Football Fans Cencus

starbelgrade

I recently signed up to www.footballfanscencus.com - as I put down I was living in Sligo, I'm getting e-mails about Sligo FC. If that wasn't bad enough (!), I got a mail this morning saying....

"Dear Sligo Rovers fan

For the last 5 years we've been tracking whether fans feel they should be given the freedom to stand or sit inside football grounds.

The results consistently show that the majority of supporters would like to have the option to stand and as a follow up, we've been asking fans - In an ideal world, which sections of your ground, if any at all, would you like to see as standing areas?

The survey will be closing shortly and the results will be shared with organisations like the Football Supporters Federation (FSF). "


Now for a website that claims to "understand the hopes & fears of football fans", sending an e-mail asking a question like that on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster is hardly what I'd call understanding.

The site is obviously run by football fans (no-one else would bother) - so how the hell did they not remember what date it was? It'd be like sending a survey on which airline you use to travel to european games on the anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Awful cock-up.

gustavo

Irrellevant to Irish football anyway as we have no restrictions on terraces

starbelgrade

gustavo wrote: »

Irrellevant to Irish football anyway as we have no restrictions on terraces

The problem is that the website also deals with English football, so the mail was also sent out to any English supporters who signed up. At the moment, all their stadiums are all seated & became all seated as a direct result of what happened at Hillsborough. Though it's not irrelevant to ask if some areas of grounds should be made into "safe standing" areas, it's hardly the most sensitive thing to ask on the anniversary of the deaths of 96 fans.

guinnessdrinker

Yeah it's not the best of timing. But maybe their point is too bring it up now as after Hillsborough the top stadiums gradually became all seater due to saftey concerns.

I think the main problem with the old style terraces is that they were so deep. I remember Man Utd coming up with a suggestion a good few years ago to bring back terraces to top grounds but have them long in lenght and not deep in width.

starbelgrade

guinnessdrinker wrote: »

Yeah it's not the best of timing. But maybe their point is too bring it up now as after Hillsborough the top stadiums gradually became all seater due to saftey concerns.

I think they realised they'd cocked up on this - probably after more than a few angry / upset e-mails as they sent this out yesterday evening;

"Dear Sligo Rovers fan

Whatever ones views on standing it was not appropriate for us to send our last email on the anniversary of the Hillsbrough tragedy.

It was a genuine mistake and we apologise unreservedly to anyone to whom it has caused offence.



Many thanks for your support

The FFC Team"

Though they still haven't responded to my e-mail that was filled with anger at calling me a Sligo Rovers fan!

Gillie

starbelgrade wrote: »

Though they still haven't responded to my e-mail that was filled with anger at calling me a Sligo Rovers fan!

Eh they probably presumed you were a Rovers fan seeing as you are in Sligo???

Who do you support anyway?

TequilaMockingBird

Oh don't encourage him!

gustavo

Gillie wrote: »

Eh they probably presumed you were a Rovers fan seeing as you are in Sligo???

Who do you support anyway?

Boez :eek:

starbelgrade

Gillie wrote: »

Eh they probably presumed you were a Rovers fan seeing as you are in Sligo???

Yep. And yep again - De B-o-h-e-z. :pac:

El Weirdo

TBH, I wouldn't be that concerned about it (although I can understand how some people may be).
The fact that so many people were killed that horrible day had very little to do with terraces per sé. It was the negligence on the part of the South Yorkshire Police that was to blame along with the disgusting way that football fans were regarded in general by the media and government during the 80s (see Sun headline 19/4/89). Edit- Also see security fences at front of terraces.
The decision to make all football stadia all-seater was simply a knee-jerk reaction which has taken away a lot of the atmosphere at games nowadays. It also gave clubs the licence to charge extortionate money for seats that only the "new", prawn-sandwich-eating, celebrity fans could afford whilst pricing lifelong fans and their families out of the market.
I was actually standing in The Loft at QPR that day (I'll never forget it. 0-0 against Boro) as the news of the events in Sheffield started to filter through. Horrible, horrible day.

TequilaMockingBird

God I remember that awful day too. I was living in London and had gone to the West End shopping with a friend, we were passing a TV shop and the images were horrific. It was happening live, and the pictures hadn't been edited as yet.

I think it left a mark on anyone who saw it.

starbelgrade

The whole issue of returning to (at least partly) terraced grounds is definitely something worth discussing. I was at Landsdowne when the English fans started ripping up seats & throwing them on the Irish fans below, so seats are not always the safest option. Hooliganism caused that.

Then you look at Hillsborough where hooliganism wasn't a contributing factor. The knee jerk reaction to change or rebuild grounds probably had less to do with preventing a re-occurance of Hillsborough as the introduction of club membership for away games.

It's such a different ball game in the UK - I've never seen any real violence at Irish league games... one or two small incidences, but nothing major. Our attitude is so completely different to the English - you could see that at Landsdowne - they started rioting & instead of reacting (as many european fans might), the Irish fans simply got up & left the stadium.

El Weirdo

starbelgrade wrote: »

The whole issue of returning to (at least partly) terraced grounds is definitely something worth discussing. I was at Landsdowne when the English fans started ripping up seats & throwing them on the Irish fans below, so seats are not always the safest option. Hooliganism caused that.

Then you look at Hillsborough where hooliganism wasn't a contributing factor. The knee jerk reaction to change or rebuild grounds probably had less to do with preventing a re-occurance of Hillsborough as the introduction of club membership for away games.

It's such a different ball game in the UK - I've never seen any real violence at Irish league games... one or two small incidences, but nothing major. Our attitude is so completely different to the English - you could see that at Landsdowne - they started rioting & instead of reacting (as many european fans might), the Irish fans simply got up & left the stadium.

I was a season ticket holder at Loftus Road for 4 years and often travelled to away games (Chelsea, Arsenal, Forest, Leeds, Southampton, Norwich, West Ham, to name but a few) and I can safely say that I never saw any incidents of violence at games. Hooligans are not real fans. Its an old cliché, but it really is the truth. The way we were treated back then was an absolute disgrace and, to a certain extent, the way Eng-er-land fans are tarred with a very wide brush is wrong- Yes, they can be an arrogant bunch of sods, but the vast, vast majority of them are not hooligans. The rioters at Lansdowne were not fans.

red bellied

starbelgrade wrote: »

The whole issue of returning to (at least partly) terraced grounds is definitely something worth discussing. I was at Landsdowne when the English fans started ripping up seats & throwing them on the Irish fans below, so seats are not always the safest option. Hooliganism caused that.

Then you look at Hillsborough where hooliganism wasn't a contributing factor. The knee jerk reaction to change or rebuild grounds probably had less to do with preventing a re-occurance of Hillsborough as the introduction of club membership for away games.

It's such a different ball game in the UK - I've never seen any real violence at Irish league games... one or two small incidences, but nothing major. Our attitude is so completely different to the English - you could see that at Landsdowne - they started rioting & instead of reacting (as many european fans might), the Irish fans simply got up & left the stadium.

Landsdowne Roads terraces were open that night as the game was only a friendly. Games at competitive level, Euro and World Cup qualifiers are only deemed all seater. English supporters should never been situated in the top level of the West Stand. The Guards were warned well in advance by the English police of pre planned violence by travelling hooligans.

Hillsborough should of never happened for the simple fact that Liverpool had played Forest the previous season in the same venue in the exact same round of the cup. Liverpool supporters had complained then at the time of crushing and over packing of the Leppings Lane end. Lessons hadnt been learned , they were then placed in the same terrace the following year instead of the massive Sheffield Kop at the opposite end of the ground.

il gatto

Rugby ftw. Terraces, atmoshere and no spoilt brat "antics" like Gerrard's diving at the weekend. :rolleyes: Really though, terraces are fine at a good game with a decent crowd, but there's little as depressing as standing on an open terrace, low attendence, wind, rain and a scoreless draw. Makes you appreciate the seats. Sligo Rovers 1-2 Club Brugge, terraces good. Sligo Rovers 0-1 Shelbourne, terraces bad.

guinnessdrinker

Remember standing in the jinks avenue stand (when it was still a terrace) for the Brugge match as a youngster. Great atmosphere at that match, probably the best I've ever witnessed at the Showgrounds.

il gatto

guinnessdrinker wrote: »

Remember standing in the jinks avenue stand (when it was still a terrace) for the Brugge match as a youngster. Great atmosphere at that match, probably the best I've ever witnessed at the Showgrounds.

Is that the one with the railway behind it? That's where i was too. Right behind the goals. Best atmosphere ever at the Showgrounds.

starbelgrade

There may be an article on this very topic in one of the national newspapers tomorrow... it appears that there are some journalists who surf boards.ie for informative postings like mine (:)) - I''l keep ya updated!

garth-marenghi

il gatto wrote: »

Is that the one with the railway behind it? That's where i was too. Right behind the goals. Best atmosphere ever at the Showgrounds.

Jinks avenue stand is the one directly opposite the new(ish) main stand,
There are defininitely lazy footie journalists out there who look through sites like foot.ie for transfer rumours/gossip etc

il gatto

that's what i thought afterwards. That was my usual spot back then, but it was packed when we got there so we kept going until we hit the railway end.

garth-marenghi

as far as i recall the brugge fans were in the railway end as well, remember swapping a scarf with one but for the life of me i cant find it, hopefully it wont be too long again before we see european nights like that in the showgrounds

Xiney

garth-marenghi wrote: »

Jinks avenue stand is the one directly opposite the new(ish) main stand,
There are defininitely lazy footie journalists out there who look through sites like foot.ie for transfer rumours/gossip etc

Well, at least we know the journalists from the Sligo Post aren't lazy then!!

starbelgrade

Xiney wrote: »

Well, at least we know the journalists from the Sligo Post aren't lazy then!!

There was an article in The Sun on Saturday about the cencus sent around by the Football Fans Cencus website & even had a quote from yours truly!

El Weirdo

starbelgrade wrote: »

There was an article in The Sun on Saturday about the cencus sent around by the Football Fans Cencus website & even had a quote from yours truly!

I bet that you're WELL proud of yourself. Being quoted in such a bastion of journalism!;)

starbelgrade

el_weirdo wrote: »

I bet that you're WELL proud of yourself. Being quoted in such a bastion of journalism!;)

Jealousy will get you nowhere. Well, in the Sligo Post maybe.

muffler

starbelgrade wrote: »

it appears that there are some journalists who surf boards.ie for informative postings like mine

Myself and basquille aren't journalists and we do the same

TequilaMockingBird

starbelgrade wrote: »

There was an article in The Sun on Saturday about the cencus sent around by the Football Fans Cencus website & even had a quote from yours truly!

It'll be Page 3 next.

El Weirdo

starbelgrade wrote: »

Jealousy will get you nowhere. Well, in the Sligo Post maybe.

Nah... Given up on the dogging...:p

starbelgrade

sueme wrote: »

It'll be Page 3 next.

I'll have to get the chest waxed first.

TequilaMockingBird

starbelgrade wrote: »

I'll have to get the chest waxed first.

Oh PLEASE let me do it for you. Really, it would be no problem at all....:pac:

muffler

sueme wrote: »

Oh PLEASE let me do it for you. Really, it would be no problem at all....:pac:

Whatever turns you on