It appears that not only Hereford United supporters (as in the photo) have been on the wrong end of some heavy handed stewarding at Stockport County.
This afternoon Southend were the visitors to Stockport and if the following report from Shrimpers Online is accurate then questions need to be asked. Stockport won the game 3-1.
By all accounts, trouble started when more visiting supporters turned up than the home side were expecting and this led to insufficient seats being provided, and our fans were having to stand in an all seater stadium.
As the first half wore on, the stewards began ejecting fans indiscriminately and without apparent reason, which led to other fans getting involved as they would naturally leap to the defence of the innocent parties. Even members of family parties were picked on and removed from their seats in an apparently senseless and hostile act reminiscent of complete and total dereliction of duty.
In one confirmed report, a young female Shrimper was forcibly removed from her seat by her hair by a male steward, and he had to be removed from where she was seated by several Shrimpers for such a shameful and cowardly act. As a member of the security team at Roots Hall, I have had to deal with unruly fans before, but never in 16 years, have I heard of such stories about members of my profession and I am horrified that such behaviour has been allowed at a professional football club.
The individual involved in causing actual bodily harm to the young lass, refused to give his name and his jacket had no form of identification that would differentiate his role from the next steward and whilst he apologised for his behaviour, this is not the kind of person who should be given the duty of handing public safety and must be removed from his duties as a steward. The scenes were so shameful, that a number of Shrimpers asked to leave the ground... disillusioned with what they had seen and that's an awful long way to go, only to be walking the streets of Cheshire rather than their beloved Southend.
It is understood that a formal complaint will be submitted when SOL.1 returns home and I would hope for the sake of everyone, that these stewards are bought to account for their activities today. I would urge anyone who witnessed the scenes up at Stockport County, to provide full and frank details of what they saw along with a timeline of the events so that we can put an end to the unjustified behaviour of these stewards.
Hereford United play at Stockport on January 31st.