Family Stand (7 Viewers)

[Malaka]

Just wanted to see what others are experiencing and get some advice.

I take my two sons aged 8 and ten and a friend of theirs who is also 10. I found myself getting really angry on Saturday with several drunken men effing and c'ing, some of who were also in charge of children.

Several times they left the kids unsupervised while I assume they went and drank beer as they seemed to be more drunk every time they returned. It is difficult to kick off when people have been drinking as they lose all sense of reason and of course I don't want to set a bad example and it is the family zone. Equally I don't want to stop people enjoying themselves, but it pisses me off when kids are left to their own devices, playfighting and fucking about for half an hour at a time whilst the people who brought them take no responsibility for them, spoiling it for others in close proximity.

Should i suck it up, tell the parents or complain to a steward?

 

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[Nick]

Report it to a steward, can't really kick off with kids about!

 

[Skyblueweeman]

Isn't there a confidential email address thing you can send your concerns to? I was sure that someone posted it on here the other day.

It would then be up to the club to pick up with stewards in that area of the ground to manage more effectively on match days. You can then get your point across without having to confront them yourselves.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

It's not ok Malaka! If you feel comfortable I would challenge the language, you would get back up from those around you. If you don't then ask the stewards before the game to keep their eye on it. The question of leaving the your children unaccompanied feels to me more than 'not ok'. If it is genuinely for more than 30 minutes then it needs to be reported to the stewards. Most people I have challenged apologise, especially when it's the 'c' word. Those that challenge me in my exuberance (shouting, angry) rather than swearing get an apology and contrition

 

[Nick]

I think swearing isn't on in the family zone, it should be the place to take kids. The same as if you take kids into block 15 and then moan about swearing for example.

 

[chiefdave]

Isn't there a confidential email address thing you can send your concerns to?

There's an email for general matchday things, or on the day you can text.

We want to come to the Ricoh Arena for a Coventry City game and feel perfectly safe, enjoying your surroundings and supporting the Sky Blues loud and proud!

Coventry City Football Club have launched a new service for fans to report any safety issues they experience on a matchday.

The new service can be accessed by any fans in the stadium, simply through anonymously texting a designated number on their mobile phone.

These messages will then be picked up directly by the Sky Blues matchday safety team to look into your problem on your behalf.

The process for this is:

Text - 07510327887

Start your message with: 1 for drinking of alcohol, 2 for foul/abusive language, 3 for smoking, 4 for racism, 5 for aggressive behaviour ,

Then put in your seating location.

For example:
1 Block 20 Row G.
3 Block 15 Row NN

The reporting phone number will be shown in the matchday programme and on the big screen at the Ricoh Arena.

For wider feedback about the matchday experience at the Ricoh Arena, Sky Blues fans can e-mail [email protected]

 

[rob9872]

I get that people want to be like that at the football, but the family zone is furthest away from the noisy corner for that exact reason. Anyone with an ounce of decency doesn't do it in the vicinity of the family zone, unfortunately there is no reasoning with those that do. Normally I would say different but with kids including your own, no pride in causing a scene - leave it to the stewards I think.

 

[mechaishida]

Just wanted to see what others are experiencing and get some advice.

I take my two sons aged 8 and ten and a friend of theirs who is also 10. I found myself getting really angry on Saturday with several drunken men effing and c'ing, some of who were also in charge of children.

Several times they left the kids unsupervised while I assume they went and drank beer as they seemed to be more drunk every time they returned. It is difficult to kick off when people have been drinking as they lose all sense of reason and of course I don't want to set a bad example and it is the family zone. Equally I don't want to stop people enjoying themselves, but it pisses me off when kids are left to their own devices, playfighting and fucking about for half an hour at a time whilst the people who brought them take no responsibility for them, spoiling it for others in close proximity.

Should i suck it up, tell the parents or complain to a steward?

You did the right thing, mate, to kick off in the presence of children in general is unsavoury to say the least, but this doesn't excuse the loutish, irresponsible behaviour of the guys you're talking about. What a wonderful example they're setting for their kids, eh? Jesus...

Stewards will probably do sweet FA to be honest, but try mentioning it should it happen again. Aside from that, maybe an email to the club's CS dept'.

 

[Malaka]

There's an email for general matchday things, or on the day you can text.

Cheers for this, I have texted the club

 

[fernandopartridge]

The difficulty is that anybody who pays on the gate ends up in the family zone as it's nearest to the pay turnstiles.

I personally think they should move the family zone back to its original place (adjacent to the away fans in the West Stand).

 

[ashbyjan]

Cheers for this, I have texted the club

If you PM me details I can raise it directly with the club at the next SCG meeting - that forum is mainly for matchday experience etc and this very much comes under that heading

 

[chiefdave]

The difficulty is that anybody who pays on the gate ends up in the family zone as it's nearest to the pay turnstiles.

I personally think they should move the family zone back to its original place (adjacent to the away fans in the West Stand).

Presumably they don't buy tickets for the family zone so the easy option would be to have a couple of stewards checking tickets as people enter that block.

 

[italiahorse]

I think swearing isn't on in the family zone, it should be the place to take kids. The same as if you take kids into block 15 and then moan about swearing for example.

So is it okay to fill the ground with the "your support is fucking shit" song, as long as you are in block 15 ?

 

[Nick]

So is it okay to fill the ground with the "your support is fucking shit" song, as long as you are in block 15 ?

What I am saying is that if you take a 6 year old in a block outside the family zone then you can't moan too much about swearing. If you are in the family zone then the kids shouldn't have to hear some of it. The whole idea of a family zone isn't it?

 

[Warwickhunt]

Report it if i were you it would not be worth antagonising unreasonable minded people/carers, i sit there as well and i have complained in writing about the kids being left to their own devices just waiting for one to go top to bottom down the stairs

 

[italiahorse]

What I am saying is that if you take a 6 year old in a block outside the family zone then you can't moan too much about swearing. If you are in the family zone then the kids shouldn't have to hear some of it. The whole idea of a family zone isn't it?

So you need to be in the corner out the way if you don't like swearing ?
It's generally regarded as offensive, maybe illegal, to swear in any public area so why should we tolerate it at football matches ?

It's a pet hate of mine !!

 

[Warwickhunt]

I sit there and my profanity towards the referee & linesman has been tempered because i am aware of the Women & Children its not a difficult thing to do even in the heat of the moment

 

[Astute]

What I am saying is that if you take a 6 year old in a block outside the family zone then you can't moan too much about swearing. If you are in the family zone then the kids shouldn't have to hear some of it. The whole idea of a family zone isn't it?

I fully agree.

I don't ever go into a family zone. Not even if I take my little boy with me. But most people apologise after swearing when they notice my little boy or after forgetting he was there. It is my choice to take him where I do. And he is 5 so he knows not to repeat what he hears. And the occasional words slip out of my mouth in the heat of the moment

To me the family zone is for adults with children. And all should be sober. If you like having a laugh and making lots of noise you should be where others similar go. It isn't as though there isn't much of a choice of where to go.

 

[Astute]

So you need to be in the corner out the way if you don't like swearing ?
It's generally regarded as offensive, maybe illegal, to swear in any public area so why should we tolerate it at football matches ?

It's a pet hate of mine !!

We all have pet hates. But for some football is used as a release. I will never have a go at anyone for the occasional word. But every 30 seconds would be different if women or kids about.

 

[Malaka]

I really don't mind swearing and banter and of course their will be lots at the match and I fully accept that. The family zone will hear swearing and we cant stop what is said, I just think that people who sit in the family zone expect a measured response and sober people around them. I don't mind if people swear and remember where they are and they usually apologise. This weekend just went a little too far for me and leaving kids while you get pissed up is irresponsible and the kids do my nut in playfighting doing anything but watch the footie.

 

[Johnnythespider]

We all have pet hates. But for some football is used as a release. I will never have a go at anyone for the occasional word. But every 30 seconds would be different if women or kids about.

The woman sat near me a couple of weeks ago was f-ing and blinding all through the game, every time one of our players challenged one of Blackpool's she would bellow " Chop his fucking bollocks off " and the ref took all sorts of stick. Didn't bother me, I found it quite amusing to be honest but it shouldn't be happening in the family zone. Have to confess to the odd expletive myself, football is an emotional sport and brings it out of some people, I think the experience of attending a match has been sanitised enough without trying to ban certain language, it is after all just that, a part of our language.

 

[fernandopartridge]

When I was a young kid, I used to love hearing all the shouting (and swearing) in the stands. I don't think it will really do kids any harm in the long run, prefer that to the horrible sanitised 'entertainment' experience that the likes of Wasps try to peddle.

 

[italiahorse]

When I was a young kid, I used to love hearing all the shouting (and swearing) in the stands. I don't think it will really do kids any harm in the long run, prefer that to the horrible sanitised 'entertainment' experience that the likes of Wasps try to peddle.

You mean the one that more kids go too ?
Have you got kids ?

 

[mechaishida]

When I was a young kid, I used to love hearing all the shouting (and swearing) in the stands. I don't think it will really do kids any harm in the long run, prefer that to the horrible sanitised 'entertainment' experience that the likes of Wasps try to peddle.

Ah yes, I recall the old classic: 'You're gonna get your fuh-kin' heads kicked in!' and more recently (directed at Beckham when we were beating Man Utd at Highfield Rd in '97): 'Does she take it up the @rse?!'. I guess it's 'taboo' when you're a kid, being exposed to such an adult-ish past-time, but then the OP does still have a valid point about irresponsible, half-cut morons spouting vulgarities around kids and vanishing to top up on beer. It's a thin line, I suppose.

 

[Specs WT-R75]

I take my kids in B15... I expect a bit of blue language and I use the occasional word myself. They wouldn't dream of swearing as they know what would happen... so at the end of the day its not the language that other people use, it is the way you teach your own children to behave that ultimately dictates their behaviour.

 

[fernandopartridge]

You mean the one that more kids go too ?
Have you got kids ?

Here he is, right on cue.

When you give out numerous free tickets for schools you will have more kids in attendance. Not that it's relevant to this thread.

 

[chiefdave]

If you take your kids to games you know there's a good chance they will hear something colourfull but that doesn't mean you should happily accept it going on in the area designated for kids.

 

[italiahorse]

Here he is, right on cue.

When you give out numerous free tickets for schools you will have more kids in attendance. Not that it's relevant to this thread.

So why bring Wasps into the conversation ?

When I was a young kid, I used to love hearing all the shouting (and swearing) in the stands. I don't think it will really do kids any harm in the long run, prefer that to the horrible sanitised 'entertainment' experience that the likes of Wasps try to peddle.

 

[sw88]

Can I just ask Malaka, when you refer to the 'family zone', do you mean where the pre match events take place, or the specific location for seated JSB's / families etc? PM'd you too in case you don't want to post specifics on on here

 

[deanocity3]

just to get the facts straight we are talking about the family stand and not the family zone. we have not had any trouble in the FZ and have stewards nearby and make sure children are not on their own.The club has told us that there was incidents in the family stand of bad behaviour by some adults on saturday. The family zone is not happy with the title of this thread as it is not us.

 

[Nick]

I think he meant the stand, have renamed the title anyway....

 

[deanocity3]

Cheers Nick

 

[deanocity3]

The family zone is run by unpaid volunteers who are just trying to bring some enjoyment to the matchday experience for the kids. ie playing games and meeting current players.

 

[Nick]

The family zone is run by unpaid volunteers who are just trying to bring some enjoyment to the matchday experience for the kids. ie playing games and meeting current players.

Do a great job actually!! There are always stewards stood about there so I think if anything was to happen it would get dealt with!

 

[lifeskyblue]

Have visited the family zone every home game this season and can confirm that the atmosphere there is always fun and friendly. Whilst my son loved getting a selfie with Maddison I had the pleasure and honour of shaking hands with willie Carr. Son loves taking me on at subbuteo and tries the keepy uppies. Just waiting to get lucky and see the warm up pitch side.
As for the family stand I am surprised at number of adults without kids and some drunk fans. Must admit on Saturday we had less around us and I was pleased but it seems they moved elsewhere in the same stand


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