Reply With QuoteThey are restricting away
capacity due to redevelopment ?
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I only manage a few away games each season (usually in London or the Birmingham area), but it never ceases to amaze me the support we get away from home. Yesterday was a great example - the away end was rammed, and the fans were having to stand in the stairways (which surely is against all ground regulations?). There was plenty of room to make the away area a bit bigger, but they chose not to - strange. Great singing, all through the game (okay, it went a bit quiet after the second goal), and some friendly banter with the locals in the corner just to our right. The service in the bars was woeful, with just a couple of ladies trying to cope with a packed concourse.
Luckily, before the match, we'd had a couple of pints in The Old Crown pub in the Digbeth area, not far from the ground. Digbeth is full of old warehouses and empty lots, and also houses much of Birmingham's night-life. The Old Crown is a wobbly-looking half-timbered old building with a huge covered backlot behind, and it was chock full of Birmingham fans. No problems at all, though some kind gent did point out I should maybe take my hat off. I'd forgotten there was a Bluebird badge pinned to the front.
Just like to say I also enjoyed walking around the city centre. I know Birmingham is ten times the size of Cardiff, but the size and variety of shops in and around the Bull Ring was a bit of an eye-opener. Still, glad to be home, and a good point well-earned!
They are restricting away
capacity due to redevelopment ?
There didn't seem to be any development going on that I could see. Watch the footage - there's plenty of room to expand the away area. All the seating areas in the lower reaches of the stands were empty and covered in canvas adverts. They could have given us the whole stand if they'd wanted to.
This is not the first time this season I've heard 'away capacity reduced due to development'. Getting to be a bit of a cop-out, I reckon.
Why is it that we seem to make the experience for the away fans as pleasant as possible and rarely get the same in return?Originally Posted by tforturton
I wonder if other teams' away fans are treated as badly.
The bottom tiers of the right hand side stand and opposite stand are closed due to being structurally unsafe because of damaged steelwork. It’s been closed all season and all the visiting teams have had reduced allocations, nothing to do with secretly limiting Cardiff’s support.
I think that we were given more tickets than anyone else has had there all season as they are slowly increasing capacity there as some of the work gets completed.
I didn’t know Birmingham was 10 times the size of cardiff, 5 million people in brum?
Cardiff fans corralled and bottlenecked into confined space as police force a blockade and stop people exiting the stadium. The police line stopped fans from dispersing into a larger but also confined away coach park. No need to create such a tense situation.
Meant there was some confrontation and raised batons.
Cardiff 300,000. Birmingham 3m.
...and in a largely unlit area under the stands. Too dark to video what was going on. It could have kicked off very badly. Totally unnecessary for WMP to hold us back and it did get a bit tense as the City fans began pushing against their lines. Almost like medieval warfare at one point. Talking to a copper, the official reason for the police lines was "to allow rival crews to disperse". As it was "managed retreat" by the WMP was the way forward. For us, anyway.
Cardiff hasn’t been 300,000 for a long time…
Depends how you count population (what boundaries - city council wards or wider district) and what source you use - some rely on 2011 census, others on more recent data.
2010 data from a range of UK population sources has Cardiff anywhere between 310,000 and 447,000. Birmingham anywhere between under 900,000 and well over 1.2 million.
These are just three that don't agree with each other. There are loads.
http://www.ukcities.co.uk/populations/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/co...united-kingdom
http://www.citymayors.com/gratis/uk_topcities.html
But Birmingham is at least 3x the population of Cardiff.
A lot of building flats in brownfield sites and massive expansion going on now to the north west and north east of the city. Aiming to add a quarter to the population allegedly
Outside of London Birmingham together with Greater Manchester , Glasgow , Leeds etc are the main urban centres in the UK
It's big but it's not ten times bigger
Logic would indicate we make money selling tickets to away fans, programme sales, food and drink. We don't make money on our fans at away games.
Cardiff or Birmingham ?
Our great away support is never in doubt
Does anyone remember Birmingham away 85 ?
And 95 come to think of it 🤔
Cardiff. The councils plan was to expand the city’s population by a quarter by 2030 I believe.
It’s always been a bit lively with them, nowhere near now as bad as it was in the 80’s
The Paul Millar wonder goal game was a bit spicy
I don't setting fire to their union jack went down well
Or trying to demolish their away end
I think it was 1989 I first went, midweek. Some of our fans left and went out the ground to try and get into the home end turnstiles, that didn’t go down to well with them either….
I remember it well
We were in a supporters club bus and the driver decided to park right outside the main gates
We suggested he moved
All coming into Cardiff along Llantrisant Road. Until they turn it into a bus-only/cycle route that is !
I'm glad you and IanD raised issues about this. I've written to BCFC and the WMP regarding this and I've asked for a copy of their Risk Assessment. I spend a lot of time as a disability rights advocate and activist and this was pretty scary stuff.
I was on crutches, there was a young lad in front of me using a walking frame and others around who were mobility-challenged. The club stewards had been fantastic and helpful but the situation we found ourselves in at the end when leaving the ground was unacceptable and dangerous e.g. as IanD pointed out, it was dark, we were on a fairly steep upward incline for those with mobility issues, there were surges of people from the back and we had no communication as to how long we were going to be kept there.
When we finally started moving through we were confronted by a police blockade. There was one young lad with autism pleading with a policeman 'please don't make me go back into the crowd' and visibly distressed.
It's not a situation that abled-bodied people and kids should be in let alone, disabled supporters. I'm shocked that in 2021 football supporters are still being dangerously corralled like we were on Saturday.
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