Barrow AFC.net

Nah...no way!

We stood on the Holker Street end in the first half and there was plenty of space. Had no trouble walking into the Popular Side at half time to stand in our usual spot either. The Club could have got at least 1,000 more paying punters in.

I don't know who's in charge of Health and Safety but who ever it is lost the club some badly needed revenue yesterday.
Needs looking into...

Cumbria County Council sets the capacity, iirc.

We were stood at the back of the HS end and there was loads of space especially on the corner. I thought it was going to be rammed, it wasn't.
You could easily and safely have got at least a couple of hundred more in.

You could get plenty more in if the Segregation area wasn't so wide.

I thought exactly the same whilst standing in the away end. Busy, but nowhere near full.

If Cumbria CC set the capacity, could it be appealed as it did look as though there was room for more fans, even allowing for the safety aspect.
When we get drawn at home to MUFC in the cup next year we need to get more in.

No where near full, but....the capacity is set on such things as the floodlight problem, also if the crush barriers on the HSE were the same as the newer modern ones on the pop side that would help to increase the ground limit. I suppose the various TV towers would also have to be taken into consideration as they not only take up the area they stand on but affect the area directly behind which is virtually wasted space. All these and many others contribute to what the various groups involved set our capacity at.

Just out of interest Jim_Delsey, could you let me know what you thought of the space available to you and the rest of the Rochdale supporters? There was quite a bit of discussion within the club as to whether that was big enough for 500 away supporters. It seemed ok to me.
We moved the segregation fence last summer to allow home support to stand behind the goals on the HSE, which seemed the sensible thing to do as we very, very rarely fill that area with away support.

I was told it was because the Holker End isnt covered and if there is torrential downpours, the majority would/could all dive for cover under the pop side which would cause that to be over crowded and dangerous. Out of the clubs hands i think

A roof on The Holker End? It's NOT going to go away this, Mr. Casson...

DAN wrote:I was told it was because the Holker End isnt covered and if there is torrential downpours, the majority would/could all dive for cover under the pop side which would cause that to be over crowded and dangerous. Out of the clubs hands i think

Not TOO sure about that DAN, if that were the case we could just close the gate at the end of the pop side. I suppose it might come into some reckoning though, with H&S the way it is they might want to stop people from getting a chill if it did rain

Yeah there is that i suppose, wouldnt you have to keep that open for access to toilets also though?

Clearly there was plenty of room for more, but It's based on a number of factors, including number of turnstiles, crush barriers, roof, exit points, etc it's all in here with worked examples.

http://www.safetyatsportsgrounds.org.uk ... -guide.pdf

The positives from this cup tie are that we came through with many ticks in the boxes- i.e.- we can manage higher profile all ticket games, we can manage larger away followings, the ground for all its faults is clearly able to cope. We came under a lot of national media attention, the football focus special was a brilliant promotion for the club and it came across really well. Basically, it was a big test for the club and the PC regime and we came through it with flying colours.

Back to the league and hopefully many more big attendances to come this season

DAN wrote:Yeah there is that i suppose, wouldnt you have to keep that open for access to toilets also though?

Good point....haha, never thought of that.

spirit of 1990 wrote:No where near full, but....the capacity is set on such things as the floodlight problem, also if the crush barriers on the HSE were the same as the newer modern ones on the pop side that would help to increase the ground limit. I suppose the various TV towers would also have to be taken into consideration as they not only take up the area they stand on but affect the area directly behind which is virtually wasted space. All these and many others contribute to what the various groups involved set our capacity at.

Just out of interest Jim_Delsey, could you let me know what you thought of the space available to you and the rest of the Rochdale supporters? There was quite a bit of discussion within the club as to whether that was big enough for 500 away supporters. It seemed ok to me.
We moved the segregation fence last summer to allow home support to stand behind the goals on the HSE, which seemed the sensible thing to do as we very, very rarely fill that area with away support.

Yes. It was a good away day and had many of the older fans reminiscing when all away days were like Barrow in the 1980's and further back.

That's not a criticism, just an observation.

The away section was unusual in that there were no crush barriers. Can't remember the last time I stood on such a terrace - probably at Spotland years ago!

The view of the goal mouth in front of us was obscured due to the low rake of terracing unless you were at the front. I'm well over 6ft and couldn't see the goal-line from half way up the terrace.

The bogs were a bit small and basic but who cares? It's football.

Overall the space made available to us was fine. It is what it is. Give me Barrow's away end all day with 600 Dale fans over MK Dons padded seats at £25 each with 200 Dale fans there. I know it rained and we got a bit wet, but who cares?

However, I really think you'd struggle in League 2 if you get there, and you'd need to re-think the away situation as there are several L2 clubs who, on their day, could fill that bit twice over, as we would have done if permitted, and we're one of the worst supported clubs in the league.

Jim_Delsey wrote: The bogs were a bit small and basic but who cares? It's football.

Overall the space made available to us was fine. It is what it is. Give me Barrow's away end all day with 600 Dale fans over MK Dons padded seats at £25 each with 200 Dale fans there. I know it rained and we got a bit wet, but who cares?

My sentiments exactly. Watching football has become over-sanitised, and that is trickling further and further down the leagues.