SaintMarshy wrote:
McManus was apparently not happy with the absolute shambles that occurred on Saturday at the Catalans game regarding seat allocation.
Saints were given the furthest right block (out of 4/5 blocks) in the away end. The rest were reserved for school children. Saints fans were scattered all around the ground.
A quote from the safety steward after going to enquire about the situation:
"We have let more children in than we can fit in the away end, we couldn't turn them away".
The stairways in between blocks were full of kids who had come a bit late. So if you wanted something to eat or to go to the loo, you had to crawl your way through. If there was an emergency, hmm that could have been nasty.
A further quote regarding the overfilling of the away end
"If something bad happens, it happens".
It did. At some point during the game, we looked to our left and saw a little boy in a sort of foetal position lying on the floor on the main walkway at the front of the stand. It took this incident for stewards to rush in and then start manning the several walkways that were overcrowded, although they didn't do anything, they just stood there. The child who was lying on the floor was eventually carried away on someone's shoulder and I presume and hope he was OK. Would be interesting to find out what actually happened.
Saints were given the furthest right block (out of 4/5 blocks) in the away end. The rest were reserved for school children. Saints fans were scattered all around the ground.
A quote from the safety steward after going to enquire about the situation:
"We have let more children in than we can fit in the away end, we couldn't turn them away".
The stairways in between blocks were full of kids who had come a bit late. So if you wanted something to eat or to go to the loo, you had to crawl your way through. If there was an emergency, hmm that could have been nasty.
A further quote regarding the overfilling of the away end
"If something bad happens, it happens".
It did. At some point during the game, we looked to our left and saw a little boy in a sort of foetal position lying on the floor on the main walkway at the front of the stand. It took this incident for stewards to rush in and then start manning the several walkways that were overcrowded, although they didn't do anything, they just stood there. The child who was lying on the floor was eventually carried away on someone's shoulder and I presume and hope he was OK. Would be interesting to find out what actually happened.
That has happened almost every time I have been there. We now always pay the extra and go into the main stand which has reserved seating.
