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The London Stadium tourist conundrum

I have come under a lot of criticism when I published a photo of a foreign football fan at the London Stadium wearing his team’s football shirt and having his photo taken with a half and half scarf on Twitter for suggesting he should have thrown out for the possession of a half and half scarf alone.

Those who go to the London Stadium regularly will know it has become a mecca for tourists wanting to watch a game of Premier League football, they are not particularly West Ham fans but often fans of football in general but sometimes supporting of the rival team.

Supporters are split on the subject of tourists, some believe that wearing any non-West Ham football shirt in the home should not be allowed while others say we should encourage it and leave them be.

The problem for me is how rules are enforced by stewards, do we just ban opposition shirts for the match on the day in question? Do we ban all rival Premier League shirts?, How about Championship or Leagues 1 & 2?  Are non-league shirt allowed?  Are foreign shirts allowed? If so does that include Scottish teams as well? It is minefield!

It is an extremely difficult one to call and the London Stadium stewards aren’t the brightest bunch out there when it comes to decision making at the best of times.  If tourists are going to be part of West Ham’s future maybe there should be a neutral area at the London Stadium for them to take selfies and wave their half and half scarves together.

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

3 comments on “The London Stadium tourist conundrum

  1. I think the ideal solution is to admit that strictly no football shirts other than the home ones are allowed in the home areas but if I had to compromise I would say European ones other than from English/Welsh leagues are ok. Certainly we should be encouraging tourists imho

  2. It’s all revenue for the club. I’ve got no problem with an Englishman on holiday in Spain going to the nou camp to see Barcelona, or on holiday in America going to see an mls game. We have foreign West Ham supporters all over the world and if maybe this is how their passion for West Ham starts, with a visit to the London stadium, then who would have a problem with it?

  3. You do like to have a pop at the stewards Sean all stewarding problems start from the very top management at ls185
    The issue of other team shirts in the ground is determined solely by the fans who in most parts of the ground certainly in the BML will let the stewards know immediately if some one is foolish enough to wear one
    That person will be quickly relocated to another part of the ground and given some sound advice about what is acceptable at West Ham

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