's too much to ask to be respectful of people around you, who might not be able to stand for long periods.

 

Is it not possible to sing whilst sitting?

 

It's a UK trait that if you tell people to do something, they will do the opposite. In 1973 in the energy crisis the Norwegian PM told the UK PM they had put a large display of power consumption for the country up in Oslo. They asked everyone in Norway to switch off at a certain time, and crowds gathered to watch consumption figures go down. He asked our PM why we didn't do the same and was told "because everyone will switch everything on to watch the display go the other way".

They said sit, I said stand!!

They said stop, I said go
They said fast, I said slow
They said yes, I said no
I do the bad boy boogie
Bein' a bad boy ain't that bad
I had me more dirty women than most men ever had
All you women come along with me
And I'll show you how good a bad boy can be
I said right and they said left
I said east and they said west
I said up and they said down
I do the bad boy boogie
All over town

 

And I applaud you for applauding the club on this issue.

 

Impossible to enforce

 

I fully understand your reluctance to attend away games. Apart from the persistent standing of some people, who seem oblivious of those around them, the smoking in toilets and occasional disgusting urinating in washbasins are also features which I do not witness at Oakwell in East Upper. I have no idea what things are like in other areas of Oakwell.

 

The article states the enforcement action the Council can take. It's right there.

 

Agreed, that's where me and mi dad used to stand

 

That's where my Dad and my Uncle used to stand.

 

"Let's get the ground rocking"

" sit darn or we shutting the stand" coyr.............sithi.

 

Don't you remember having to stand up to sing in school assemblies!?

 

Whether you like the message or not, and I understand those who want to stand, I don’t see how people are blaming the club or calling out Khaled on it.

This isn’t a Barnsley football club thing. It isn’t them threatening to close stands or sections of stands.

I’m sure the club would love to install safe standing/rail seating. There’s a huge cost involved though.

Hopefully as and when things progress with the stadium ownership / lease they can sort some out, maybe west lower first, and part of the ponty after.

The fact they mention rail seating in the article shows that it is in the thoughts somewhere.

 

Someone at SAG seriously on a power trip, it seems.

Given that they've already shut down around 6,000 of the seats in the stadium, it seems that they're still on a mission to find more reasons to reduce capacity.

I've no issue with football trying to tackle standing in seated areas, but it needs to be done consistently at all grounds. It seems to be a far bigger issue at many of the away grounds we visit than I've seen at Oakwell, although I suspect they're going to be targeting the section of the Ponte near the corner stand.

Are they blaming this one on terrorism issues too?

 

The only people to blame are those who can’t put their bum on a seat.

 

same

 

I saw a bit of a barney at Oakwell South when some d*ckheads refused to sit down.

 

I do indeed, but we also had to stand up when a teacher entered the room.

 

I don't disagree, but the issue I'm highlighting is about consistency of enforcement and proportionate response.

The club are forced into putting out a statement by the SAG threatening stand closures, etc, but without any realistic hope of enforcing a change, unless by over-zealous stewarding, which will no doubt create flashpoints in the ground (Charlton stewards used to be a nightmare for this a few years ago, and it created a really ugly tension between fans and stewards throughout the games there).

If they try to enforce this as they're outlining, I can see this creating more problems than it solves within the stadium. As others have noted, talking about doing it and being able to meaningfully enforce it in action are two different things, and I can't see how they'll succeed in some parts of the ground. Given the communication, we'll be shutting down a few more sections of the ground within a few weeks if they keep to their word on this, which will no doubt make someone on the SAG very happy.