Stewards tonight.

[Bald Eagle]

1 hour ago, Conrad said:

I don’t think anyone has a problem with youths and youngish men getting searched, but a 70 year old woman is unlikely to have flares in her handbag.

That is then discrimination against younger men.  What is the definition of youngish?  Interestingly the few fans who got over the railings when we scored at Salford I would class as late middle aged.  I assume they would be excluded from your search criteria?

The young lady doing the checks on Lorne Street was polite and only checking every 5 or so.  I assume at random/their advised protocol?

i think this was made worse by the turnstile operator who has a little chat with everyone as they enter, using their name off the card.  This allowed quite a queue to build up, and therefore they had more time to search people.  As others have said, the other queue moved far quicker.

I am 50 by the way, so I assume I would not fall into your younger bracket?

[Inny]

At the turnstile I use they were asking children their age and only checking 16 and over.

Don't see what the issue is. There is usually stewards standing there doing nothing. At least this time they were earning their money.

There always have to be something to moan about on here. At least people arent moaning about the performance.

I always thought that it’s illegal to search children, needs an official complaint.

[jimbo57]

I thought it was completely over the top and I just cannot understand why there were so many stewards for such a low profile game.

It must be costing a small fortune, but why, what is this all about? A club statement is definately due to explain.

[Another shropshire valiant]

In my line of work, I often see things which would shock most people, babies and young children used to convey drugs, unbeknownst to the child obviously, I have witnessed a young lad scared to death after being stopped by a store detective, because his “Mums Boyfriend” asked him to “take a box which contained a few cans of lager” out of a supermarket and wait for him..... on the other end of the scale I have seen mums and grandmothers get arrested for conveying illicit items into jails......sadly in the real world things like this happen, and while I wholeheartedly agree that searching a 70 year old for flares might appear a little excessive for a low key game against FGR, I pretty sure that some of those people who set off the flares at the Vale - Stoke game, had them brought into the ground by people who look “innocent”..... the stewards are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

[valeblue]

10 hours ago, bycars rob said:

Perhaps the stewards are laying down a line showing that if you are intent on bringing in flares or something else you are likely to be caught so... don`t.  

I got in with Flares , they were good ones though ..Timberland .

[Tomo]

Had this happen for years to me, in my 20s so expect it & freely offer my arms out as soon as a steward looks at me. Takes 10 seconds, they're always nice about it & it's never once affected my matchday experience, home or away. I don't understand an issue with the idea of searching, regardless of who you are. Chances are their guidelines ask them to pick randomly & a certain amount of people (probably don't mention types of people as not to be stereotypical with groups).

If there are problems such as those Doha mentioned then they need to be brought up with the owners immediately & I'm 100% sure they will address them (contact them on their FB page, they're very open & willing to listen).

Like I say, there should be no issue with the practice itself, as the day something terrible happens or flares are brought into the ground etc, everyone will complain about the lack of searches. Only thing I'd mention would be that the search I often get at Vale isn't very thorough/proper & it seems like they rush through it quickly just to show they're doing it. A tad pointless IMO.

[blackdog]

My view on this is, the scanner didn't pick up the bunch of keys in my pocket neither did the pat down,so it was a pointless exercise.

I'm all in favour of security but this seemed way over the top,and I don't like the idea that the Shanahans are getting rinsed by a security company.

And the sheer numbers of "Stewards" seemed to be way in excess of what was required for a low risk game,I just hope the Shanahans are not being taken advantage of.

[The man in the pub]

5 hours ago, Conrad said:

I don’t think anyone has a problem with youths and youngish men getting searched, but a 70 year old woman is unlikely to have flares in her handbag.

More likely to be wearing them. At Lorne st seemed to be wanting to look into peoples bags. Not sure what they are looking for.

[Doha]

I've written a letter of "complaint" to Carol formally via the SC. I say that in inverted commas as it's not a moan at her, it's just bringing up the points about the over-the-top stewarding, the stealing from kids and searching them and pensioners, and some quotes from other Vale fans on here and social media aggrieved by it, as she likely had no idea about it, not least the massive amount of stewards being a totally unnecessary financial cost.

For the people questioning attitudes to being searched, well to be honest it makes me arsy. I'm going Vale to watch the match, not get groped by some mouth breather on the door who think their high viz vest and poorly fitting George at Asda black suit gives them a Police warrant card to do what they want. We all know of big man stewards causing problems over the years, like the one throwing punches at a V2001 protest, or the one who raised fists in the Railway a while ago for being confronted for rudely barging past someone. Last season one of the jobsworths in the Bycars ejected a Vale fan and caused a load of mither.

Load of lads tanked up from the Crown rocking up at 2:55pm and encountering some overzealous jobsworths on the gate is a receipt for it kicking off. Frisking and searching bags like it's a <ovf censored> airport in minor games against minnows like Burton or FGR where the chance of disorder is in negative odds is over the top and totally unnecessary.   

[Tomo]

Agree some of the stuff you describe is over the top, & you rightly should submit complaints/suggestions to Carol. On the issue of searching though, what happens when one person bring a flare or something for a minor game & it hurts a child? It seems like the odds are very low, but if there is little to no security & everyone becomes aware there are no searches at all, the minority of fans who do things like this now know they can get away with such behaviour, & the odds then start to go up.

I've lost count of the amount of times flares have been released inside concourses & grounds on my travels/at Vale in only the last 4/5 years, so it's not that unlikely to me that something could happen. Some were bigger games, some were not (Scunthorpe away one of the smaller few seasons back). I would have taken a flare to the face last season too had I not moved quickly (although that was the Stoke game & we all know what happened there).

Chances are 95% of this forum/fans who go to Vale would not do anything to put people in danger, but even the smallest chance of being searched could help deter the other 5% who would. If there are tanked up people kicking off over the idea of being checked, I would say the issue is with them, not the steward (provided they were going about it the right way).

Apologies for an essay!

[Doha]

I know where you're coming from. My issue, apart from the ridiculous stuff with the pensioners and kids, is the totalitarianism of it. I've only really been searched elsewhere at Crewe and Shrewsbury, for totally obvious reasons. Why is it becoming the week in week out standard procedure at Vale when you don't have to put up with it anywhere else?

With the conflict risk, I didn't mean over being searched, I meant as a group reaction to overbearing jobsworths. Can't remember who it was against, Santa on here will as I was stood with him watching it, but it kicked off outside the Railway turnstiles late last season for completely unnecessary reasons, all a result of some helmet in Aviators and a high viz thinking they're special forces.

[Tomo]

Same with you, understand just because I've had no issue there clearly are some as others on here & FB have mentioned similar stories. I've been searched at countless grounds though, last one I can remember was Northampton towards end of last season, they were doing nearly every single person I think & had 2 rows for male/female. Only hostile stewarding I've come across was Sheff Utd & Leeds away, both a few years ago now, but they were both quite tense atmospheres so it was always going to be the case.

I noticed the other day Carol already made a note to take up people's issues with the stewards about them standing in the RP/RS blocking views & causing other trouble during the Northampton game, so I imagine she'll be hot on checking your complaint out as well.

[Heatwave]

11 minutes ago, Doha said:

some helmet in Aviators and a high viz thinking they're special forces.

That bit made me smile.

[Conrad]

5 hours ago, Bald Eagle said:

That is then discrimination against younger men.  What is the definition of youngish?  Interestingly the few fans who got over the railings when we scored at Salford I would class as late middle aged.  I assume they would be excluded from your search criteria?

The young lady doing the checks on Lorne Street was polite and only checking every 5 or so.  I assume at random/their advised protocol?

i think this was made worse by the turnstile operator who has a little chat with everyone as they enter, using their name off the card.  This allowed quite a queue to build up, and therefore they had more time to search people.  As others have said, the other queue moved far quicker.

I am 50 by the way, so I assume I would not fall into your younger bracket?

Probably under 40s is youngish, what is discrimination though is only searching away fans, and I’ve been told by stewards “ we only search away fans “

[Bald Eagle]

1 hour ago, Conrad said:

Probably under 40s is youngish, what is discrimination though is only searching away fans, and I’ve been told by stewards “ we only search away fans “

Don’t disagree with the only away fans bit.  To smuggle anything in I will just utilise my 73 year old mother in law who attends all home games, that will get me nicely round the rules proposed on here for effective stewarding.