Wednesdayite Press Release - 29th April 2010
Last Updated on Monday, 03 May 2010 21:41
WednesdayitePress Release from Wednesdayite, The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Society, regards use of the North West Enclosure at Hillsborough Stadium for Owls v Crystal Palace on Sunday 2 May.
We are puzzled and concerned by the decision of the Safety Advisory Group and South Yorkshire Police that Sheffield Wednesday FC are not allowed to open the North West Corner of the Hillsborough Stadium for Sunday's match with Crystal Palace.
We understand that refurbishment of that part of the ground has been carried out to the satisfaction of the relevant authority but an application from the club to use it has been turned down with the reason that the extra fans would create problems outside the ground. Obviously, the use of the NW Corner is only likely to be required for matches when a large crowd is expected. In the case of Sunday's match with Crystal Palace, if the NW Corner was to be available, there would be room for an additional 1000 or so fans on top of the nearly 36,000 who have already bought tickets.
We are led to believe that the club's procedures for inside the stadium were accepted as being satisfactory to cope with the additional fans.
This raises a number of questions.
If an extra 1000 fans will create an issue outside the ground, what effect will that have on future planning for the use of the NW Corner for possible high attendance matches?
Was the decision made by the same people who are responsible for approving arrangements at the Sheffield United FC ground at Bramall Lane? Crowd segregation issues, both inside and outside of Bramall Lane have been raised in the past but the arrangements there have been deemed to be acceptable.
Those of us who regularly travel to away matches have, for a long time been aware of the vastly different approaches to segregation and crowd control at other grounds. Why is it that a narrow dividing strip, sometimes no more than half a dozen empty seats is considered to be appropriate and manageable at most grounds but not at Hillsborough? A simple line of police and stewards outside other grounds is seen as being adequate.
The organisation responsible for the Supertram have decided to carry out work at Hillsborough Corner on the day of the match. The transport complications, replacement buses and additional use of private cars which will result are, in our view, likely to cause more of a problem than a relatively few additional fans. Has this decision been taken after consultation with SYP , the Safety Advisory Group and the football club? If not, why not? Anyone with any knowledge of football will have long been aware of the history of a larger than usual attendance at the final match of the season and would have surely factored this in to any plans to disrupt transport and create associated problems in the area.
We believe that if the arrangements cannot be changed, then at least a clear and satisfactory explanation should be given to the fans and the local community by those responsible for both decisions.
