Under 18 fans

KentC
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by KentC »

And the club will not admit it to save face
BRASSNECK
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by BRASSNECK »

Park Life wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:45 pm
BRASSNECK wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:34 pm
Park Life wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:23 pm

What's that got to do with anything i said??
Nothing I was pointing out that SD said the under 18s were banned.
Churchill once said "we shall fight on the beaches"
Absolutely nothing at all to do with what you said mate but i thought i'd point it out for you :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Doing my politician impression answering a different question to what I was asked.🤣
BRASSNECK
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by BRASSNECK »

KentC wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:47 pm And the club will not admit it to save face
Admit what nearly 50 have signed up maybe the ones not signed up are the troublemakers.
M1 South
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by M1 South »

Doesn’t matter how many sign up mate! We need them to turn up!! x
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Sleightly Deceptive
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by Sleightly Deceptive »

Banned. (“ban” was in single inverted commas for a reason.) Deterred. Dissuaded. Whatever, they ain’t turning up in their droves and creating an atmosphere. The place is a flat as a witches tit! And that’s down to questionable decision making upon high. Oh, I’ve not run any clubs. Do I need to have done to express an opinion?
Hitchin Dart79
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by Hitchin Dart79 »

Scrap it, ask the stewards to do some stewarding, and sort it out in the summer hopefully post a glorious play off run! The atmosphere is very flat!
Jack Smedley
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by Jack Smedley »

Hi all

I was made aware yesterday that you were talking about this particular subject on here and I wanted to try and clear a few things up. As said before personnel from the club including me do not visit the forum but if anyone has questions or feedback on things please email me on jack@dartfordfc.com and I will happily answer them. Alternatively although I don't know you all by your usernames, I'm sure you will see me around and can mention the things you have mentioned on here to me in person.

I understand peoples mixed views on this but hopefully i can give you some background and context to the decision that we took in November.

This wasn't a knee jerk reaction as someone said, the talk on how we could manage the noticeable youth element that had started to appear behind the goal started the season before where we had incidents of violence between supporters and opposing supporters, coins & bottles being thrown onto the pitch , flares, pitch invasion, complaints from other people about language and behaviour, something we hadn't seen in seasons before in such regularity. Whilst we appreciate there was a range of people to blame for this, it was clear that a group of supporters had appeared and were causing issues as well as offering great vocal support.
After the pre-season friendly against Millwall in july which had to have the police enter the stadium, we had to go to a meeting with Kent Police to discuss the issues. This group had organised potential trouble with Millwall fans , and it wasn't just in the stadium there were problems. Train stations and routes to the ground the police were having to deal with disorder at the Millwall game and other games. It was identified by Kent Police due to intelligence they had that there was a particular group of youths that were Charlton supporters who when Charlton were not at home were coming to our games. At this point we decided to increase our steward numbers at an obvious cost to the club, with a heavier presence amongst people behind the goal and on the pitch. However there is only so much stewards can do regulation wise with people u17 years old, they cannot be searched before entering the ground and although they could be removed, the youth element behind the goal it seemed were deliberately causing issues, to film it on their phones and making it very difficult for the stewards who didn't feel safe carrying out the action. Often threatened by adults around the group for touching the children. Once removed the kids were not providing correct details for themselves or their parents. As you will be aware Children of that age are the clubs responsibility whilst in the ground if they are by themselves and im sure some parents don't know what their children are up to whilst at games.

Whilst at the meeting with the police, they mentioned a scheme that Maidstone had set up which had really helped their issues with their youth group. At the time we wanted to try extra stewards but then in November decided to introduce the very similar scheme. It was designed to not stop anyone from coming which it hasn't but for people to provide their details and their parents details. Therefore if we identified any issues with someone we would have their membership card, season ticket to contact their parent regarding this, or their responsible adult would be in the ground with them. We believed that any genuine Dartford supporters would have no issues signing up to a season ticket or membership card in the knowledge they were not here to potentially cause trouble. What it would do is filter out anyone not willing to give details of their parents or themselves or potentially a supporter of another club just here to cause trouble. Since the scheme has started we have actually not turned anyone away from the ground, the stewards have been instructed to send anyone without any of the 3 entry requirements to reception, where we have rang the parent up, told them about the free membership scheme and told them to sign up to it before the next home game and allowed their child in for that game.
The Ebbsfleet game we obviously realised that due to the locality of both clubs we could not identify away supporters and unlike other away teams where u17 are very unlikely to travel a long distance without an adult, they would in this case. We implemented a one off form for all youths parents to fill in. We believe doing this meant the supporters not willing to provide details did also not attend but a lot more did for a local derby which was good and everyone was well behaved.

I understand the view of someone who said we must be losing money every game etc.... but knowing these youths only attended when Charlton were away from home, meant it wasn't every home game of ours. We also had to look at the extra costs of stewards, the potential of fines from the FA for things reported by the referee , which far outweigh the admission revenue potentially lost. Also the experience for supporters in the ground especially those with young children who were telling us they were not enjoying the atmosphere.
The atmosphere does seem quieter but I don't believe this is all down to one factor, the attendance in general is slightly down across all the age ranges. The two games where this has been brought up was a loss to Hemel and a 0-0 with Oxford. Both games that might not of caused a great atmosphere due to circumstances on the pitch.

Like all procedures we will review them in the summer break and announce things when we do season tickets. We haven't stopped any supporters from coming and that certainly wont change going forward. Of course we want to encourage future supporters of Dartford and we will always look at ways to do that but without compromising peoples safety and enjoyment of the matches.
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Sleightly Deceptive
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by Sleightly Deceptive »

Thanks Jack for taking the time to go into such a detailed response. I just hope they come back to us and not one of our rivals. The youngsters today are the club of tomorrow.
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MickW
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by MickW »

Why doesn't everyone that misses an atmosphere in the ground create one instead of depending on a bunch of kids. Buy your self a drum, a vuvuzala or a tin whistle start making a noise and we might all join in.
M1 South
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by M1 South »

Or just kick the shite out of them!
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MickW
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by MickW »

:D :D :D :D
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DA Mikey
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by DA Mikey »

As usual, far more than meets the eye to this. Many have inferred ‘kids cause some bother; kids banned; atmosphere decimated’, so do appreciate Jack taking the time to come on here and provide some details surrounding the decision to request ID cards for U-18 entry.
It shouldn’t be beyond us as a group of supporters to create some songs and chants. I’ve wondered throughout this season why “Alan Dowson’s black & white army” hasn’t been rolled out? The name scans perfectly well.
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MickW
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Re: Under 18 fans

Post by MickW »

Its a bit grim if all us old blokes just stand and moan about the lack of atmosphere - maybe if we moaned a bit loader someone would start singing to shut us up.
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