You’ll no doubt recall the football club issued a statement last month requesting all supporters under the age of 16 are accompanied by a responsible adult at the County Ground on a match day.
The move followed a number of incidents of vandalism at SN1 by a small section of our own fans, which included broken seats, damage to toilets and pitch invasions – all of which have cost the club a considerable amount of money.
After conducting a thorough investigation, evidence revealed this criminal behaviour was committed by a number of youths under the age of 16.
In order to combat the issue, we introduced increased safety protocols, requesting supporters in this age bracket were accompanied by a responsible adult.
This was a difficult decision for the football club, as the last thing we want to be doing is potentially turning fans away.
However, since introducing this policy we have seen behaviour greatly improve, which is a real positive, and for that we thank you all.
This was a topic raised at our recent Advisory Board with our supporter groups, and with the reduction in anti-social incidents in mind, we’ve decided to tweak our policy slightly.
From this weekend, we’ll be asking that Under-14s are accompanied by a responsible person, meaning under-16s can enter the County Ground on their own if they so wish.
We hope this improved behaviour and respect at SN1 continues and we don’t encounter any further issues of this kind again.
We’re committed to ensuring everyone that comes through our turnstiles can enjoy football in a safe and comfortable environment.
We’d like to take this opportunity to remind supporters and those visiting the County Ground that anyone caught damaging club property, carrying or using pyrotechnics, or invading the pitch, will be issued with immediate bans and could face criminal prosecution.
Please continue to come to our games and enjoy the experience, keep getting behind Scott and the players and let’s make this a memorable season we can all be proud of.
