Dissapointed

[skilbeck]

or simply just call them "away supporter standing bays"

 

[FFC Mariner]

Someone wasn't thinking

I have never seen so many people running around with FFA tags on, obviously a junket for all concerned. Plenty of options for who wasnt thinking but Ops Head (Carroll??) would be the top of the list.

FFA, f**king fans in Australia

 

[dibo]

<lot snipped>
Okay so we have one main problem here, the stupidly vague wording of the seating categories. People are saying its called a SUPPORTERS BAY therefore it must be for ALL Mariners supporters. If thats the case, why on earth did they have only two bays each for "home supporters" and "away supporters"? Who does that leave to fill up the rest of the stadium? Does this mean that if you are not in those two bays you neither support the home team or the away team? Of course it f**king doesn't, don't be stupid!
<even more snipped>

A truly significant post Adz.

A simple change to how (in this case) Proticket (and whoever advises them) allocated tickets would have saved all the shit!

I think they just left 'Away Supporter' on their database as they have every game ... but it is a bit different getting 10 Adelaide fans in there to getting 3-4,000 Mariner fans in a finals game.  Someone wasn't thinking.

They should have estimated that say we would bring at least 4-5 bays and allocated Bay 11/12 (so no-one behind was affected) as 'Away Vocal Supporters Only', and Bays 8, 9 and 10 as 'Away Supporters Only' - or something along those lines.

There's a significant problem with ticketing all round. From week to week there are problems to do with people who want to stand blocking the views of people who want to sit, as well as people sitting and taking spots from those who would rather stand.

This is why I think the FFA, the clubs and stadium managers should come together with supporters' groups and have a sensible discussion working from a blank sheet of paper to work out some practical solutions to avoid conflict and unhappy punters in the future.

The clubs and the FFA know that the atmosphere from active supporters is a major reason why ordinary punters come through the gates. Active supporters want to stand and sing. Others want to sit, and thats fine too. The problem is managing the where and how of it all.

At our stadium, the setup is easy Bay 16 is recognised by the week-in, week-out attendees to be a standing bay. This is gradually expanding, and this has been recognised in that Bay 17 was for the first time set up as a Supporters Bay for Sunday weeks match.

These bays were I think the first to sell out, so rather than people being there because thats where they thought they had to be or they couldnt procure tickets elsewhere, people buying tickets in there will basically know what to expect that there will be people standing and singing, and there really is less reason this time than on Sunday for people to complain if people stand in front of them.

Away supporters tickets should be broken up into clearer categories too Marconigirls suggestions of back half standing, front sitting or Kevrenors of standing starting from the corner and working across 2 bays make the most sense to me. Neither solution prevents people from standing or sitting, both solutions prevent conflict between those who want to stand and those who want to sit.

Another option entirely for that ground would be to remove the alcohol free restriction for the half of the hill nearest the Eastern Stand and permitting standing and singing there, while allocating and enforcing the seating in the stand. Most of us would be happy enough to stand on a hill, though they may have to pave the sucker first.

 

[mustapha_beer]

Can't help thinking we're over complicating this. At home games, you have the majority of the stadium, hence the luxury of having sections that become de facto "Standing areas". At away games, you have 2 or 3 sections of the ground at most. This makes it damn near impossible to divide up the seats in the same way, as you have groups of people of all different demographics mixed into the same area. If everyone is willing to stand up, then fair enough, but on occasions like Sunday, it's not practical.

Given the choice, I'd actually prefer to stand up - always stood on the terraces behind the goals back home. Over here, though, I go to games with older guys who prefer sitting down and watching the games in comfort near the halfway line.

 

[dibo]

Can't help thinking we're over complicating this. At home games, you have the majority of the stadium, hence the luxury of having sections that become de facto "Standing areas". At away games, you have 2 or 3 sections of the ground at most. This makes it damn near impossible to divide up the seats in the same way, as you have groups of people of all different demographics mixed into the same area. If everyone is willing to stand up, then fair enough, but on occasions like Sunday, it's not practical.

Given the choice, I'd actually prefer to stand up - always stood on the terraces behind the goals back home. Over here, though, I go to games with older guys who prefer sitting down and watching the games in comfort near the halfway line.

at away games why not designate, say, the furthest bay from halfway as the standing bay. make it clear people will be standing there. that eliminates the problem.

 

[serious14]

If the FFA had any balls they'd introduce terraces.......

*wakes up from the land of wishful thinking*

 

[dibo]

If the FFA had any balls they'd introduce terraces.......

*wakes up from the land of wishful thinking*

it's not up to the FFA, it's up to stadium owners and managers. the FFA clearly have no issue with terraces, otherwise perth would be playing somewhere other than MES.

 

[serious14]

Whatever farkin', you know what I mean........ so who do we start lobbying??  Singo??  The council??

 

[adz]

Why are we the only ones who consider "away supporter" bays, at EAS only mind you, to mean "this is where all the Mariners fans mix in"???



Going by that logic, at home we have "Mariners Supporter" bays designated (bays 16-17) and we should all be mixing in there.

Other supporter groups come to our stadium don't take that same view. When Sydney/Scum visit us the "away supporter" bays are packed with Cove/Squadron.

When we visit the SFS, the "away supporter" bays only have Marinators, all standing, all chanting, and the families piss off to the side bays in search of a better view.

Why is EAS so special that we think we have to all mix into 2 designated away bays?

Someone explain before my head pops....

 

[FFC Mariner]

EAS.......Newcastle people..........stupid outcomes

 

[Wheresdadspants?]

If the FFA had any balls they'd introduce terraces.......

*wakes up from the land of wishful thinking*

it's not up to the FFA, it's up to stadium owners and managers. the FFA clearly have no issue with terraces, otherwise perth would be playing somewhere other than MES.

Funny that, when the last terrace (bout 75% sure) was demolished in England from Home Park in Plymouth there was a massive uproar and petitions signed but their FA said every stadium must be all seater stadiums. Would love a terrace as well as that would solve some of the problems brought up on here but it is never gonna happen.   Unfortunately I was one of those with my gf who was in the sun all afternoon in bay 10, I had a belly full of batman juice and was well and truly warming my voice up when, with 10 mins to kick off the oldest couple in the bay (nothing against the elderly) asked us to move. I told them that people were scattered everywhere and asked if they were sure they wanted to sit where everyone was standing (most politely too I might add). But was booted by the oldies who SAT straight down.
Luckily A most gracious group at the top of bay 9 invited us in and we still had an awesome time singing until I ripped the back of my throat out. A very big thankyou to Cam and Michelle and to the guy in front of me for the fun. Can't believe I was jumping on the seat with the shirt around twirling above me only to have to put it back on after I saw the linesmans flag. haha. Also I think I am the Jinx to the mariners. Last few games we have lost so have Plymouth. I said this before the kick off as we lost to Portsmouth the night before. Sorry! 

 

[skilbeck]

What happens with SFC when they play at EAS do they have the same problems or do the sitting people know not to occupy the supporters bays?

 

[dibo]

Whatever farkin', you know what I mean........ so who do we start lobbying??  Singo??  The council??

What exactly are you after?

There's very little point in lobbying for something when you're not really sure what the 'something' is.

In particular, there's very little point in lobbying if you don't know exactly who the target is, what it's going to cost them and what alternative options or counterarguments you might encounter along the way.

At a guess, I think we'd be after the replacement of the seats in bay 16 and the inner halves of bays 15 and 17 with something like this in Stuttgart:

Youd install the rows of the new design of seats, and add a half-step that is half that runs the length of the bay rather than just at the stairs.

Youd then unlock the seats and sell allocated seats for rugby league and other seated spectator sports (including international football matches) and lock the seats up and sell tickets by the row at increased capacity for football (that way no damage to seats either, saving on some maintenance costs). The only conversion work to be done for seated and standing events would be the fairly simple process of locking or unlocking of seats, in contrast to systems like that at Munich where seats must be removed and replaced with crushbars to create the terrace and vice versa.

I think it'd be a lot safer too.

If you wanted to go crazy, you could simply do the whole northern end (working on the logic that the whole end will be singing soon enough) and encourage more people to stand. When standing, theyre more likely to make noise and doubly more likely to sing. Reduce ticket prices, sell more tickets at the end, maybe create a kids section at the front of each bay so they can see and arent in danger of being squashed in with bigger blokes.

Do the roof while youre there.

This is all a major amount of money that were talking, and its simply not realistic in any short-term view. I reckon you'd be looking into the millions, but if our crowds start pushing an average of 16k+ and were having semi-regular sellouts, it may well be a cheaper and more realistic option than pushing for a major expansion at the northern end. Look at the troubles Newcastle are having trying to get $60 million together to do their Western Stand! More than that, even if necessity forces a northern end expansion happens down the track, the work will still have value in increasing access to cheap tickets.

Newcastles stadium management should be considering similar options for their northern and southern ends while they wait (and wait, and wait some more) for further cash after the Western Stand is done. They wont be getting any more cash in a hurry but terracing the hills will boost capacity significantly for not a lot of dosh (because then people can stand safely, while at the moment they have to sit, and you can fit a lot of standing people into the space of one picnic blanket).

 

[Bex]

Dibo, that first picture is perfect. All they have to do then is describe the ticket category properly. To be honest, the names "Category B" and "Cat B Mariners Supporters" have the potential to create just as much confusion. I know it sounds stupid, but the name "Rowdy, Standing Supporters" would actually convey the message properly.

Yep, very disappointing result. Its going to have to be something special at Bluetongue. I can hardly wait!

I know I was in a group that wanted to stand that was right down the front of bay 10 and we kept copping abuse from those behind us

Thats where I was too and I was sitting for exactly the same reason. Were you the guy I was speaking to before the game that was waving the gigantic flag?

BTW, I always stand at games but sat on Sunday because it suited the majority around me. Thats right, I didnt demand MY rights to the detriment of others.

Yeh, I had a family of 4 right behind me. They said they swapped tickets with someone because they couldn't stand the noise. Since I was taking my wife (who didnt go in the end), I swapped my 4 seats in Bay 11 Row T with Wheresdadspants and Kevrenor which were in Bay 10 Row B. There were 3 seats in between those tickets and I naturally thought we could just swap seats so were all sitting together. For some reason, it wasnt that simple.

The family turned up a few minutes before kickoff and the guy told me I was in his seat. I tried to explain to him that if he moved down two seats into my seat I could sit with my friends. He would not listen at all; he just wanted his family to sit in the seat numbers shown on his ticket that he just kept waving in my face. So, my friends and I stood up and let them sit in their allocated seats. Then, I pointed to the fact that I was sitting by myself and it would be good if his family could move down one seat. Then the dickhead said he didnt want to move in that direction and that he would only move towards the half way line, so then everyone had to stand up and swap again. Wow, his view must have been so much better than mine! What a dickhead.

By the way, this is the same guy who, later on, totally lost his temper with the guys standing and waving the flags in Row A. He complained to the old grey haired security guard in front of us the same security guard that copped the full beer cup from that guy that got thrown out by the police. A complete numbnut!

 

[Accustoms]

EAS.......Newcastle people..........stupid outcomes

comes down to organisation on the day

 

[Accustoms]

What happens with SFC when they play at EAS do they have the same problems or do the sitting people know not to occupy the supporters bays?

They seem to stand most of the time

 

[~Floss~]

It looked on sunday like we could have filled bay 11 with standing only if it was designated "standing", leaving bays 10 & 9 for sitters.

Of course that doesn't take into account any would-be standers who were discouraged from doing so by those around them.

Perhaps they should add the term "standing" to the 2 bays per team per game designated as "supporters bays"?

 

[kevrenor]

It looked on sunday like we could have filled bay 11 with standing only if it was designated "standing", leaving bays 10 & 9 for sitters.

Of course that doesn't take into account any would-be standers who were discouraged from doing so by those around them.

Perhaps they should add the term "standing" to the 2 bays per team per game designated as "supporters bays"?

Several people have asked why not designate it 'standing'. 

Well the FFA will not be in that! Rightly or wrongly, and I think wrongly, they see all seater stadiums as being safe ie. lower risk (see all the all seater stadiums in the higher leagues in Europe) and keeps the riff raff out.

The tack we need to take is that the vocal and colourful fans that help them get bums on seats and provide shots for Fox need to be provided for separatley to other away fans.

 

[soundsdifferent]

It looked on sunday like we could have filled bay 11 with standing only if it was designated "standing", leaving bays 10 & 9 for sitters.

Of course that doesn't take into account any would-be standers who were discouraged from doing so by those around them.

Perhaps they should add the term "standing" to the 2 bays per team per game designated as "supporters bays"?

Several people have asked why not designate it 'standing'. 

Well the FFA will not be in that! Rightly or wrongly, and I think wrongly, they see all seater stadiums as being safe ie. lower risk (see all the all seater stadiums in the higher leagues in Europe) and keeps the riff raff out.

The tack we need to take is that the vocal and colourful fans that help them get bums on seats and provide shots for Fox need to be provided for separatley to other away fans.

i argee at the newcastle game some people bought into the away supporters bays and they just wanted to sit and watch and then they had a cry when we stood up and thats there problem but they should better designate area for away supporters

 

[skilbeck]

I know I was in a group that wanted to stand that was right down the front of bay 10 and we kept copping abuse from those behind us……………

That’s where I was too and I was sitting for exactly the same reason. Were you the guy I was speaking to before the game that was waving the gigantic flag?

Nah that wasnt me. I wasnt waving any gigantic flags on sunday