Mask wearing/drunks in your block at IAW

[august04 2.0]

I understand the frustration as I have had to speak to people about their language in front of my 9 year old daughter. To be fair they have always apologised and refrained but Im sure there are some so drunk they will just carry on.
However I think its a bit unfair to suggest that Todd or the owners want to put profit before the regular fans. Drunken assholes swearing are a problem everywhere. There is no need to stop or limit alcohol sales. This is not 1920s America. Many people like being able to buy a beer at the bar, in the main arena or at the cafe but they drink responsibly.
The problem has to be dealt with by security with a tolerance level set by Todd and the owners. Its good that this thread is bringing awareness of the problem. We know that the Steve/Todd read this forum and try to fix things if fans are unhappy.
I would also encourage people to ask the stewards to get security if they see unacceptable behaviour and call them back again if it carries on. Security are a small team covering a big area but if they hear multiple complaints about the same people Im sure they will eject them.
I remember some drunken twat causing trouble at a Wales international once. The whole block shouted for the police to come over, which they did and ejected him. The crowd then celebrated by throwing his stupid hat around the crowd (which had got knocked off when an annoyed fan punched him).
Fan power is the answer.

It doesn’t have to be like 1920's America. I believe at football matches, the bars are closed while the game is in play. They don’t have this problem. We’ve gone down the same path as the WRU (blissful ignorance while raking in the beer money) and there have been many calls for similar action in the rugby stadium because of this drunken behaviour - it's become the worlds biggest pub. It’s simple - close the concession stands for alcohol sales while the game is on. If people want to buy drinks, go get them in the period breaks (probably won’t eliminate the problem but would hopefully reduce it). Or stay in the bar and watch the screens if they’re on. It would stop a lot of people going back and forth while the game is on too, which is an absolute ball ache.

 

[Swarley]

However I think its a bit unfair to suggest that Todd or the owners want to put profit before the regular fans.

No one has said that in this thread at all, at most it's been said Todd's announcements have fallen on deaf/drunken ears, or security and stewards are coming up against a hard task of dealing with them.

If anything I think it's unfair that you assumed that people who are voicing concerns are taking a dig at Todd or the club when no one has.

 

[E.D.S.]

I think people are right behind Todd and his teams efforts to make things better. When Todd did his announcement about the importance of wearing masks he got quite the reception. Huge round of applause. People want to hear this from him and they want it enforced. I firmly believe it would be the same if he announced about 'no swearing' and 'no getting up during play' a bit more often. The language i heard saturday night was disgusting.

 

[Kevlar68]

However I think its a bit unfair to suggest that Todd or the owners want to put profit before the regular fans

No one has suggested this.
The suggestion is assholes over hockey fans.
They don't care about the game, they don't know a single rule, they don't respect the arena rules, they don't respect the stewards and they don't respect the Devils fans.
Its a piss up event for them, not an experience.
Maybe they've been watching Netflix and seen the Danbury Trashers documentary and think that is what they're going to get. If you've never been to a Devils game your not going to realise that isn't the game.

 

[moggy#9]

I think what these issues demonstrate is a lack of effective stewarding. It's no good sending teenage girls out to enforce the rules with a bunch of drunken assholes. I wouldn't want hockey to end up with rugby level idiocy or football level hooliganism.

I read an article this morning about a doctor reporting the millennium centre for lack of mask compliance. I'm surprised that's not happened with IAW.

 

[Swarley]

I think what these issues demonstrate is a lack of effective stewarding. It's no good sending teenage girls out to enforce the rules with a bunch of drunken assholes. I wouldn't want hockey to end up with rugby level idiocy or football level hooliganism.

I read an article this morning about a doctor reporting the millennium centre for lack of mask compliance. I'm surprised that's not happened with IAW.

Give it time, it's definitely coming and our luck is going to run out, and then everyone will be pointing fingers.

I do feel that there needs to be more stewards, the young girl by me does a fantastic job but coming up against a drunk muppet I feel like security should be positioned along side a steward that way of they don't listen to the steward the next step is getting ejected out by the security.

Saturday was a wake up call for the club, owners and fans/casuals who think rules don't apply after a few pints, Todd and the others will do something about this issue I just hope it isn't left too late.

 

[BostonBart22]

It didnt help with a 45 minute delay of face off, no fault of the club, but that gave these muppets extra 45 mins to drinkmore..

 

[Wannabe2]

No one has accused our great owners of putting profits before fans, Jesus if anything it’s the other way around and all fans know that, these guys always put us first and I believe that will always be the case. We will never forget that our owners are also like us fans first. I believe steps will be taken to ensure our place will be a safe and sensible venue to visit, as it has always been in the past.

 

[E.D.S.]

No one has accused our great owners of putting profits before fans, Jesus if anything it’s the other way around and all fans know that, these guys always put us first and I believe that will always be the case. We will never forget that our owners are also like us fans first. I believe steps will be taken to ensure our place will be a safe and sensible venue to visit, as it has always been in the past.

Yeah, couldn't agree more. I don't think I've come across a more customer/fan centric ownership group than ours. Much more accessible to us as fans, they take accountability and front up when there are issues.

 

[august04 2.0]

Let’s not pretend this a new issue though and what’s been done about it to date? Saturday was a step too far and absolutely disgusting, but these large drunken groups were causing chaos pre Covid too.

 

[E.D.S.]

I don’t know which group you’re referring to but surely the more that speak up about it the more chance we have of something being done about it. I’ve had really rose tinted glasses when it comes to hockey being family centric. I even boast of it to friends who talk about the language at football matches when they take their kids. I brought those friends to a game pre covid with their kids and they heard the bad language too. Really disappointing but I chalked it off as being unfortunate and uncharacteristic of the hockey but this weekend was a whole new level.

 

[Wannabe2]

But there wasn’t a mask issue then which is a subject of argument, and we didn’t play a lot of Saturday games then which is causing the majority of problems.

 

[august04 2.0]

I don’t know which group you’re referring to but surely the more that speak up about it the more chance we have of something being done about it. I’ve had really rose tinted glasses when it comes to hockey being family centric. I even boast of it to friends who talk about the language at football matches when they take their kids. I brought those friends to a game pre covid with their kids and they heard the bad language too. Really disappointing but I chalked it off as being unfortunate and uncharacteristic of the hockey but this weekend was a whole new level.

Those days are gone I’m afraid. Saturday nights at IAW are not for kids anymore from what I see every week.
Perhaps there is a better way of communicating with security about these problem groups and where they are located. It’s often not easy to find anyone, sightings of the security team are few and far between. And it can be very obvious if you report this kind of behaviour to a steward. Christ, these plonkers are abusing stewards, you could easily get your face smashed in if they think you've grassed them up and got some of them thrown out.

 

[Kevlar68]

Due to me running and owning bars and clubs its very hard for me not to confront these people as that's what i've always had to do with drunks in the past and if i did it could be at the cost of my season ticket. It's a real difficult situation for me to sit back and see.

 

[Swarley]

Due to me running and owning bars and clubs its very hard for me not to confront these people as that's what i've always had to do with drunks in the past and if i did it could be at the cost of my season ticket. It's a real difficult situation for me to sit back and see.

You ain't alone bud, I'm an ex door supervisor, I'm always spotting these people before most do and it takes a lot of self control to not go and tell them to sit down shut up or get out.

 

[Wannabe2]

Due to me running and owning bars and clubs its very hard for me not to confront these people as that's what i've always had to do with drunks in the past and if i did it could be at the cost of my season ticket. It's a real difficult situation for me to sit back and see.

It’s a real difficult situation for any Devils loving fan to sit back and see, I also would confront these arseholes who are dragging our club down it’s like hitting a family member, I could also end up in trouble and at 72, although feeling like 21 on matchnight it might not be the best course to take, although sometimes logic goes out of the window.

 

[Earnie]

The first course of action is to bring the offending persons to the attention of security.
(not the young stewards who are doing their best to monitor their section)

 

[E.D.S.]

You ain't alone bud, I'm an ex door supervisor, I'm always spotting these people before most do and it takes a lot of self control to not go and tell them to sit down shut up or get out.

...and that's the issue. We go in to 'self policing' this and we are in trouble. That's what happened to me. There's no way I wanted a young steward to step in and try. It's not right so I had a word and it got confrontational.

I don't see this as a lost cause. Some sensible interventions could nip this in the bud. Whilst the lay out is all different to the NIC (in the sense that the stewards look up to the crowd during stoppages so are facing the fans) and the stewards there are completely the anti fun police but i do admire how professional and serious they take their role. That isn't to say ours aren't professional but I felt very uncomfortable on Saturday night and I can safely say Ive never felt like that at the hockey.

 

[moggy#9]

Those days are gone I’m afraid. Saturday nights at IAW are not for kids anymore from what I see every week.
Perhaps there is a better way of communicating with security about these problem groups and where they are located. It’s often not easy to find anyone, sightings of the security team are few and far between. And it can be very obvious if you report this kind of behaviour to a steward. Christ, these plonkers are abusing stewards, you could easily get your face smashed in if they think you've grassed them up and got some of them thrown out.

But I thought that the point of the Saturday games was making it easier for kids to attend without them having to be up for school the next day. It seems to me we've swapped one reason for them not being able to attend for another.

If the stewards can't handle the situation, a quick call to plod and have the culprits spend a night in the cells to sleep it off.

 

[Slartibartfast]

No one has said that in this thread at all, at most it's been said Todd's announcements have fallen on deaf/drunken ears, or security and stewards are coming up against a hard task of dealing with them.

If anything I think it's unfair that you assumed that people who are voicing concerns are taking a dig at Todd or the club when no one has.

Maybe its how I interpreted then but "That's what happens when you prioritise bar sales instead of looking after your regulars though. " sounds like the Devils management were being blamed, hence my defence of them.