Among the pages and pages of media reports on Saturday’s stadium troubles was one quote in the Guardian which caught our eye this evening.
The Guardian claimed “A West Ham spokesman said the London Stadium did have a family section, with two blocks reserved in the Bobby Moore stand, and thus complied with Premier League guidelines.”
The Premier League handbook Rule R7 states “Each Club shall provide an area of its Stadium for the exclusive use of family group and junior supporters.”
Since West Ham won the deal to move to the former Olympic Stadium supporters have been asking whether the London Stadium would have a family stand like the old Sir Trevor Brooking upper but the club has never given a straight forward answer to that question.
In an official FAQ on WHUFC.com last year:
Will there be a family seating section in the new Stadium?
Yes. The Club’s Reservation Centre adviser will be able to provide information about the family seating options available to each Season Ticket Holder at their appointment.
But the location of the section remained a mystery and advisors at the reservation centre claimed the whole stadium was family friendly so a family section was not required or planned.
Only last week West Ham Chairman David Gold was asked the question again by West Ham fan Gary Prince
“Will you think about bringing in a family section from next season as it’s not that family friendly at the moment?” asked Gary
To which David Gold replied: “The top tier of the stadium is all seater and family friendly with over 25,000 seats. dg”
Mysteriously the club has now remembered they do have a family section after all in the Bobby Moore stand to comply with Premier League guidelines. If you know the secret location of the family section please do let us know.
There probably situated in the same place as the extra 40,000 seats for the claret members on the outskirts of Narnia 🙂
F@cking hell GW are you trying to put in an audition for Wetlands today lmao
That’s my plan Stan 🙂 Just narked off with the whole thing mate that’s all I’ll be fine once I get to the Hawthorns and have a few beers and a sing song 😉
You might need a face mask atm,i think there must be high ammonia levels in Wetlands mansion this week 🙂
It’s knee jerk city on there the last couple of days.Some mush from Norway on there he gets on my tits big time everytime he posts.Gobby tosser.
They’ll soon be happy Daphne’s got a cake and bingo competition on Thursday 🙂
I am really struggling with all the dross being written about this. I had 6 season tickets in the STBU family enclosure. 2 senior citizens, 2 adults and 2 kids. We went to the Westfield appointment and said the oldies can’t stand and the kids won’t see if others do so we want the same. The guy said the family enclosure is now the BMU and we picked our seats in almost an identical position behind the goal. The experience was great the guy knew his stuff and was a West Ham supporter. At the ground we are obviously further away but the view is great we are in an area where there are families and even believe it or not people do actually make a good atmosphere. Shock horror. A good atmosphere without the need to be drunk, falling all over the place and fighting. Everyone stands to sing bubbles, everyone is up or on the edge of their seats during goal mouth action and the majority of the time people are cheering and singing. Other than seeing the idiots fighting with stewards we are far enough away for the kids to not notice, who are watching the game anyway and seen no issues outside the ground. I am however concerned about the more aggro games and the lack of segregation as I don’t fancy the kids being there in the middle of a non segregated crowd getting to the game when Spurs come calling but how do you tell a 9 year old boy he can’t go to the Spurs game? The organisation and stewarding/policing needs to be addressed quickly but other than that our experience so far has been brilliant and we all love it as we did at UP. And anyone saying those that want or need to sit down are Johnny come latelies my dad has been going over there for 65 years and I have for 38 years.
I totally agree with you pal.My two sprogs love it there.We have also had no issues other than having to walk round Westfield this Saturday which they groaned about lol.My two lads who are 9 & 7 love it there & if I said I wasn’t taking them anymore they would go mad.I guess fans who have had no negative experience or problem doesn’t make a good story though or isnt what some of the drama queens want to read.
Well said wjo; mirrors my families experience exactly. My son and I travel from East Devon for the matches and our only concern will be when the so called bigger clubs visit with the current inadequate stewarding around the stadium. Visiting fans and WH fans always made the journey to UP together and in recent years without too many incidents. It is the same when we visit away stadium’s and I always put it down to the experience of the stewards. My first visit to UP was in 1956 as a nine year old!
wjo1974 Which block are you in? At my appointment of which the majority came from the old family stand in Sir Trevor Brooking upper we were told the whole stadium is family friendly and there is is specific family stand or seating. This is the experience of many others who were told the same answer.
A family seating area is usually restricted for families only so adults should not be allowed to buy season tickets in that section without kids, again I am unaware aware of any such restrictions in the Bobby Moore Upper at the London Stadium. If there is a family section there, they kept it very quiet.
We were in a group of twenty and the head of stadium sales was in the big meeting room with us during the appointment. We specially asked about a family section, only to be be told it didn’t exist. The whole appointment was covertly filmed by one member of the group so we still have evidence of what was or wasn’t promised and what answers were given.
Sean. Seems like we were lucky then as our guy straight away said it was the BMU and showed us the cgi view from almost identical seats. We are in with a load of families and none seem to be adults without kids. We are block 251 entrance J. So many have been saying their experience at the ticket centre has been very different to ours. The guy was a fan and knew his stuff and I assumed obviously wrongly that the usual areas of seating or standing i.e BML. Chav corner etc would remain. My 18 year old nephew who was chav corner and wanted to remain so was told the lower stand next to the away fans is where they were being put and that’s where he went. Says it’s the same group as the Bolyen. Seems like it was a lottery as to who did the booking then.
Sean I hear what your saying but I amongst many other fans with kids going are having none of these problems.As I said my kids love it there.Before anyone thinks I am defending the board I ain’t,i certainly don’t agree with everything that they have done but these articles with pictures of a kid in tears blah,blah are well over the top.My friends & their kids have also had no problems.This constant barrage of negative articles tells a story but not the whole story.I suppose people who have no problems are not headline grabbing though are they.If I even for one second thought my sprogs were in danger I would take them nowhere near the place but it is just so far removed from the truth from mine & many friends experiences
I agree JB my kids stood on chairs at the Boleyn Ground in the Sire Trevor Brooking Lower, I had to catch them a few times when goals were scored and I only dropped my son once but he bounced. Again in my block 113 which stands many kids happily standing on seats with their dads again. Although some of them sit down to play Pokemon Go which I am sure is more interesting to them lol
I have seen no violence of anti social behaviour within block 113 so far despite the block standing.