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Oldham ban three fans for criticizing the club


Lanterne Rouge

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The offending letter.

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I would add this to the same filing cabinet as "ill-thought out and poorly written rants by lower league owners".

It's petulant, probably short-sighted, generally ridiculous, and clearly hasn't been anywhere near a competent lawyer. It smells of an angry general manager reading a forum whilst necking a bottle of Malbec, then switching to MSWord and typing this nonsense out. Love the deflection of any follow up onto the Safety Officer.

I guess technically a football ground is a private premises and so technically the management/company can probably deny entry to anyone it likes (subject to things like the Equality Act and related laws). How Brown thinks that he has the standing or jurisdiction to ban someone from attending a match at a stadium other than Boundary Park I don't know. If I were the fan in question I'd be rolling up to away games as normal tbh.

The bloke in question, Mr. Knowles, is correct that this kind of crap governance is yet another signal that the Crouch recommended regulator is required. 

I'd also applaud the NED Richard Bowden for resigning and making public that he did not approve the actions in question and so the letter is technically incorrect in saying that the collective "Board of Directors" had asked for Brown to review fan actions.

 

Edited by ExiledAjax
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16 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

The offending letter.

Image

I would add this to the same filing cabinet as "ill-thought out and poorly written rants by lower league owners".

It's petulant, probably short-sighted, generally ridiculous, and clearly hasn't been anywhere near a competent lawyer. It smells of an angry general manager reading a forum whilst necking a bottle of Malbec, then switching to MSWord and typing this nonsense out. Love the deflection of any follow up onto the Safety Officer.

I guess technically a football ground is a private premises and so technically the management/company can probably deny entry to anyone it likes (subject to things like the Equality Act and related laws). How Brown thinks that he has the standing or jurisdiction to ban someone from attending a match at a stadium other than Boundary Park I don't know. If I were the fan in question I'd be rolling up to away games as normal tbh.

I,ve always wondered how the home club enforce these bans anyway. I accept that if a banned person is caught entering the stadium, it is a criminal offence, however a big coat, hat and facemask would render anyone unrecognisable. They should just carry on regardless, obviously though with someone else buying their ticket.

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22 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

The offending letter.

Image

I would add this to the same filing cabinet as "ill-thought out and poorly written rants by lower league owners".

It's petulant, probably short-sighted, generally ridiculous, and clearly hasn't been anywhere near a competent lawyer. It smells of an angry general manager reading a forum whilst necking a bottle of Malbec, then switching to MSWord and typing this nonsense out. Love the deflection of any follow up onto the Safety Officer.

I guess technically a football ground is a private premises and so technically the management/company can probably deny entry to anyone it likes (subject to things like the Equality Act and related laws). How Brown thinks that he has the standing or jurisdiction to ban someone from attending a match at a stadium other than Boundary Park I don't know. If I were the fan in question I'd be rolling up to away games as normal tbh.

The bloke in question, Mr. Knowles, is correct that this kind of crap governance is yet another signal that the Crouch recommended regulator is required. 

I'd also applaud the NED Richard Bowden for resigning and making public that he did not approve the actions in question and so the letter is technically incorrect in saying that the collective "Board of Directors" had asked for Brown to review fan actions.

 

I'd like to know exactly what the offending fans did.

 

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3 minutes ago, The Horse With No Name said:

I,ve always wondered how the home club enforce these bans anyway. I accept that if a banned person is caught entering the stadium, it is a criminal offence, however a big coat, hat and facemask would render anyone unrecognisable. They should just carry on regardless, obviously though with someone else buying their ticket.

I shouldn`t think it`s a criminal offence - it`s not a football banning order issued by the courts - they`d either have to refuse him/them entry or throw them out. If it went to court it would be a civil case.

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9 minutes ago, The Horse With No Name said:

I,ve always wondered how the home club enforce these bans anyway. I accept that if a banned person is caught entering the stadium, it is a criminal offence, however a big coat, hat and facemask would render anyone unrecognisable. They should just carry on regardless, obviously though with someone else buying their ticket.

A lot would depend on how well the guys in question are known to the stewards, ticket office, club in general etc. If they're the kind of fan who has an ST in the same seat every season, lives round the corner and everyone just knows, then it'll be tricky for them to get back in. If they're a bit more occasional, or quiet then yeh grow a beard, dye your hair, get your mate to buy you POTD in cash, and 'enjoy' Oldham's impending relegation from the front row. It's a private ban so any 'breach' is unlikely to be criminal trespass, instead they'd have to sue him under the normal tort of trepass.

Oldham get fewer than 5k fans as well, so it's not gunna be that tricky to find three guys in that small a crowd.

Honestly this guy should pay a lawyer £100 to write a letter of response breaking down every sentence and saying 'prove this', 'prove that' etc. If he cba with that then getting it into the national press will probably help him.

6 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

I'd like to know exactly what the offending fans did.

Agreed, although my feeling is that as it's not specified, Oldham/Brown would quite like to know as well. If it was a specific thing then they'd name it. Nebulous, vague accusations such as in that letter mean "You're doing something we don't like, it's not bad enough to actually peg you under any particular law, but we just don't want to deal with it. Please F off."

Edited by ExiledAjax
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The guys seem to be getting support already. Push the Boundary (Oldham's supporters group) have sent the below. Note that this is competently written and addresses each point in turn. It also actually provides relevant legal bases for the comments made, and reference to Oldham's own rules and codes.

The only strange suggestion is that Scunthorpe is Oldham's biggest game of the season. They know they're in the same division as Bristol Rovers don't they?*

*as always, I had to check which division the Gas are actually in.

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Edited by ExiledAjax
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If you read this case and think that it is yet another sign that reform is needed regarding the governance of football in England then please consider reading the following page of the Football Supporter's Association website, and perhaps sending the email they suggest to your MP.

https://thefsa.org.uk/news/want-to-fix-football-heres-how-you-can-change-things/

If you aren't comfortable with writing this kind of email then please feel free to DM me. I'd be more than happy to review your email or otherwise help with anyone who wants to do this.

Edited by ExiledAjax
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2 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

I,ve always wondered how the home club enforce these bans anyway. I accept that if a banned person is caught entering the stadium, it is a criminal offence, however a big coat, hat and facemask would render anyone unrecognisable. They should just carry on regardless, obviously though with someone else buying their ticket.

It’s not a criminal offence. It would be trespass which is a civil matter.

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