Headingley overcrowding (again)

[fieldofclothofgold]

I stood in Southstand early in season while I waited for my seat and I did find it uncomfortable 

[Rupert Prince]

17 hours ago, Cdd said:

Looked like they oversold the western terrace in the hope that all the Cas fans would leave and then Hull fans would take their place. That seemed to happen. If all the Cas fans had stayed there would have been no room.

Sounds desperately dangerous.

[LeeF]

Leeds won’t have oversold any part of the ground. It’s not worth it as the ground will be very strictly controlled with their capacity & licence would be withdrawn if this occurred.

More likely is the fans who didn’t spread out and stood in the wrong places and the stewards who didn’t manage the crowd correctly 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

I doubt this is going to be a recurring problem, I can’t see us selling out regularly.

For both the sold out games so far, there has been plenty of space away from the stairways, the problem is people been able to see and get to where there is space. 

[Stewarding]

I would just like to add my opinion on this as I was one of the G4S idiots :) hired to steward this event. 

As has been stated already, there were spaces available, but it was impossible for many new people to vacate these spaces as people were just not moving along. The typical response was "I came here early and claimed this space, so why should I move??". And to get 2 - 6 people to these spaces it meant muscling there way through 80 - 100 people who are very very reluctant to move (basically a brick wall)

From my point of view it was an impossible situation as people were quite literally refusing to move along, or out the way. They had their spot, and as far as they were concerned they were not budging. Where the spaces are there is no standing areas for stewards to marshal. So trying to shout from the position available to ask 90 people to move along into space was just not happening. 

At this point, the only thing possible is to make the best of a bad situation...If the stewards start threatening to eject people (for not doing as they are told) then this will cause anger, and quite quickly everything becomes escalated and panic ensues. This panic is what can cause many problems and risk people not going back home as they left it. So from a personal point of view, this idiot tried to make the best of an impossible situation, and make sure everything remain calm, and friendly. 

I honestly don't know the answer as to how to avoid this. People have a right to arrive early, and mark the spot they want and prefer not to move from there (as they arrived early to secure the spot).

Personally, I would have liked to start seeing people moved to empty seats that were available. But I can guarantee you this would only result in more complaints (from people who had paid extra for the seating).

I do understand from a spectator perspective how the management of crowd is perceived. But I can assure you all efforts were tried (certainly by myself) to manage my area, and really G4S were doing the best they could. But when people refuse to move there are 2 options...

1. Create anger, with risk of escalation. Creating panic, in a very confined space.

2. Keep everything calm, and preserve safety.

Personally, this idiot takes option 2 every time

 

 

 

 

 

[Hopping Mad]

Overcrowding won’t be a problem at Headingley if Leeds continue playing as they did against Hull.

[fieldofclothofgold]

On 05/02/2020 at 08:25, Hopping Mad said:

Overcrowding won’t be a problem at Headingley if Leeds continue playing as they did against Hull.

Oh yes it will just look back at the previous 3 out of 4 relegation fighting seasons and attendances  ? 

[Hopping Mad]

2 minutes ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

Oh yes it will just look back at the previous 3 out of 4 relegation fighting seasons and attendances  ? 

Credit to Leeds for direct marketing. As a double header attendee, I've had a letter offering a reduced rate deal for two tickets to a Rhinos game at Headingley.

[fieldofclothofgold]

8 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Credit to Leeds for direct marketing. As a double header attendee, I've had a letter offering a reduced rate deal for two tickets to a Rhinos game at Headingley.

All I'm saying is 3 relegation seasons and just look and compare the attendance averages with the top 4