Whilst I don't doubt that stewarding in a sports ground is not the easiest job in the world, did anyone else notice the total crossing of the line and frankly utter jobsworth attitude of one of the stewards in front of the South Stand ?

As we all know, it is traditional at half time to have some kids from some of the local amateur clubs come on to the field and play short game during the half time period. This is surely a big thrill for those kids and just the thing to encourage active sports participation and healthy exercise.

Also, we know about the shocking state of the touchline in front of the South Stand (akin to Blackpool Beach) and some of the obvious reasons why it is in that state for a good half of our season.

Around about the 30 metre line towards the Carnage Stand end of the ground is a sizeable bare patch of sand. As the kids game was being set up, some younger children (I guess around 4 or 5 years old) who were accompanying their Dads (I assume who were the coaches of one of the participating teams) had the temerity to walk on and through the patch of sand.

It is at that point, the jobsworth steward in question was over the boundary wall having a go at the small kids (yeah, you're 'hard' mate ...) and then moaning to the Dads about what the kids were doing. I trust the Dads in question gave this muppet 'short shrift' and told him to get lost.

The steward in question, who at this time had left the pitch and positioned himself by the reserve team dressing rooms tunnel, spent the remaining period whinging to both his colleague and his supervisor (who appeared to shake his head in disbelief at the level of muppetry on show)

In terms of the small kids, they spent the rest of the half time period play tackling and frankly, good on them ....

Just exactly how much more additional damage is going to be made to the pitch by a couple of five year old kids, who weren't even wearing studded boots .... ?

If the pitch is 'THAT' fragile, then :

- Why does Ronnie The Rhino actively encourage kids to throw themselves in to the mud in front of the South Stand before the start of every game ?

- Why were THREE Dance Teams allowed to perform on the pitch (answers on a postcard WHY the Wakefield dancers were allowed on)

- Why allow any kids game, all of whom are wearing studs, to play on the pitch in the first place if it is going to cause that much damage.

- Why not let the lodgers, who do all the damage we can see at a time of year when the grass isn't growing, to go play somewhere else (like the John Charles) where their massive 1200 or so crowds could easily be accommodated

Essentially, the steward concerned was mis-using his 'power' and effectively bullying those kids last night and that's not acceptable. I bet he's just the sort of steward that's nowhere to be seen when the likes of our friends from Humberside are kicking off at the scoreboard end ....

With regards to the Wildcat Kittens....

Did anyone else see them depart the Western Terrace en-masse with 11 minutes to go?

Just a thought, perhaps the accompaning adults could have used a bit of common and simply avoided walking through this area of the pitch?

The game had been going a couple of minutes before Jobsworth got involved ... The bottom line is, if the pitch is that fragile, then why were the whole kids games allowed to take place ?

The kids should have been allowed to play on the surface and have some fun FFS... with bucket and spade of course.

The standard of stewardship at Headingley is frankly poor, but this is to be expected when you employ 18 year olds or retirees on a little power trip for £5.10 an hour.

I often wonder how affective a post pubescent, 5' 2", 7 stone girl will be if a few Bog Brushers got frisky?

And the reason I haven't been seen in the SouthStand this season is ....
I have been standing in the Carnegie or sitting the North.
No season ticket this year . I have been on tour around the rest of the stadium to avoid encountering the demon stewards in the SS . However . The same ones seem to turn up in the other stands . There is a really nice Indian fella ( complete with turban and full beard) who is very sensible in his approach to stewarding the crowd , but unfortunately he is usually assisted by a chap , who unfortunately I can only describe as having the darkest skin tone I ever saw , who is a total numpty . The dark chap really goes out of his way to irritate everyone . He actually causes trouble with his attitude towards the spectators . The best steward I have met has been Pauline one of the team leaders(I think ) . Always says hello , and always has a smile on her face rather than the scowl that appears to be the norm for the rest .
Is there anywhere to complain about individual stewards ? Or do we just have to suffer them in silence ?

Wherever you go and all walks of life you always get one difficult one. The steward on the door where we sit in the North Stand is great. He's friendly and courteous and always a welcoming smile.

If they've got a high vis on, as appose to the suits for hospitality, they'll have a jacket number that is specific to them for that shift. If you find a "supervisor" or go the ticket office/shop/gatehouse they'll probably be able to point you in the right direction to complain.

Generally the majority of staff are brought in from other grounds to meet the required number. In my experience it's those staff that are "jobsworth stewards" unlike the staff whose main work is at Headingley.

Use to steward at headingly for a few years, was speaking to some of the staff I knew and they said there were more staff from Burnley F.C there on Friday than from headingly, but as has been said if they are in the hi vis they have a number on the right side of the jackets, about breast level and this can be used to identify them, probably better to write to the club afterwards as if you tell a supervisor they have a tendency to not follow anything up

You could just describe him as a black guy. It wouldn't sound as racist that way.

I was trying to be delicate regarding the shade of his skin . I really wish he was white so I could really lay into it about him .

The SS Stewards have been appauling again this season and we aren't even half way through.

The thing that I don't understand with the congestion in the "middle-section" of the SS is when we play the lesser teams Salford, London etc they stop people from coming up at around 19:30, yet when the bigger teams are at HQ and the crowds are much bigger they don't bother at all and just let anyone and everyone up right up till kick off were people who have been stood since 18:15 now unable to see the game because it's that packed and you've got p!ssed up idiots swearing every 2 seconds at Silverwood and his merry men!

I used to love going in the SS but towards the end of last year and the start of this year I'm slowly falling out of love with it.
It's just getting too much!

Western Terrace - it's the new SouthStand you know?