Important Message To RBB & All WSW Supporters
Myself (Benched), BigDukes, RBBKopite and JohnG met with the Club and FFA on Wednesday afternoon. We were asked to attend due to incidents that have taken place this year, such as the away derby (where several flares were thrown onto the pitch), CCM match (bottle incident) and the recent W-League match (flares and a pitch invasion).
We had a very open and frank discussion which lasted several hours. As of the conclusion of the meeting we have lost everything:
- Tifos.
- Oversized flags.
- Megaphones,
- Instruments.
These are privileges that we are allowed and we have now lost those privileges. It is up to us to earn back our privileges starting now. Our response and behaviour from this moment must be strong & unified.
It is only due to the continued efforts at building an open relationship with the club that we have any chance at all to reverse the situation.
The club is no longer able to decide whether or not we have our match day equipment. The club and the FFA can still have an influence on the police and stadium on our behalf. The ball is very much in our court now and the club & FFA have told us precisely what WE ALL need to do.
No anti-social behaviour is the overarching message here. Anti-social behaviour includes:
- Flares. They won’t be tolerated. It has been well and truly communicated to us that it is an absolute zero tolerance policy from here on in. Let’s face it guys, we’ve had a lot of flares and have got away with blue murder to date.
- Moshing on the terrace. The stadium will not tolerate the damage it causes and we should be mindful of the potential for injury not only to those involved but those around it, our fellow fans.
- Swearing through the megaphones or in chants is also considered as anti-social behaviour.
- Sneaky tifo’s such as confetti displays, receipt rolls, streamers etc. Everything must be above board & pre registered, assuming we are even allowed to do another tifo this season.
I ask you all to consider your actions on match day and understand that what we thought to be a heavy police presence in the past is nothing compared to what it will be now. The RBB is and always will be bigger than any one individual. Don’t be selfish and ruin it for the entire home end. Too much hard work has been put in by many, many, many people:
- Capo's expel so much energy to ensure we become THE BEST active supporters in the country.
- We have people spending many hours co-ordinating and producing our tifo’s, flags, banners, confetti etc.
- We have a great group of musicians who give us the atmosphere that makes us want to party for the full 90 minutes and show our pride and passion for our team.
- We have a very dedicated group of people behind the scenes co-ordinating marches, the club dialogue, match day activities, handling countless media requests and all manner of things which most of you would not know about.
- Lastly, but definitely not least, we have everyone who turns up on match day and gives their all in the support of our club.
I urge you all to take this very seriously.
The club and FFA both understand that our home end has grown more rapidly than any of us ever expected or hoped it would. They also understand that with rapid growth comes the challenge of managing a group that has grown from 40 guys & girls singing on a hill at Cook park into 2500 people (mostly) singing in the North Terrace at Parra stadium. We spoke about this at length, particularly regarding the frustration felt by a lot of RBB members at arriving from the march to see the active support bays filled with people who refuse to participate, sponges that absorb the atmosphere we create rather than join in making it even better.
Our ONLY chance at earning the ability to make a tifo for the next home derby is to prove that we can manage Bay 56, to show that we have a strong core of 340 RBB who understand what we are trying to achieve and will not screw it up for everyone else through selfish actions. A suggestion was made for us to obtain wristbands, and the concept works in two ways:
- We ensure that bay 56 is rock solid every week. Anyone without a wristband will NOT be allowed into the bay, and we have a promise from the club that security will enforce this on our behalf.
- If someone does misbehave, they won't be in bay 56 and won't be wearing a wristband which means the club, FFA and police will know that the person is not part of our core group and thus outside of our realm of responsibility.
We make no apologies for the length of this post or for the seriousness of the contents.
The RBB was founded as a democratic group and we urge everyone who stands & sings in the home end to exercise your democratic right of reply and have your voice heard.
Admin: Some modifications were made by me (Mack), to improve readability and formatting to promote this post to the frontpage. The message itself was not changed.
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