The Dart(s) Board

I am sorry to raise this subject again but I feel it is very important and repercussions of a wrong decision could be felt for a number of years
DFC made a snap decision due to the behaviour of a few youths that will affect many youths in thd future
This decision I believe could cost DFC as much as £7500 this season and four points. I believe a lively level of support could have seen us win two of the drawn home games since the new rules were put in place. The loss of £7500 could have been spent on the striker we have been looking for
Honestly the ground feels like a morgue much of the time
I would urge thd club to scrap the new admission rule or simply issue a free ID card to every 17 and under and allow them entry on their own at whatever the price is
Sometimes you just have to accept you have been wrong and do your best to right the wrong
If DFC have no interest in correcting this wrong I urge every 17 year old or younger to not fall out of love with the club and as soon as you are 18 come back and support the club and bring your drum and your voices

I’ve held off voicing any opinion on this up until now, but agree completely with Rambo. Whatever resolution has arisen from the ‘no U-18s’ rule (it may as well be), has dovetailed with a total dearth of atmosphere.
If it is too difficult to admit to an error, then give a fatuous ‘reason’ why something had to be done temporarily and let’s just get back to where we were on the terraces. Or dig in on principle and endure PP like we’ve [not] heard it throughout February.

Managed a 3500 crowd on NYD with no segregation and no trouble so surely the poorly conceived and rushed u18 policy should be scrapped until cool heads can come up with a better plan in the close season. These supporters are the future of the club!

The atmosphere at the last few home games has been very poor.

The stewards/clubs incompetence to be able to deal with a few troublemakers on an individual basis has led to them completely segregating an entire age group from our fanbase and now the matchday atmosphere is slowly fading away

I also believe in "the twelfth man" and think that we could've definitely won more points had we had even half the atmosphere we had at the Ebbsfleet/Welling games. Unfortunately that atmosphere is generated from the U18s who now clearly see it as more effort than it's worth to attend games.

I'm not sure what the exact attendance figures are but with barely over 1,000 against Oxford I'm sure we were averaging 1100-1200 earlier in the season, so we're losing up to 150 fans per game if not more.

Mark Sweet wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 8:21 pm The atmosphere at the last few home games has been very poor.

The stewards/clubs incompetence to be able to deal with a few troublemakers on an individual basis has led to them completely segregating an entire age group from our fanbase and now the matchday atmosphere is slowly fading away

I also believe in "the twelfth man" and think that we could've definitely won more points had we had even half the atmosphere we had at the Ebbsfleet/Welling games. Unfortunately that atmosphere is generated from the U18s who now clearly see it as more effort than it's worth to attend games.

I'm not sure what the exact attendance figures are but with barely over 1,000 against Oxford I'm sure we were averaging 1100-1200 earlier in the season, so we're losing up to 150 fans per game if not more.

I am conservatively working on loss of 100 fans x £5 x 15 games ( from when the new system started) = £7500 loss this season

I thought it was a knee jerk reaction at the time & still do!! But what can we as adult fans do?
Posts like Rambo’s could help to appease the situation but will anyone from the club respond??
Why even Oxford sang ‘Is this a library’ last week, that has to be the ultimate embarrassment??

It does seem the club are not interested in the younger element of our supporters, nothing from them on this subject for quite awhile, maybe the reason we are not signing players is because of the lost revenue.

Would be nice if someone from the club said something about as it is so obvious that the quietness is affecting the players and in turn will affect our play off hopes

I have nothing but respect for the people who run the club

I agree with the notion on here and I think it’s a lazy decision

One thing for sure the club will never admit they got this wrong and will defend this decision regardless ( if they are ever going to actually say something on it) if they have seen it doesn’t work and regardless what anyone else thinks.

Are any other clubs doing this? Living abroad, my views are without any info beyond what I read on here, but it feels as if the lack of atmosphere is an ongoing thing, and arrived with this decision by the club. Time to take a step back and return to how things were.

I said at the time that it was a massive own goal. How on earth can you ‘ban’ an entire element of your local social community? Just let them in, like other clubs do, and employ a stewarding system that is not afraid of confrontation and is prepared to do the job they’re there to do. And, to be honest, I never witnessed the ‘yoof’ get up to anything that I didn’t do fifty years ago! And I was never far away from them. The place IS like a library at the moment. There has been no ‘twelfth man’ since the Ebbsfleet games. I can make a noise, but not for long before my voice goes! And I like to ‘preserve’ it to express my dismay at the, now, seemingly accepted, dire officiating (and visiting goalkeepers adept in the dark arts of advanced shithousery.) Crowd management and conflict resolution are very specialist areas that require appropriate training and accurate recognition of when to implement PROPORTIONATE measures. Sadly, our stewards have absolutely no idea on all counts. Just take a close look next time you’re at PP.

Sleightly Deceptive wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 8:26 pm I said at the time that it was a massive own goal. How on earth can you ‘ban’ an entire element of your local social community? Just let them in, like other clubs do, and employ a stewarding system that is not afraid of confrontation and is prepared to do the job they’re there to do. And, to be honest, I never witnessed the ‘yoof’ get up to anything that I didn’t do fifty years ago! And I was never far away from them. The place IS like a library at the moment. There has been no ‘twelfth man’ since the Ebbsfleet games. I can make a noise, but not for long before my voice goes! And I like to ‘preserve’ it to express my dismay at the, now, seemingly accepted, dire officiating (and visiting goalkeepers adept in the dark arts of advanced shithousery.) Crowd management and conflict resolution are very specialist areas that require appropriate training and accurate recognition of when to implement PROPORTIONATE measures. Sadly, our stewards have absolutely no idea on all counts. Just take a close look next time you’re at PP.

I agree with you.
However, do you not think the stewards doing what they are told to do. Do you think there’s pressure on them to identify and stamp out any antisocial behaviour.
Personally I don’t blame them I blame whoever it is that sets out the stewards matchday plan and agenda.

Sleightly Deceptive wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 8:26 pm I said at the time that it was a massive own goal. How on earth can you ‘ban’ an entire element of your local social community? Just let them in, like other clubs do, and employ a stewarding system that is not afraid of confrontation and is prepared to do the job they’re there to do. And, to be honest, I never witnessed the ‘yoof’ get up to anything that I didn’t do fifty years ago! And I was never far away from them. The place IS like a library at the moment. There has been no ‘twelfth man’ since the Ebbsfleet games. I can make a noise, but not for long before my voice goes! And I like to ‘preserve’ it to express my dismay at the, now, seemingly accepted, dire officiating (and visiting goalkeepers adept in the dark arts of advanced shithousery.) Crowd management and conflict resolution are very specialist areas that require appropriate training and accurate recognition of when to implement PROPORTIONATE measures. Sadly, our stewards have absolutely no idea on all counts. Just take a close look next time you’re at PP.

They have not been banned they can sign up to a free membership so far between 40 and 50 have signed up they can come in accompanied by an adult or they can buy a season ticket so they have hardly been banned.I was wondering how many clubs at this level you have run?

40/50 are not turning up though are they?

M1 South wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:16 pm 40/50 are not turning up though are they?

Plenty there today can’t force them to turn up.

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:40 pm

M1 South wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:16 pm 40/50 are not turning up though are they?

Plenty there today can’t force them to turn up.

There was hardly any youngsters behind the goal today mate and the atmosphere was flat, AGAIN.
Shame as it was a good performance and a better atmosphere could be a great asset for any potential home games in the play offs.

I've got mixed views on this but at the moment nobody can deny it's had an adverse effect.

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:54 pm

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:40 pm

M1 South wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:16 pm 40/50 are not turning up though are they?

Plenty there today can’t force them to turn up.

There was hardly any youngsters behind the goal today mate and the atmosphere was flat, AGAIN.
Shame as it was a good performance and a better atmosphere could be a great asset for any potential home games in the play offs.

I've got mixed views on this but at the moment nobody can deny it's had an adverse effect.

But they haven’t been banned as SD claimed.

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:19 pm

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:54 pm

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:40 pm Plenty there today can’t force them to turn up.

There was hardly any youngsters behind the goal today mate and the atmosphere was flat, AGAIN.
Shame as it was a good performance and a better atmosphere could be a great asset for any potential home games in the play offs.

I've got mixed views on this but at the moment nobody can deny it's had an adverse effect.

But they haven’t been banned as SD claimed.

What's that got to do with anything i said??

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:23 pm

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:19 pm

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:54 pm

There was hardly any youngsters behind the goal today mate and the atmosphere was flat, AGAIN.
Shame as it was a good performance and a better atmosphere could be a great asset for any potential home games in the play offs.

I've got mixed views on this but at the moment nobody can deny it's had an adverse effect.

But they haven’t been banned as SD claimed.

What's that got to do with anything i said??

Nothing I was pointing out that SD said the under 18s were banned.

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:34 pm

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:23 pm

BRASSNECK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 7:19 pm
But they haven’t been banned as SD claimed.

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

Whoever said what and when the fact is ITS NOT WORKING and I hope we don’t lose them to another club if we haven’t already