Having some fat bloke bark 'sit' at you like a bloody dog just as your team breaks the defensive line isn't my idea of fun.

Party Popper Poopers
Example: It's pseudo-traditional to celebrate big games with party-poppers, balloons and ticker tape and one long-standing Hornets fan in his forties obliged at last year's Law Cup game by bringing 100 party poppers to make the game go with a bit of a bang. No sooner had we got them out of the bag than every steward within radioing distance had decended, attempting to confiscate the party poppers because they were "...fireworks , a fire risk and a safety hazard ...". Attempts at logical argument ("they're designed for indoor use, so how can they be more dangerous outdoors?") failed and it needed the intervention of the ground safety officer and a staunch refusal to hand them over to make the stewards go away and leave us alone.

Flare-up
Three weeks later, the ill-educated hordes from Leigh decended in huge numbers. The stewards - like all bullies - found themselves outnumbered and under threat and so kept a profile lower than Gail Platt's chin. Then came the clincher. Some cretin from Leigh set off a distress flare in the Sandy Lane stand. Not enough that they'd been allowed to get it into the ground, but did our protectors rush in and start ejecting those responsible? Ah! They waited until it had burnt itself out and then ambled over there to put in a cursory appearance. No action, no ejections. Not quite so bolshy in the face of a thousand fired-up Leigh supporters, it seems.

Any more and you're out
TLCRF80mins understands that stewarding is, ultimately a thankless task, but if it's necessary then those doing it should be made to understand that stewarding by consensus makes much more sense than stewarding by suppression. It doesn't take a genius to work out that threatening to throw out the hard core of the home support isn't such a sensible idea -especially when that core has been 'safely' watching Hornets around the country for 30-odd years.

Sitting ducks
It's bad enough having to deal with these jobsworths at the moment, but now the Wilbutts Lane stand is sadly all seater, it'll just give them another stick to beat us with. I bet they can't wait.

Though Hornets' travelling fans have met all sorts of intimidating, overzealous and downright stupid stewards over the years (hello Featherstone), our very own here at Spotland surpass all others for yellow coated idiocy.

Search me?

Now, we all know that they are 'just doing their jobs', but we at least expect them to do it consistently. If sports ground legislation dictates that the carriage of alcohol is not permitted then they are within their rights to check supporters for cans or bottles. But it's when they search old ladies' handbags and children's prams, but let 2,000 visiting supporters bring in the contents of a small off-licence, you've got to ask questions.

Hard Core Uproar

It seems that Spoland's stewards are - like all bullies - only hard when the odds are in their favour. Hornets aren't the best supported team in the land and the small group of Wilbutts Lane stalwarts who would turn up come hell or high water are the club's lifeline. Why is it then that the stewarding fraternity take every opportunity to a) pick on them and b) threaten to throw them out if they don't comply with this week's pointless whim?