Galatasaray / Eastend Surfer Flag

[T R]

Yes I noticed Derby had a surfer, didn't see what was on it, probably said 2-0.

There is some great surfers around the world, these are well organised by the fans and the clubs, even the club management take pride in it. It Puts our surfers in this country to shame. If we had advertisement on our surfers, the club would bend over backwards to show them off.

This is a good one too:

[NickJ]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but a couple of things caught my attention.

1) Am I right in thinking that Derby fans had a surfer flag on the go in the away end on Saturday? I couldn't really see properly from the East End? Or was this just my imagination?

Yes there was a Derby surfer and here are serious questions for Dave Lloyd.

Did they notify the stewards at least a minute before they surfed?

Did a number of their supporters keep out an eye in case the flag got "stuck"?

Was the flag marshalled by fans in hi-viz jackets, or armbands, or surfer t-shirts?

How was the experience from a H&S point of view?

Quite nerve-racking I'd imagine?

[Aizoon]

New EE chant -

We follow all the rules,

And we sit down on our stools,

And our jackets are hi-vis,

Vis, vis, vis...

[Aizoon]

As someone who has usually been at the forefront of discussions with various safety officers and who actually placed the order for the flag, I should probably add some balance to this debate.

I welcome the clarification and the greater flexibility shown in the statement. What, of course people should realise is that it doesn't start at that point. It does not take account of prior conversations about signed risk assessments, fire safety certificates, how certain stands are open to different wind directions, about notifying safety officers a few days before, about stewards not being able to be involved or distracted by flags,etc

Yes, high vis jackets have been mentioned and only push back and alternative solutions suggested by fans has resulted in this finally being dropped. It looks like we will have to produce an alternative at some point.

As Ciderhead says, we are currently fundraising for a second flag, which will be portrait rather than landscape and will better suit the tiers in the atyeo and lower Dolman. You can look out for the buckets on Saturday or donate via this site.

Stu

---

Buckets? Has anybody done a risk assessment on those? What if the handles came off? Will no one think of the children?

[Merrick's Marvels]

Juve's new ground looks fantastic. Proof you can build something new with character and atmosphere. Key is they've made the fans right on top of the pitch to really make it intimidating.

And it sure does help, Tomarse, when you have officials on your side, FIGC (the Italian FA) on your side, the parliament in Rome on your side, UEFA and FIFA in your back pocket, AIA (Associazione Italiana Arbitri - Italain Referees Association) on your payroll...

Not that Juve have ever fixed anything, been involved in ANYthing bent or even been close to a scandal. Not according to their Presidente, Andrea Agnelli, anyway.

Despite alarming evidence (and convictions) to the contrary...

(Ps Tom - did you get a copy of Issue 10 on Saturday? I mention NOT payment...!!)

[Merrick's Marvels]

And it sure does help, Tomarse, when you have officials on your side, FIGC (the Italian FA) on your side, the parliament in Rome on your side, UEFA and FIFA in your back pocket, AIA (Associazione Italiana Arbitri - Italain Referees Association) on your payroll...

Not that Juve have ever fixed anything, been involved in ANYthing bent or even been close to a scandal. Not according to their Presidente, Andrea Agnelli, anyway.

Despite alarming evidence (and convictions) to the contrary...

(Ps Tom - did you get a copy of Issue 10 on Saturday? I mention NOT payment...!!)

Apologies - I appear to have taken the conversation back about three weeks. And with my anti-Juve hat on, to boot.

Let's all get a little perspective here: from the one extreme we have people thinking we are being shafted by the club, ignored, treated like idiots...and the other end we could have a Millionarios/Milan/Galatasaray (man that's a lot of A's) style Boca Jnrs firework display going off for every reserve game. Sort of.

Somewhere in the middle lies the truth. Closer to the former than the latter, admittedly.

The club's hands are tied in certain repsects: not just by themselves or even the Football Authorities (as if they are anything to take heed of), but by modern society and all the PC-Health & Safety-CRB checks that govern our daily lives way beyond the sporting stadium. That's immovable, unless we vote in Nigel Farrage or some such. A lack of communication between the club, them up in the box and match-day stewards doesn't help. And a new team of security - probably wanting to let us know they're there - watching our every move don't either, but we're not the only ground to have that in this country. Years of hooliganism and trouble across the country and, more pertinently, here at BCFC have not exactly given us an angelic reputation, nationally or locally, and, despite there being no hint of trouble inside the EE for a long time, you get a rep, it sticks for a long time. We are now suffering the consequences of that (hence no cctv at Cambridge, Lincoln, Peterboro etc - I am talking in generalities). It matters not that we are well-behaved in the EE, the past still hangs over us, especially non-standing supporters in a seated area next to away fans with little or no segregation. I know, I know, nothing has happened for ages, but that's how WE think, not how THEY think.

Equally, the club are guilty of dallying about, changing their minds, putting foremost the advertising of...I forget who it is being advertised in the no-man's-land but it's obviously lucrative: it almost doesn't matter if it's £5, that's £5 unfortunately they will not get from our flags as we are not corporate. Financially as a club we are not great, so every £5 helps. And the commercial people at the club are not football fans, they have been brought in as business people (rarer than rare are people with high-class business acumen AND a season ticket/love of BCFC), to make us self-sufficient and see £5+ advertising as part of a strategy to ensuring we still have a bloody club to not hang our flags out in support of for the next ten, twenty, thirty years...

Yes, this is an opportunity going a-begging. No, they are not Nazis. Yes, the club should do more to engage us in our cultural input (surely to Bob they see that would then subsequently be commercially beneficial). No, you can't bring that can of Coke in to the EE they do not deliberately seek to antagonise us with instructions on how to wear an armband/unstick a stuck flag, much as it may, in the passion of the moment, appear so.

More apposite, I think is this: what can we sort for Ashton Vale if it is built and opened or Ashton gate if it is redeveloped? Now is one thing, the future might be more worth sorting (whatever division we are in). Let's try not to get our knickers in a twist over this (although the stewards may be on hand to untwist them if necessary...). This is a forum, indeed, everyone's view is valued (apart from yours, Harry!), but being less extreme (Nazi...Galatasaray - sorry bad choice of extremes) may lead us to work together, come up with some sensible solutions and all get behind the Reds.

Which is what we are all here for, ultimately.

COME ON YOU REDS!

(Apologies, Harry!)

JUDAS LEONARDO (see what they've done there - it was an Easter game and that's The Last Supper) This one was in April 2011, when Leonardo, once the darling as player and then coach (well, not so much darling as coach, more Cpt Darling from Blackadder IV) committed the heinous - but regular - crime of switching to cross-city rivals Inter (aka Interroristi di merda). Welcome back, Leo!

[Merrick's Marvels]

Apologies - I appear to have taken the conversation back about three weeks. And with my anti-Juve hat on, to boot.

My little tuppence, with perspective, here (as an EEnder - me with occasional white/City/Milan hat):

from the one extreme we have people, understandably, thinking we are being shafted by the club, ignored, treated like idiots...and the other end, dreams of us having a Millionarios/Milan/Galatasaray (man that's a lot of A's) style Boca Jnrs firework display going off for every reserve game. Sort of. (I know these examples are cited as inspiration not necessarily for us to aspire to 100%).

Somewhere in the middle, I guess, may lie the truth. Closer to the former than the latter, admittedly.

The club's hands are tied in certain respects: not just by themselves or even the Football Authorities (as if they are anything to take heed of), but by modern society and all the PC-Health & Safety-CRB checks that govern our daily lives way beyond the sporting stadium. That's immovable, unless we vote in Nigel Farrage or some such. A lack of communication between the club, them up in the box and match-day stewards doesn't help. And a new team of security - probably wanting to let us know they're there - watching our every move don't either, but we're not the only ground to have that in this country.

Years of hooliganism and trouble across the country and - more pertinently - involving BCFC, have not exactly given us an angelic reputation, nationally or locally, and, despite there being no hint of trouble inside the EE for a long time, you get a rep, it sticks for a long time. We are now suffering the consequences of that (hence no cctv at Cambridge, Lincoln, Peterboro etc - I am talking respectively, in generalities). It matters not that we are well-behaved in the EE (and we are), the past still hangs over us, especially us non-standing supporters in a seated area next to away fans with little or no segregation - in terms of the club's reputation we are a hotspot (1996 derby invasion is not that long ago in the memories of the authorities). I know, I know, nothing has happened for ages, but that's how WE think, not how THEY think.

Equally, the club are guilty of dallying about, changing their minds, putting foremost the advertising of...I forget who it is being advertised in the no-man's-land but it's obviously lucrative: it almost doesn't matter if it's £5, that's £5 unfortunately they will not get from our flags as we are not corporate. Financially as a club we are not great, so every £5 helps. And the commercial people at the club are not football fans, they have been brought in as business people (rarer than rare are people with high-class business acumen AND a season ticket/love of BCFC), to make us self-sufficient and see £5+ advertising as part of a strategy to ensuring we still have a bloody club to not hang our flags out in support of for the next ten, twenty, thirty years...

Yes, this is an opportunity going a-begging. No, they are not Nazis. Yes, the club should do more to engage us with our cultural input (surely to Bob they see that would then subsequently be commercially beneficial). No, you can't bring that can of Coke in to the EE they do not deliberately seek to antagonise us with instructions on how to wear an armband/unstick a stuck flag - much as it may, in the passion of the moment on here, appear so.

More apposite, I think is this: what can we sort for Ashton Vale if it is built and opened or Ashton gate if it is redeveloped? The Now is one thing, The Future might be more worth sorting (whatever division we are in). Let's try not to get our knickers in a twist over this (although the stewards may be on hand to untwist them if necessary...).

This is a forum, indeed, everyone's view is valued (apart from yours, Harry!), but being less extreme (Nazi...Galatasaray - sorry bad choice of extremes) may lead us to work together, come up with some sensible solutions and all get behind the Reds.

Which is what we are all here for, ultimately.

COME ON YOU REDS!

(Apologies, Harry!)

JUDAS INTERISTA (see what they've done there - it was an Easter game and that's The Last Supper) This one was in April 2011, when Leonardo, once the darling as player and then coach (well, not so much darling as coach, more Cpt Darling from Blackadder IV) committed the heinous - but regular - crime of switching to cross-city rivals Inter (aka Interroristi di merda). Welcome back, Leo!

[Cowshed]

Apologies - I appear to have taken the conversation back about three weeks. And with my anti-Juve hat on, to boot.

My little tuppence, with perspective, here (as an EEnder - me with occasional white/City/Milan hat):

from the one extreme we have people, understandably, thinking we are being shafted by the club, ignored, treated like idiots...and the other end, dreams of us having a Millionarios/Milan/Galatasaray (man that's a lot of A's) style Boca Jnrs firework display going off for every reserve game. Sort of. (I know these examples are cited as inspiration not necessarily for us to aspire to 100%).

Somewhere in the middle, I guess, may lie the truth. Closer to the former than the latter, admittedly.

The club's hands are tied in certain respects: not just by themselves or even the Football Authorities (as if they are anything to take heed of), but by modern society and all the PC-Health & Safety-CRB checks that govern our daily lives way beyond the sporting stadium. That's immovable, unless we vote in Nigel Farrage or some such. A lack of communication between the club, them up in the box and match-day stewards doesn't help. And a new team of security - probably wanting to let us know they're there - watching our every move don't either, but we're not the only ground to have that in this country.

Years of hooliganism and trouble across the country and - more pertinently - involving BCFC, have not exactly given us an angelic reputation, nationally or locally, and, despite there being no hint of trouble inside the EE for a long time, you get a rep, it sticks for a long time. We are now suffering the consequences of that (hence no cctv at Cambridge, Lincoln, Peterboro etc - I am talking respectively, in generalities). It matters not that we are well-behaved in the EE (and we are), the past still hangs over us, especially us non-standing supporters in a seated area next to away fans with little or no segregation - in terms of the club's reputation we are a hotspot (1996 derby invasion is not that long ago in the memories of the authorities). I know, I know, nothing has happened for ages, but that's how WE think, not how THEY think.

Equally, the club are guilty of dallying about, changing their minds, putting foremost the advertising of...I forget who it is being advertised in the no-man's-land but it's obviously lucrative: it almost doesn't matter if it's £5, that's £5 unfortunately they will not get from our flags as we are not corporate. Financially as a club we are not great, so every £5 helps. And the commercial people at the club are not football fans, they have been brought in as business people (rarer than rare are people with high-class business acumen AND a season ticket/love of BCFC), to make us self-sufficient and see £5+ advertising as part of a strategy to ensuring we still have a bloody club to not hang our flags out in support of for the next ten, twenty, thirty years...

Yes, this is an opportunity going a-begging. No, they are not Nazis. Yes, the club should do more to engage us with our cultural input (surely to Bob they see that would then subsequently be commercially beneficial). No, you can't bring that can of Coke in to the EE they do not deliberately seek to antagonise us with instructions on how to wear an armband/unstick a stuck flag - much as it may, in the passion of the moment on here, appear so.

More apposite, I think is this: what can we sort for Ashton Vale if it is built and opened or Ashton gate if it is redeveloped? The Now is one thing, The Future might be more worth sorting (whatever division we are in). Let's try not to get our knickers in a twist over this (although the stewards may be on hand to untwist them if necessary...).

This is a forum, indeed, everyone's view is valued (apart from yours, Harry!), but being less extreme (Nazi...Galatasaray - sorry bad choice of extremes) may lead us to work together, come up with some sensible solutions and all get behind the Reds.

Which is what we are all here for, ultimately.

COME ON YOU REDS!

(Apologies, Harry!)

JUDAS INTERISTA (see what they've done there - it was an Easter game and that's The Last Supper) This one was in April 2011, when Leonardo, once the darling as player and then coach (well, not so much darling as coach, more Cpt Darling from Blackadder IV) committed the heinous - but regular - crime of switching to cross-city rivals Inter (aka Interroristi di merda). Welcome back, Leo!

It appears that BCFC regarding this surfer have added an additional layer of control measure not required nationally/locally, or in accordance with national football ground regulations.

The advertising revenue created will almost certainly be less than .25% of the wage bill. A fan did put up some figures.

In comparison to advertising, how much has the initiative of support within the stand made BCFC? It was an empty opportunity before fans involvement. This advertising as part of a strategy [?!] could make the stand less attractive to support.