England U20 international at Home Park

[djg145]

Any reports on the game?? lol

 

[Ollieargyle9]

Ollie, I was stood in that section of the Oxford away crowd. It was quite crammed, but if you were so upset by being among such people, why didn't you move to one of the many empty seats available?

I get what Cobi's saying, although expecting a club atmosphere at an England U20s game is a bit absurd. People were their for their country, not Argyle. The Wembley experience for some will be the enjoyment of seeing the greens on the prestigious pitch in front of a massive crowd and the rest of the country through the cameras will be enough. For others, they'll no doubt want to roar with passion and let Molly Malone ring loud over Wembley. It'd be nice if "singers" (for lack of a better phrase) had better opportunity to book tickets together in a specific section of the ground rather than being frustrated at being dispersed throughout and away end and mixed in with the Bovril sippers.

Despite the fact that I should not have to move, I was stood in that spot long before those drunken oiks decided to cram themselves in with their mates.It is besides the point that I was unhappy with it, my point was that it was entirely unsafe for that many people to be stood in one spot especially when said people were in no fit state to walk in a straight line let alone leave in an orderly fashion during a fire. Unreserved seating and the casual "I'll sit where I want" attitude made that situation entirely unsafe regardless of whether I was stood there or not.

 

[SWTT]

Ollie, I was stood in that section of the Oxford away crowd. It was quite crammed, but if you were so upset by being among such people, why didn't you move to one of the many empty seats available?

I get what Cobi's saying, although expecting a club atmosphere at an England U20s game is a bit absurd. People were their for their country, not Argyle. The Wembley experience for some will be the enjoyment of seeing the greens on the prestigious pitch in front of a massive crowd and the rest of the country through the cameras will be enough. For others, they'll no doubt want to roar with passion and let Molly Malone ring loud over Wembley. It'd be nice if "singers" (for lack of a better phrase) had better opportunity to book tickets together in a specific section of the ground rather than being frustrated at being dispersed throughout and away end and mixed in with the Bovril sippers.

Despite the fact that I should not have to move, I was stood in that spot long before those drunken oiks decided to cram themselves in with their mates.It is besides the point that I was unhappy with it, my point was that it was entirely unsafe for that many people to be stood in one spot especially when said people were in no fit state to walk in a straight line let alone leave in an orderly fashion during a fire. Unreserved seating and the casual "I'll sit where I want" attitude made that situation entirely unsafe regardless of whether I was stood there or not.

I get your point Ollie, but it wasn't unsafe - it was just uncomfortable for you.

 

[dennis the menace]

Totally agree!
l

All football grounds should have unreserved seating, better yet, safe standing.

Forcing everyone to sit in their correct seats just kills an atmosphere, no group of singers is formed and everyone has to sit down.

And to answer LC's point, if we get to Wembley I'd rather everyone just STOOD where they like, otherwise it's going to be a pretty dull day out, unable to stand up because the bloke behind me who's probably attending his first ever game, wants me to sit down.

I can't stand being seated at football matches, which is why unreserved seating would be best, those who want to stand can stand & those who want to sit can sit.

I'm pretty sure "an atmosphere" comes well behind public safety in the in the list of priorities.

Safe standing is only thus because it includes a designated area for one person to stand in, the one thing it looks to avoid is complete chaos where nobody knows where they are going to sit/stand so they stand wherever they want ending in tragedies like Hillsborough where nobody is keeping track of who is sat where.

Don't tell me that unreserved seating is fine because people will find a designated seat and sit/stand there, they most certainly do not. Oxford away this season I was forced to stand on a row with people who really would have been thrown out of their respective watering holes at least two pints prior to entering the ground. I didn't choose to stand with them, they found a few of their mates and joined the "singing group". The problem was the singing group kept growing and growing and growing until it really was full (one green to one seat), the thing was a group of drunk blokes seem to lose all perspective of seating plans and still proceeded to fill the row until there were no drunkards left to join it. We were looking at about two greens to a seat, the bloke on the end tried his best to squeeze in and after a few words from the steward (who paid no attention to the fact that we were crammed in like battery hens) left him stood there one foot in the gangway the other on the last spec of concrete in the row.

That is why you have reserved seats, firstly to ensure some sort of order among several thousand fans, secondly to give the bloke and his two kids the written rules in his hand to wave in the face of five unruly drunkards when they refuse to sit apart from one-another and thirdly to ensure that trouble is scattered as far away as is possible from one-another. It might not be great for an atmosphere but in this day and age when football is trying to attract young families to build a new generation of supporter as a result of the thankfully dying "good ol' days" it does a hell of a lot to keep trouble makers apart, loutish behavior to a minimum and welcome mummies, daddies and kiddies to the football scene.

Would you like me to continue onto people standing when/where "they" want, I have an speech for that one as well you know?

totally agree, I go to the football to watch the match not be surrounded by idiots who can't hold their ale acting like twelve year olds. Why can't the stewards do their job and throw the clowns out? Ask most of them the score and they wouldn't have a clue .....pathetic morons that football doesn't need.

 

[Zac N]

for AWAY matches then for sure it is fine to sit where you like if there is plenty of room. However v Cheltenham and I expect V Portsmouth there were very few spare seats (behind the goal) and when we arrived the stewards specifically asked everyone to sit in their designated seats to prevent chaos. When I pointed out that I had two tickets together and one at the other end of the stand their stance was tough luck - see if there are three together after kick off. Incidentally this was no ones fault but ours as my eldest decided to come at the last minute. I had fully expected this to happen so it was no drama.
Four of us are going to Pompey and I have 4 tickets together- If someone is sat in them when we get there I will asking them to move.

I do agree with Cobi to a certain extent in that for HOME games there might be scope to have a section of the ground (e.g the demport) designated as unreserved seating, but even that isn't without problems e.g 20 people congregating around ten seats etc.

 

[Ollieargyle9]

Ollie, I was stood in that section of the Oxford away crowd. It was quite crammed, but if you were so upset by being among such people, why didn't you move to one of the many empty seats available?

I get what Cobi's saying, although expecting a club atmosphere at an England U20s game is a bit absurd. People were their for their country, not Argyle. The Wembley experience for some will be the enjoyment of seeing the greens on the prestigious pitch in front of a massive crowd and the rest of the country through the cameras will be enough. For others, they'll no doubt want to roar with passion and let Molly Malone ring loud over Wembley. It'd be nice if "singers" (for lack of a better phrase) had better opportunity to book tickets together in a specific section of the ground rather than being frustrated at being dispersed throughout and away end and mixed in with the Bovril sippers.

Despite the fact that I should not have to move, I was stood in that spot long before those drunken oiks decided to cram themselves in with their mates.It is besides the point that I was unhappy with it, my point was that it was entirely unsafe for that many people to be stood in one spot especially when said people were in no fit state to walk in a straight line let alone leave in an orderly fashion during a fire. Unreserved seating and the casual "I'll sit where I want" attitude made that situation entirely unsafe regardless of whether I was stood there or not.

I get your point Ollie, but it wasn't unsafe - it was just uncomfortable for you.

Am I being whooshed?

Of course it was unsafe, I wasn't exaggerating there really was 2 around people to a seat on my row. One extra person squeezed on the end yes would be uncomfortable and not overly unsafe but in the event of a fire a situation where too many fans are crammed into a small space is highly unsafe. As I said before the bloke on the end was in the gangway there was so little room, that is already highly unsafe in itself in the event of an emergency, even a stray bag in a gangway is unsafe let alone a person.

No disrespect Sam but you clearly weren't stood on our row, I'm quite a lean unit so if I felt there wasn't enough room there honestly wasn't. I've done Exeter away many times and that is what I would describe as uncomfortable but pretty safe, this was unsafe and the sad thing was the stewards had no interest in sorting it out despite coming over to shove the bloke on the end back into the row on two occasions, no thought as to why he was forced to stand there.

 

[SWTT]

Ollie, I was stood in that section of the Oxford away crowd. It was quite crammed, but if you were so upset by being among such people, why didn't you move to one of the many empty seats available?

I get what Cobi's saying, although expecting a club atmosphere at an England U20s game is a bit absurd. People were their for their country, not Argyle. The Wembley experience for some will be the enjoyment of seeing the greens on the prestigious pitch in front of a massive crowd and the rest of the country through the cameras will be enough. For others, they'll no doubt want to roar with passion and let Molly Malone ring loud over Wembley. It'd be nice if "singers" (for lack of a better phrase) had better opportunity to book tickets together in a specific section of the ground rather than being frustrated at being dispersed throughout and away end and mixed in with the Bovril sippers.

Despite the fact that I should not have to move, I was stood in that spot long before those drunken oiks decided to cram themselves in with their mates.It is besides the point that I was unhappy with it, my point was that it was entirely unsafe for that many people to be stood in one spot especially when said people were in no fit state to walk in a straight line let alone leave in an orderly fashion during a fire. Unreserved seating and the casual "I'll sit where I want" attitude made that situation entirely unsafe regardless of whether I was stood there or not.

I get your point Ollie, but it wasn't unsafe - it was just uncomfortable for you.

Am I being whooshed?

Of course it was unsafe, I wasn't exaggerating there really was 2 around people to a seat on my row. One extra person squeezed on the end yes would be uncomfortable and not overly unsafe but in the event of a fire a situation where too many fans are crammed into a small space is highly unsafe. As I said before the bloke on the end was in the gangway there was so little room, that is already highly unsafe in itself in the event of an emergency, even a stray bag in a gangway is unsafe let alone a person.

No disrespect Sam but you clearly weren't stood on our row, I'm quite a lean unit so if I felt there wasn't enough room there honestly wasn't. I've done Exeter away many times and that is what I would describe as uncomfortable but pretty safe, this was unsafe and the sad thing was the stewards had no interest in sorting it out despite coming over to shove the bloke on the end back into the row on two occasions, no thought as to why he was forced to stand there.

Ollie I get where you're coming from, and I know (not personally, but from memory) the person you're referring to. It was a squeeze in the back corner of that stand for definite, but there were lots of empty seats available. If you felt your health and safety was compromised and that the stewards were not acting correctly then ultimately you could have taken action into your own hands - not that that is the right thing to do, but if you genuinely felt unsafe then you could have solved that issue with a bit of agency. If there was a fire, I doubt it would have made much difference how many were in the row, the sheer volume of people getting to the exits from all rows would be the wider issue - although concrete isn't particularly flammable anyway.

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

Ollie, I was stood in that section of the Oxford away crowd. It was quite crammed, but if you were so upset by being among such people, why didn't you move to one of the many empty seats available?

I get what Cobi's saying, although expecting a club atmosphere at an England U20s game is a bit absurd. People were their for their country, not Argyle. The Wembley experience for some will be the enjoyment of seeing the greens on the prestigious pitch in front of a massive crowd and the rest of the country through the cameras will be enough. For others, they'll no doubt want to roar with passion and let Molly Malone ring loud over Wembley. It'd be nice if "singers" (for lack of a better phrase) had better opportunity to book tickets together in a specific section of the ground rather than being frustrated at being dispersed throughout and away end and mixed in with the Bovril sippers.

Despite the fact that I should not have to move, I was stood in that spot long before those drunken oiks decided to cram themselves in with their mates.It is besides the point that I was unhappy with it, my point was that it was entirely unsafe for that many people to be stood in one spot especially when said people were in no fit state to walk in a straight line let alone leave in an orderly fashion during a fire. Unreserved seating and the casual "I'll sit where I want" attitude made that situation entirely unsafe regardless of whether I was stood there or not.

I get your point Ollie, but it wasn't unsafe - it was just uncomfortable for you.

Am I being whooshed?

Of course it was unsafe, I wasn't exaggerating there really was 2 around people to a seat on my row. One extra person squeezed on the end yes would be uncomfortable and not overly unsafe but in the event of a fire a situation where too many fans are crammed into a small space is highly unsafe. As I said before the bloke on the end was in the gangway there was so little room, that is already highly unsafe in itself in the event of an emergency, even a stray bag in a gangway is unsafe let alone a person.

No disrespect Sam but you clearly weren't stood on our row, I'm quite a lean unit so if I felt there wasn't enough room there honestly wasn't. I've done Exeter away many times and that is what I would describe as uncomfortable but pretty safe, this was unsafe and the sad thing was the stewards had no interest in sorting it out despite coming over to shove the bloke on the end back into the row on two occasions, no thought as to why he was forced to stand there.

And this is why safe standing areas are unlikely to be approved in this country. People will abuse it. Instead of standing in their designated space, fans will cram into rows that their mates are in so they can be together. It will be a nightmare to, if not impossible to steward.

I went to Liverpool v Palace last season and had the very same problem and all because those that wanted to be together hadn't bothered to organise their tickets properly.

When Wembley comes around the club will have to take the initiative if they want their singers in one block because the tickets will not be sold by the club. When Palace got to the play-off final in 2013, the club bought a block for the Holmesdale Fanatics and the HF purchasing arrangements were different to everyone else.

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

As for unreserved seating it must be remembered that clubs are only allowed to sell tickets up 80% of the capacity of that section if unreserved seating is in use.

 

[Fergy]

How many people actually buy a ticket for a specific seat because of the view? :facepalm: Unless a particular seat has sentimental value, I really don't understand why people are so fussed. Wembley is obviously a different kettle of fish, that's a once in a life time opportunity where the view can vary greatly.

 

[GCH1965]

I actually have my seat for:
1. The view - I`m in line with the goal line so can see if its in or not.
2. Mid way up so out of the rain / wind but just catch the sun but not blinding
3. End of aisle for ease of access / escape & can lay across seat beside me for the boring games :shock:
So if anyone is in my seat even if the whole rows empty I`m afraid they have to move - its my moment of power.

 

[Ollieargyle9]

How many people actually buy a ticket for a specific seat because of the view? :facepalm: Unless a particular seat has sentimental value, I really don't understand why people are so fussed. Wembley is obviously a different kettle of fish, that's a once in a life time opportunity where the view can vary greatly.

If I had a seat in block 6 and somehow ended up being forced to sit in the Mayflower I'm pretty sure the view would differ slightly :greensmile:

Joking aside I get your point Fergy, although I have to say I've moved from the middle of block 3 (half way up and across) to the top of block 2 and have to say the view is far better where I am now but still not as good as when I used to sit at the top of block 6, so it does make a difference, not that I'd complain if I had to sit a few seats along from my ST seat.

 

[davie nine]

All of the talk seems to be about the seating arrangements.

Evidently, the FA were delighted with the arrangements for the game.

James Marshall PR Officer for England Development Teams quotes :-

'They came out in their droves'. 'The club were magnificent. They gave us fantastic support throughout and were a pleasure to work with'. 'It is a hotbed of football down here and it has been starved of international football'.

We were entertained by a talented group of young footballers.

I was able to sit where I wanted and really enjoyed the game. Now looking forward to more. Well done Argyle.

 

[pilgrimmike1]

All of the talk seems to be about the seating arrangements.

Evidently, the FA were delighted with the arrangements for the game.

James Marshall PR Officer for England Development Teams quotes :-

'They came out in their droves'. 'The club were magnificent. They gave us fantastic support throughout and were a pleasure to work with'. 'It is a hotbed of football down here and it has been starved of international football'.

We were entertained by a talented group of young footballers.

I was able to sit where I wanted and really enjoyed the game. Now looking forward to more. Well done Argyle.

Nice to hear and good of him say so, well done all involved.

 

[GreenArmy1984]

Excellent Matchday moments - England Vs USA
By Charlie Rose on utube ( Plymouth Argyle )

Well Done Charlie :thumbs: