The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

You've got the ball boy gig this year mike ;)

Pigman wrote:You've got the ball boy gig this year mike ;)

If it ain't broke don't fix it.


the system works at the minute we don't need to change it and as 1 of the fully qualified stewards i don't think i should be leaving the ground especially as Jason is my sheep! ;)

I'm fed up of pussy footing around.

Last season we were charged by a few clubs, in not being able to control our crowds. The main reason for this, was that other clubs had not seen crowds like we had before, they were not used to the reaction of our crowds and felt intimidated, the same goes for a number of referees.

To defend these charges costs money and more time for certain members of the board in attending evening disciplinary meetings at the NFA. The fines table has been upgraded this season as well.

Some of our fans, and I fully appreciate their feelings, still think we are a league/Conference club, where certain actions from a crowd are ignored. In this league they are not!

Hence the reason for installing the tunnel to protect officials and players. I doubt that any other club in our league has issues regarding crowds. We are under scrutiny and as such have to be squeaky clean. The board are conscious of not being seen as a troublesome club, hence why we are considering the idea of paid stewards. This sends a message out to the UCL and the NFA, that we take any misdemeanour seriously.

Personally I have not seen a first half of any of our home games last season, I'm not looking for a medal, but just some understanding of what the volunteers have to lose our on making our club successful. I don't expect ever fan to turn up and do a job, and understand that some people just want to turn up and pay their many and go home, but if we can't be seen to be able to control our crowds, much of this valuable income will go to pay fines.

We are damned if we do and damned if we don't, deal with it sensibly people 8-)

Duke of Wimbourne wrote: We are damned if we do and damned if we don't, deal with it sensibly people 8-)

Totally agree with that post Duke, It's the sensible thing to do. Some people just like a good moan.

Trek wrote:

rudolph_hucker wrote:......but to alienate the stewards we already have by paying others and not them seems like a backward step.

I'm a volunteer and it won't alienate me. ;)

I'm a volunteer and it also won't alienate me, it's actually makes me feel better. Most of you have seen me; a big gust of wind could knock me down so having proper, qualified people around in case of aggro is great. I don't care if they're getting paid, they're doing a proper job and I'm not.

On a side note I think the Premier Inn car park is quite scenic, especially on cold Tuesday nights when peering underneath cars. ;)

I noticed in the accounts that we incurred some fines last season. What were they for?

More than 40 years ago I was the secretary of the "Rules Breaches Committee" for the Hastings and East Sussex Sunday Football League, and was able to wield unimaginable power over transgressing clubs. Oh how I miss those days!!!

50p......failure to provide corner posts/flags or a second match ball.
£1.00....late start or failure to return match day card within specified time.
£1.50 ....failure to supply a linesman
£5....for unfulfilled fixture.

And the ultimate......... Expulsion from the League for failure to pay fines or playing unregistered players.

After subscriptions my committee raised more money for the League each season than any other source of income!!

I never got elected to being on the Sussex County FA Disciplinary Board, having the power to punish individual players, they probably thought I was too soft!

sussexdiamond wrote:I noticed in the accounts that we incurred some fines last season. What were they for?

Yellow/Red cards I would believe which Dave Albon has already confirmed are deducted from players wages.

tech_head wrote:

Duke of Wimbourne wrote: We are damned if we do and damned if we don't, deal with it sensibly people 8-)

Totally agree with that post Duke, It's the sensible thing to do. Some people just like a good moan.

I love a good moan but only when it is justified. Next time I post something that I know will get the same backlash ill use my other name and see if that gets a similar response.

Which stewards were paid then Jim?

We had 2 guys come along to bolster the volunteers for the whitworths match, just in case. We were all grateful for them being there. I'm not going to be as available as I was last year and rob will be away as well for much of the year, so we're 2 down for many games already.

This may seem a little odd coming from me, but it doesn't matter if we have 1 steward or 100 stewards, the only way to control the crowd, is for the crowd to control themselves.

Personally, I don't think the extra stewards are needed, I think the current crop of volunteers do a fine job. But if they're being employed to give the volunteers more of a chance to catch the games then fair enough!

Crowd control isn't really an issue, I think most of the stewards will tell you most of their duties last year was fetching balls and being that visible person, that you can address with any query you may have.

Without those scumbags from over the fence I think we'll be fine this year (at home).