There’s been quite a storm on social media this weekend after Grimsby Town supporters were dealt with in an apparently heavy-handed manner this weekend.
Grimsby Town’s Mariners Trust have written to Stevenage about a whole host of alleged mistreatment of their supporters. They’re claiming they’ve been ‘treated like animals’, and the national media has been quick to get on the story.
They have described their treatment as “amongst the worst our fans have experienced in decades of travelling across the world to watch football”. The one aspect that has really been jumped upon is women being asked to show their bras in order to secure entry to the ground. The Mariners Trust have labelled the decision, conducted in the queue in front of other supporters, as a “gross invasion of privacy”.
The letter continues; “Female supporters have also since contacted us to state they were asked by female stewards if they could feel their bras if they confirmed that they were underwired. The supporters were made to feel uncomfortable and when they replied they would ‘rather not’ they were ‘reluctantly’ let in to the ground. This act would effectively constitute a sexual assault and these types of searches are unlawful.”
Point of fact; they’re not unlawful. They would not usually be conducted in such a manner, but as long as it is a female conducting the search on another female then technically it is not unlawful. If the threat had been of a terrorist nature, would the searches still have been deemed unlawful?
Allegedly hand sanitizers were even removed from bags and Grimsby fans are complaining of an “antagonistic attitude” from the stewards. Those at the front of the away end are alleged to have “lined up in front of the away supporters sat on the front and second rows, blocking their view of the match”. Again, as a point of reference, I have had exactly the same experience at a match, where the home stewards stood blocking the view of the first few rows of paying away fans. No prizes for guessing where; Blunder Park. Apparently there was a female steward at Stevenage who was seen to make fist gestures to a colleague, suggesting she was actively looking for the opportunity to get involved in a flashpoint. If this was the case I’d bet she wouldn’t have had to look far.
There have also been a photo circulating that shows a female steward entered the men’s toilets at the Lamex Stadium, a ground City will be visiting in a couple of weeks time. It all sounds very heavy-handed in places, and unacceptable treatment of genuine football fans. If this is the approach Stevenage are taking with visiting fans then it would cause much consternation amongst those traveling from other League Two clubs.
Of course the media have been heavy-handed in their treatment of the match day tem at Stevenage without waiting for a reply, and now it has been delivered I’m afraid some supporters are as much to blame for the response as those carrying it out. They’ve released a statement telling how the stewarding response for the game was ‘not typical of those usually delivered at Stevenage Football Club.’
They go on to say; “All stewarding plans are bespoke for each match and are based on a combination of past experience, supporter behaviour and police intelligence. The risk assessment going into Saturday’s game indicated high risk groups attending and the potential for anti-social and un-cooperative behaviour. After liaising with Grimsby Town’s safety officer, the police and others, it was indicated that prohibited items were likely to try to be brought into the grounds and could be passed onto those deemed less likely to be searched, such as women and younger supporters.”
Not only was this response in direct response to intelligence gathered by Grimsby’s own safety officer, but the plan was also conducted with the full knowledge of Grimsby Town as well. The Mariners Trust have gone all-out to shame Stevenage, pulling the usual trick of involving the media at the earliest opportunity, but it seems their own club were compliant in the events.
Stevenage also point out that; “Grimsby Town’s Supporter Liason Officer was made fully aware of the nature of the search regime prior to the game, to ensure all attending were aware and could allow sufficient time to access the stadium.”
Of course the story is focused around bras being checked and not on the wider issue in hand, which is the use of young children and women to bring prohibited items into the ground. One can only imagine what those items might be, perhaps pyrotechnics? Maybe the fact hand gels were being removed suggests that they were concerned about alcohol being smuggled in. Unfortunately the larger portion of Grimsby’s support have paid the price for the threat that a small minority pose, but in this ‘brave new world’ of EFL regulation and bureaucracy there really isn’t any surprise that a member club have acted to try to prevent themselves being punished for inadequate searches.
What is not made clear is whether they found any prohibited items or not, but perhaps that is partially irrelevant. At present Stevenage are coming out of this looking very bad indeed, when in truth it was agreed actions by both clubs based on information provided by the visiting side. Hardly fair that they’re now perceived as the ‘bad guys’ is it? Besides, who ever heard of a story where Grimsby Town were the wronged party?
Medication was confiscated according to a report that I read, if prescriptions weren’t produced. Who takes a prescription to a game? Checking that bras were under wired? A female attendant in a male toilet? I’m not suggesting that the codheads are blameless but come on, there is an assumption of guilt in this & that isn’t on.
I remember the game at the bank in 2007 when mr slade brought the team into centre circle at half time the Grimsby supporters we’re partly in the solicitors stand and I was there with my dad in his wheelchair and they were very very threatening and I don’t think anyone should feel that way at a sports event
I am sorry to say but I do have Town fans as friends . They are passionate about their team but are not violent or abusive . For any away fans to be treated as if they are only attending the match to cause trouble is unacceptable , it is only a minority who go with this in mind and to tar everyone with the same brush is not right. Regarding searching children and checking women’s bras ,if they did have information about this threat before the match why did they not have somewhere more private to do this, just taking them behind a sheet would have been more appropriate.
I know some Grimsby fans are aggressive , every time I have attended matches at Grimsby I have been threatened verbally and physically starting in the 70’s and continuing through the years so I am not going
this year because I don’t want my grandchildren witnessing this.
It is sad that there are still some idiots who spoil the enjoyment of supporting your team, home or away but there needs to be a better way to protect the true fans and not treating everyone as a potential hooligan .
That I agree wholeheartedly with. The point here is that the minority spoil things for the majority, but in the world of the EFL there is a ‘one size fits all’ solution. We know that isn’t the case and this Saturday good, honest Grimsby fans suffered because of the hooligan element also attached to the club.
I instinctively want to side with the fans who had bras checked, but I have to agree with the one size fits all policy. We can’t drink in stands because a minority can’t do it without having a fight or drenching everyone in beer (I worry about this latter point if drinking in stands ever does come in as I have stopped watching big England matches in the pub because of the need of a minority to throw drinks around when goals are scored). The reason I can’t sit next to people who love football but happen to follow a different side is because a small minority would want to fight them for this “offence”. We now have bubble matches where you have to travel to and from designated points as an away fan or you won’t get in the ground as tickets are given when getting off the bus. This is because of a minority who want to go and fight. I have been “kettled” along with a 7 year old child at a Millwall game when I went in the Southampton away end as a neutral because of a minority who would fight.
That is a football fan’s lot in a nutshell. The police know that in the main people are fine, but they also know there will be a minority who want to do harm. The problem is that it is hard to know who that minority is as people can switch, e.g. everyone is nice and suddenly after a Grimsby goal is scored three lads dance to celebrate in the home end how many stay nice then? I was at a Fulham v Roma game, Roma scored at the end and a 16 year old Roma fan sat in the home end cheered. Two 50 year old men in Tweed who had previously been drinking tea fought over it. To prevent this previously I saw five Chinese fans with Harrods bags and big digital cameras thrown out the Fulham home end thrown out when Giggs scored for united. Their offence was cheering a goal in the wrong end.
Also, we often have to say by default “a minority” but I am not always sure it is. Especially when it comes to away fans in small numbers.