Thetownend.com

Just wondering why anybody would want to be a football steward, you don't get to see hardly any of the games, I can't imagine the pay is anything special and you take lots of sh*t and risk getting assaulted when it's a high profile match unless of course you enjoy that sort of thing!

Touchline view of the game.

They're supposed to face the crowd though

Not against Oxford or both Bristol clubs

Are you allowed to wade in as a steward?  :)

I (and Berniman for a while too) did it between 1988 and 1999 and loved it, we were on £2.50 an hour and got 4 hours pay. so I guess its minimum wage now for 4 hours. We also did The Oval, Wembley, Lords, many away games too.

I stewarded many many awful games with idiots like the Millwall LC QF, Cardiff and Leeds home several times, Millwall countless times as also every Town derby game, every Premier game we played home and away, got to know most of the police, all the players, load sof fans, great times.

Now its different and you rarely get to see games from what I hear.

I learn how to take down the more aggresive fan without leaving any marks and without hurting myself in the process! something I never had to use luckily.

It is a thankless task and I know a lot of stewards are not football fans so do it as a form of income now and are shipped in from Slough and Reading for bigger games.

Its not as bad as it looks and if I was healthier and lived closer would probably still be doing it now.

I bet it happens 😁

My Dad did some stewarding in the early 90s
Basically for him - he was getting paid to watch the game. Some of my earliest ‘going to football’ memories are of my Dad taking me, sitting me down somewhere and buggering off to wherever he was stationed and checking up on my at half time...
He also took me down the tunnel a fair few times. As a 7 year old in 1993 meeting Gladiator presenter John Fashanu was a particular highlight.

Looking back now, I wish I’d taken those opportunities in more but I guess at that age. Having all the ‘good’ players and ‘big’ clubs coming to CG was, well I wouldn’t say the norm as such but never at that age did I think our 30 years post Premier League would be so barren.

Yeah thats how I looked at games, I got paid for watching (90%) of games so I got £10 to watch what I would have paid £10 to watch so I was £20 better off per game and still saw most of the games!

It has changed a lot now.

I used to do stewarding at the old Wembley, when it was organised by the London rugby clubs.
Amazing to stand on the greyhound track when the teams came out at a cup final.
Some games i.e. England v Scotland were less fun but it was easy to 'disappear' if required.

Yeah, as JJ says I did it for probably about 7 or 8 years.  Most memorable times were the Premier league season..  The scouse fans were by far the worst that season.  I watched most of the games and got paid for the privilege.  I was the closest steward when Sparky Hughes got slapped by a fan in the Shrivvy road stand and tried to go in. 

The only hassle I had that season was from a Swindon fan in the Stratton bank when we won our first game against QPR, we wouldn't let them on the pitch so one really nice fan decided to spit in my face - he was dealt with with a shield of fellow stewards stood behind me so that the cameras didn't pick me up.

Peak highlight for me was when Andy Cole got sent off, i think on his debut for Newcastle after he had moved from City.  I was on the tunnel and as he walked past me i gave him a wry smile and he told me to fuck off.  He then got told he had to come back out and apologise to me.  Good memories..

Yeah I did all those games too and never had any problems like you had, I was planted on the front gate of the Town End for all my time pretty much. The only real time we had issues was Millwall in the LC when all the 'Wall stewards came down as "spotters" and located all the trouble makers, but they wouldn't go in and get them out...no "my job aint worth the hassle of that mate" was the reply I got.

And the wall of Lids fans all storming down towards the Town End in the final game of the Prem season, yet they were all really decent and there was no trouble at all.

As Berni says the worst were Scousers and Mancs, more so for the amount of pickpocketing going on. All 4 teams fans as bad as each others.

Was it our game or another that a steward got marched out of the other week for lamping a supporter?

our game, away at Northampton

 :)

https://youtu.be/TRfmKpcLH5s

You'd think they could have turned the sprinklers off for them.

I used to do the away turnstiles before the game outside the ground and then 10 mins into the game got moved to wherever i was needed, hence my comment about the scousers..  they were all trying to jump turnstiles or go in 2 at a time, got a little spicy when we started pulling them back out until the old bill turned up..

Being a spare steward from 10 mins in meant that I got moved around to some decent standpoints where needed depending on the game, sometimes on the tunnel, sometimes sat in front of the shrivvy road end.  I remember for the Liverpool game on Monday night live Sky (we got spanked 5-0?) i was put into the Shrivvy road end with the fans, so basically paid to stand with my mates :)