Option 3, mikej, spot on.
Make these totally useless stewards earn their money.
Anyone remember the Bradford game at home (2nd game of the season after we'd beaten Wigan away) in 2007, when Brent Grose was correctly adjudged NOT to have been illegaly impeded by a Bradford player. Cue the neanderthals to start hurling beer bottles at the touch judge involved (the one who looks like a Chuckle Brother). One "helmet" threw a bottle at the TJ, directly infront of a steward- who saw it all- and guess what....the steward did nothing.

WHEN ARE THESE USELESS ARTICLES GOING TO DO WHAT THEY GET PAID FOR.

In all my years of Wire watching, I can honestly say I've had less than a handful of pints in all that time at a match....mainly because I know it's going to taste like filth, so I don't bother. Don't punish the one's who enjoy a few, and don't cause trouble. Just get the stewards to evict those who cause bother/can't handle their swally.

I remember that vikidly. Wasn't that when Vainikolo 'impeded' Grose? As Bradofrd were going over the line, Briers pointed at the bottle and crowd and suggested that there was "no need" for the bottle throwing. But as you say Stewards did nothing about it.

I'd go for option 2 personally. Ban alcohol from the terraces, not the stadium.

I believe that responsible adults should be allowed to drink at matches. I have 2 pints every home game (none on away games cause i drive.) and enjoy watching the team i love whilst enjoying a pint. The problem is the irresponsible adults that if you banned drink sales in the ground, would either arrive tanked up or sneak vodka etc in. I think the only true way to go would be for police and stewards to remove anybody deemed drunk. This is hard to police but what other choices are there apart from a total ban throughout the town centre on match days?

As stated before my option would also be 3.

But what about if beer sales were stopped at kick off time and restarted at half time. And also a min of 2 pints per person allowed to be ordered.

This would stop a lot of the up and downing of fans.

But what I would like to see is this used a lot more. I've only seen it used once and that was in Cardiff. Although the guy tried a different turnstyle and got in.


13 Under the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985, the following are offences for which a person can be arrested by a police officer and conviction could result in a Banning Order being made:
13.1 Attempting to enter the Ground or being inside the Ground whilst drunk;

Well done for stating the obvious. However I want to drink in the ground not on the street, I am far from underage and I don't want to be served when intoxicated.

The beer being spilt argument always makes me laugh, I have been at games when people have jumped up and I have had a shower in fanta so should all drinks be banned?

Surely having people only allowed to drink in the coucourse areas would just lead to them becoming dangerously full and harder for people to navigate around safely at half time?

If memory serves me correctly (a few years since been to either ground so forgive me if wrong) there isn't that problem at Wigan or Widnes where you are/were not allowed to take drink from the concourses to the stands.

We live in a socially changing world - 10 years ago it was perfectly acceptable to smoke at a sporting stadium, now it is banned; 30 years ago it was usual to have seats, bottles or bricks flying between sets of supporters before during and after a game, RL or otherwise, now that element of hooliganism has largely been eradicated from society; 50 years ago there was no problem sinking 5 or 6 pints of finest ale & then driving home with your unseatbelted family in the back, now of course that is totally wrong. To argue that something is ok and should not change "because I have always done this" is wrong & flawed.

I have always taken drinks into my seat at Wigan without a problem.

I am not arguing that everything is ok and should not change. I am arguing the change should be targeting the individuals who are causing problems not using a blanket 'solution' that I don't believe would make any difference anyway.

Get the police/stewards enforcing the drinking laws correctly, ejecting anyone from the ground who is causing trouble (drink or no drink) rather than trying to ban alcohol outright as unless you had proper stewarding stopping people coming into the ground when drunk then it wouldn't make any difference anyway.

Well as I said a few since at Wigan! I agree that enforcing the drink laws correctly would be a start, but sadly they are not being enforced at the HJ, and in that case perhaps the licencing committee at the Council would like to investigate? Revocation of licence for the first 2 games of 2011 & then close scrutiny of measures in place maymake the club sit up and take notice...

OOI Do you extend your attitude to embracing change in your religious beliefs?

This would be a start, but from my own experience I have never seen this enforced, be it at a match, my local or bars in town. Town would be half empty of a weekend if it was enforced and I'm sure many of my own nights out would have ended earlier.

Personally I don't know what I would like to see happen. My friends and I usually have a couple before, during and after the game but I could happily go without for a few hours if it was to cut down on the moronic and thuggish behaviour of a small minority. If alcohol sales were banned, these people would still get tanked up before the game and continue afterwards.

Maybe better stewarding and an increased police presence is the only way forward.

How do we define drunk? I have seen teenagers throwing up after 2 drinks,and I have also been in a car with someone who gave me a lift home,then as he dropped me off admitted he had just finished his 8th pint of beer in the pub before giving me a lift! His driving and ability to hold a conversation had been fine. So what exactly is "drunk"?????????

Surely thats half of the problem as to why the law isn't/can't be properly implemented. Everyone has different tolerance levels for alcohol and bar staff will have different interpretations of what is "drunk". Unless everywhere serving alcohol introduces breath tests it will always come down to interpretation.

BUT that law should be used when people are at the stage where they aren't coherent or they are believed to pose a threat to others because of the state they are in. Even with something as subjective as drunkness it does get to a point where it is blindingly obvious.

Do the stewards have any professional training. such as: -

- how to recognise when somebody has had a few too many

- how to spot the early signs of crowd trouble in a terraced environment

- how to deal with any potential trouble before it occurs in a professional and efficient manner

- how to deal with trouble if it escalates ( self defence techniques)

I know for a fact they didnt at wilderspool, one of my relatives applied for the job and got told to turn up before the game and to not watch the game but watch the crowd with no training on what to look for or how to deal with aggressive behaviour or intoxicated idiots.

Everybody calls the stewards for the heavy handedness and inability to deal with issues properly.

maybe they aren't trained and are just trying to do the best they can with what they've got. I'm not sure

the stewards do need an SIA badge to operate which involves the above training, not all on duty are stewards though, some are fire marshals some do not have SIA badges i have observed, a lot work as door men the rest of the week and must have SIA badges as they work for MYL a wigan door firm!

Fair enough, it was just something that i was wondering.

Does SIA training involve big crowd situations such as on the terraces?

Thanks for clearing that up though

yes it's NVQ standard, you do all sorts of gubbins including crowd management, communication, alcohol laws, de-esculation tecniques, drug awareness & first aid. to name a few things that stole hours of my life a few years ago



then you get to pay £260 for your badge! if you pass

I've been watching for years & never once had a beer during the games. Never missed it & it's no problem.

Let's try the Hudds approach & have no speccies at the games .. All problems resolved instantly.

ah ok. Cheers for clearing it up. i would have been shocked if there was no training for a job such as that.

Now we just need to get them to be more responsible and willing to take action with their jobs i guess

to do that you'd have to pay them more

most stewards are on peanuts!

I normally have a pint or two beforehand. Then possibly a few more after to celebrate. Never once have I caused trouble. It all comes down to knowing your limits.

Ha ha Nice one buddy

You pay peanuts, you get......... we all know the rest!
The stewards at the HJ are useless, they do nothing, just like the ones at Wembley, when that fight broke out in our end. Everyone could see that was bubbling up for a long time, but the stewards.....?

Of course - many of the doctrines of my religion are outdated & I fully appreciate that they do not fit in the modern world, I'm intelligent enough & know my own mind well enough to be able to form my own opinions while still living within the overlying responsibilities of my faith. I have also stated on a thread recently why I believe it takes so long for change in established religions and why they appear to be so far behind the times in a rapidly changing world. All in the public domain so no problem admitting to it. Why do you see the point in attacking my beliefs as a basis for my opinions on this matter? They are not related at all!

Anyway back on topic - a lot of the stewards on Sunday were drafted in from the MEN Arena. They are there to do their job with additional security who are meant to offer protection. One female steward in particular was verbally abused by a drunk fan who wanted to go out for a smoke, and a member of the security team who witnessed it did nothing to protect her or back her up. Her comment was that in the MEN that fan would have been sat on his arris on the arena steps within 30 seconds of his actions. Why should she put her full efforts into a situation then knowing that she will not recieve help or back up from those who are meant to provide it?

4 types of stewards at HJ stadium. Fire stewards...which as their name suggests. Safety stewards (usually the one in yellow) who are employed by the club and DO received training. They basically assist fans ensure they arrive safe, stay safe and leave the stadium safe. Many of these are local and have been on "the other side of the fence" for years before working for the club.

Showsec who are a private firm who handle events around the country and basically deal with manning the carparks/entrances etc and and the "security".

This is operated by MYL who usually trained and registered doormen. When many people talk about heavyhanded stewards they are usually talking about these guys but these guys are only asked to become involved when thing have got heavy.