After a good aura around the club for last few days it seems the feel good factor has well and truly been shattered. Stadium announcing that prams / buggies no longer allowed in the stadium for H&S issues. With 85 comments it appears people are not happy and while not having the time or interest to trawl through them all it appear it was the case for someone on Friday and they got turned away for having pram / buggie. It's a joke if you ask me, I thought Rugby League was a family sport and encourage people to bring kids / babies. Hope they have a change of heart and this issue can be rectified.

If it's true, the Stadium company need to get a grip.

Love the fact that fans go to see a contact collision sport with two teams knocking seven bells out of each other, yet the fans can't bring a buggy into the Stadium for fear of a 'trapped-finger' incident.

There is a very simple solution to this. Have a secure area at the stadium where people can pay a quid or two to leave their prams or strollers. Same system as a cloakroom where people are issued a ticket allowing them to collect afterwards. The money from this would pay for an attendant.

Unfortunately in todays society people are encouraged to claim for everything they can get away with, legit or not. Can you imagine if somebody tripped over a stroller and landed on a concrete floor breaking an arm, leg or worse? They would be advised to sue the stadium management for every penny they could get. The claim sharks wouldn't be suing the person with the stroller they would go where the big money is. The counter argument to this is what if someone tripped over a wheelchair? Would the same apply? And if the SMC didn't allow wheelchairs then they would be done for discrimination.

I think the SMC are just protecting their own interests but it's up to them to find an answer for the club and its supporters.

There was a lot of complaints regarding a similar policy at the Ethiad during Magic Weekend. Methinks blocking buggies and such is going to be a stadia-wide thing.

Completely appalling if true - PT where have they actually stated this? I've just searched on www.salfordcitystadium.com and can't find anything about it?

Completely appalling if true - PT where have they actually stated this? I've just searched on www.salfordcitystadium.com and can't find anything about it?

It's true, as confirmed on the club's Facebook. I bet on them being banned in most stadia pretty soon.

I think this has come from America (The Sue Capital of the World) where no stadiums allow prams or strollers.

I remember in SeaWorld in Florida several years ago they wouldn't allow buggies past a certain point for the whale show you watch from a grandstand.

mmm interesting that they leak it out on Facebook, not a word on their official site under the FAQs or Access or anywhere else

The club make no secret that Facebook is their outlet of choice because of the combination of its immediacy and sizeable user base. To be fair to them, lots of corporates are taking this approach now.

PT as others have stated previously this is solely the Stadium Company's or it certainly appears so to many people and in fairness to them it also appears that it is happening at other stadiums throughout the UK.

The problem as I and many other supporters see it is that there doesn't appear to be anybody who works for the Stadium Company, certainly the ones who call the shots who know anything about sport let alone Rugby League.

In all fairness to the stadium company, this probably has much to do with the safety certificate rather than compensation culture. Prams/buggies can present a quite serious hazard if left in walk ways, etc in the event an evacuation is required. The same could be said if they are placed in seats folded, or taken onto the terraces. So that doesn't leave much space for them, where they don't present an evacuation hazard.

So programmethower vents his spleen on Salford because of the Stadium company, why does he bother, he is not a Salford fan what soever, but perhaps the best suggestion is that parents wh want to bring there babies to the match get a baby rucksack to carry the child in.

You really should stick to eating wotsits and sausage rolls as your humour / craic is as bad as your cholesterol level. My point was, if should a ridiculous laws are being implemented by the stadium management who is attending these meeting on behalf of SCR. Also do they have a say in what goes on? The management of the stadium is as much to be desired as JW and Tarry and have not got a clue in how to run a match day for rugby league. If they keep making rules without comment or input from the Reds staff then I worry.

PT not humour just the truth, no personal insults, perhaps the Stadium license states that prams and push chairs are not allowed under H & S rules such as proscribed by the City Council, just as the COMs has and managed by Manchester council and OT managed by Trafford Council. These maybe national rules which have to be adhered to so that stadiums can operate. I did suggest a way round it has seen at the COMs and OT.

I agree but in the event of an accident they all go hand in hand. Failure to comply with the Health & Safety guidelines can result in a substancial fine, possible closure (withdrawel of safety certificate until rectified) and personal compensation claim(s).



The problem as I see it from a supporters perspective is that there isn't an identified frontline person acting on behalf of the Stadium Management Company. It's as if they take the attitude 'It's our stadium . . we'll do we want. Unfortunately these people seem to just hide in the background and let the club take all the flak. In my opinion there needs to be a SMC spokesperson communicating to the supporters on behalf of the stadium company.

I think the reason it doesn't happen is somebody doesn't want to take ownership and are worried that many supporters complaints will find their way on to the desk of the council leader and Mr Whittaker at Peel.

I don't see how this is the fault of the stadium company or the club as it is pretty obvious they are simply complying with the rules enforced upon them.
We now live in a compensation culture and corporate liability is rife so no doubt companies possibly go further than is required, we'd all complain if the management company did get found liable for an injury and then were forced to hike the prices even higher to compensate covering this.

As a member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health I get sick of "health & safety" being lazily trotted out as an excuse not to do things. I can certainly see valid health & safety reasons not to allow these things in certain areas like gangways or terraces, but to blame H&S on them not being allowed in the stadium full stop simply sounds like someone who can't be d to find a solution.

Two key points regarding people arriving with pushchairs etc: 1 - due to parking arrangements many people won't have cars parked up just outside the stadium to leave a buggy in; 2 - a large chunk of planning for the stadium centred around not requiring people to drive. This sounds like an opportunity for the Stadium/club to put a bit of effort into having a store for pushchairs and then shout about what a great family friendly venue it is, leading the way etc. I read on facebook that the stadium "can't take responsibility" for looking after pushchairs; sounds like "can't" should be replaced by "doesn't want to" - it's not as though the stewards are particularly busy on a matchday.

Find it strange that airports and airlines who are H&S fanatics can find a way to safely manage prams and buggies, but a huge stadium can't. In my opinion, it's just typical of an organisation that don't make anywhere near enough effort to accommodate the fans they are supposed to be attracting.

Build it and they will come..................pi** enough of them off and they will certainly leave pretty quickly AND stay away. There are plenty of alternative attractions.

Absolutely SPOT ON!

Bike lockers outside the ground could be an answer to this. From those I've seen, they are wide enough to take prams too.

Word.

Usually you check your buggy or pram in when you arrive and they stick it in the hold of the plane away from the er passengers, also Airports are not covered by the "Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds" 5th Edition 2008 issued by the DCMS. This is the guide that the stadium management group have to adhere to to be able to put events on. This pretty much means that anything that is not fixed down should not be left in the aisles or the concourse which are used as exits in the event of an evacuation so i guess this means things like prams, wheelbarrows etc.

We have a double buggy and whilst I try to go to the match "unnacompanied" for selfish reasons I have taken the kids, now we need this buggy as it keeps them seated, allows us to push the pram after we have parked at a friends house near Eccles ARLFC, Not to mention the family stand that was built incorporating a lift for the very purpose of prams/strollers etc.

As the Mrs just said what a stupid thing to do how can families bring infants/small children and wasn't it meant to be family orientated. Added with kids are more likely to run off/get lost. - And ow yeah " well we won't be going again then"

Which 2012 is this ? and will wheelchairs be banned ? sounds like discrimination to me..

Dreadful decision and when they do a push to attract families guess what will happen .

Poppycock Pev as a person who's spent the last eight years occasionally taking a pram/buggy onto a plane I can tell you that you do not have to check your pram in in the literal sense, that is you must check it in as an item of luggage but are allowed to keep it with you until you are about to board where the people at the gate take it off you, place it at the front of the plane where it enters the front hold with other buggies. Ow yeah not to mention my last job was at er Manchester Airport as a baggage handler.

SRAO don't shoot the messenger, the lifts in the West stand are used by people in wheelchairs which in the guide these have to be catered for in special areas for them, there are platforms in the East stand at both ends, the guide does not mention areas for buggies or prams. It is not the clubs fault, but even at the COMS and OT you are not allowed to enter with a pram or buggy.
Perhaps a buggy park might be the answer, but I would guess it would have to pay for itself so if a £1 charge was made I would reckon that 30 buggies would be the break even cost, so if there are 30 families out there they should petition the club to provide an area to park buggies with a steward watching over them.