They 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.
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 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.
...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.
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.
Our great away support is never in doubt
Does anyone remember Birmingham away 85 ?
And 95 come to think of it 🤔
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.