Stewards are a hot topic. Are they all fucking useless, are some just thugs or are they really not that bad? Maybe they're just misunderstood. Here's our opinion.
There was a time when stewards were friendly happy people who'd try and stop trouble and wallys getting onto the pitch. I (just about) remember the days when a steward could have some banter with the fans and the ball boys could take the piss out of the stewards. Of course things change. Today you dare not have banter with a steward for fear of what the repercussions could be. You can do it with the police because you know if it's harmless then they'll laugh along (or just ignore you). They've been trained to react properly to situations, and any copper at a sporting event will know the first task after safety is to keep the atmosphere in the stands happy, which in turn leads to safe stands.
So why do stewards at so many clubs act like wankers? There's always been the ones who let the yellow coat go to their heads, but alone they didn't have the backing to start throwing the chucking out stick at anyone. Those stewards just became (in)famous for being miserable, and eventually worked up a friendship with fans and things turned out nice. Should i put the rose-tinted glasses away?
Football and authority figures have never gone well together. First of all the referee will always get abuse, he's the ultimate figure of authority and therefore gets the best of the abuse. Then there's the players who either have a shite impact on the game for your team, or their more dangerous players. They'll get abuse, or banter at least. Same for the managers.
The players, coaching staff and referees hold little or no baring to the crowds safety. But the stewards do. Stewards are authority and will therefore suffer banter. The way for them to deal with it is to accept it, and give some back. It's friendly. But once a steward shows some form of unnecessary strictness – like a referee could on the pitch – things change. It's no longer friendly, there is a dislike towards them, and that effects everyone in the stands, not just those facing an early bath from the stands.
Zero tolerance will never work, especially when there is no need for it. You can't start treating well behaved fans like they're shit. You don't have to “lay down the law” when the law is being respected. So why have attitudes changed so much? Perhaps its down to safer stadiums, or more likely the threat of legal action if someone is injured in a stadium. Perhaps there are just more rules to follow and the stewards are just following orders. If there's a gang of fans stood up in a seating area, one falls over and takes down a load more, which lead to injuries, then questions will be asked as to why they were stood up. Is it therefore so wrong for the stewards to just do their job? Are the rules so strict that there is no longer no common sense? That isn't the fault of the steward, is it?
But what excuse for the senior stewards who have to use their brains to deal with situations? When they make poor decisions they can't always claim to be following the letter of the law. Sometimes the law is ambiguous and relies on the properly trained person in their position to use their knowledge and choose the best course of action. If they make a mistake can they simply point to the rule book?
When you look at it from both sides you can see the problems. It needs fans to respect the rules, but for stewards to respect the fans. These days it seems stewards jump on the most twatty offences, and the fans keep pointing to their actions against those as a reason to point out how poor the stewards are. Stewards around the country could be fantastic 90% of the time, but when you're throwing fans out for standing up to pick up their pie they've just dropped on the floor then you're creating tabloid like stories for fans to knock you down with. They are not helping themselves, but if they cut some slack and someone is injured then it's their necks on the chopping board. It's a vicious circle. How do you solve it?
No idea! Who'd be a football steward (or should that be stadium safety officer), hey!
Oh, and to the best of our knowledge you can still stand up whilst having a piss and not get thrown out of a football ground - so long as its at a urinal and not the pie shop, you'll get a day in court for that.
This article is dedicated to all the football stewards out there who go out to do the best job they can, following the laws given to them, and rarely get the praise their efforts deserve. Well done you lot!