There is much talk in this esteemed publication of BELTS, indeed each copy comes with a warning on the front cover, such is the phenomenon of supporters of Bitter Ex League Teams moaning about the inconvenience of having to suffer non league football. However there is one aspect in which I would happily place former Football League clubs as streets ahead of many of their lesser peers in the National League, it's the treatment of away fans.
For some years now several traditional non league clubs with ideas above their station have treated away fans as at best an inconvenience and at worse a group to treat with active hostility. This was first noticed at Boreham Wood who in the National League South deemed away fans were not allowed in their clubhouse, soon followed in this policy by Eastleigh. I hasten to add that throughout this article I am not talking about a response to a specific incident or general reputation, I mean come on lads we’re from Maidenhead United!
Soon after Maidenhead’s promotion in 2017, Barnet decided to indulge in behaviour which was neither big nor clever, seeking to squeeze what was for once a sizeable Magpie following into as small a section of their massive stand behind the goal as possible, which led to people having to stand up due to lack of seats, a policy later copied by Aldershot as away supporters, who were confined to just one block of their railway side stand, could only look longingly at the vacant “away” section of the north bank to their right.
Having taken over 200 supporters to that first match at the Hive, the number of travelling Magpies to that fixture reduced to double figures for all the following fixtures. In response the Bees tea bar menu consisted of one item: a Pot Noodle!
Fortunately the above examples remained very much the exception until the last 18 months of our stay in the top tier of non league football. Sadly a wider pattern then began to emerge which led to a personal disillusionment with going to away matches, as it felt like things were back full circle to the awful 80s when I first started watching live football as an away fan.
A trip to Altrincham in February 2024 was in the main a great away day. Welcoming home fans and great local pubs topped off with a terrific win to kick start a successful relegation battle. However at the ground only one section was cash only, an away end which also failed to supply any hot food. Nevertheless there was enough money to pay thirteen stewards to watchfully monitor the forty odd away fans. Matters took a farcical turn at half time when the club secretary Neil Maskell wandered across the pitch to the away end to talk to some of the supporters. Standing at the front he beckoned a few down, who were instantly surrounded by stewards, such was the perceived threat to Neil even though we were winning!
In the reverse of Altrincham, Woking stewards were keen to search supporters' wallets to ensure the away end was wholly cashless. Supporters were able to sit or stand but could not switch between the two when it started to rain due to “regulations”.
A few weeks later a trip to Dagenham saw the Magpies stuck in one corner of the big stand behind the goal, despite having to walk past all the home fans to get to that block and freely mingling with them in the bar under the stand at half time. There was one red line that could not be crossed. Two elderly supporters, both in their 70s, pushed aside some of the black netting at the front of the stand so they could have a clear view of the pitch. Cue panic from the stewards who were clearly intent on forcibly moving the couple if they did not go quietly.
By the autumn of 2024 I had had enough. At Tamworth my 50 something friends and I were tracked by police from the station to the CAMRA pub of the year, presumably worried about notorious real ale hooligans. At Boston Reece Smith celebrated a tremendous goal which completed a 2-1 turn around by running towards the delirious Maidenhead supporters on the adjacent side terrace. As he did so, one fan made his way to the front, to embrace Reece, clearly remaining behind the barrier. He was jumped on by two stewards and was only prevented from ejection by the intervention of myself and another supporter.
The nadir was then reached at Sutton, a ground I had been to on numerous occasions over the previous twenty five years, always receiving a warm welcome, with no segregation and subsequently many a pint in their clubhouse. This time though it was a very different atmosphere at Gander Green Lane. Away supporters were directed to the far side of the ground, thoroughly searched and patted down, with no seats available. There was little incident in the first half or so we thought, until half time when the stewards randomly decided to eject two supporters. This was due to a report from the referee that the linesman had been unacceptably abused. Initial inquiries suggested this was racist in nature, which met with a quizzical look as the male official was the same ethnicity as the vast majority of the supporters. It was then revealed that he was upset at being called bald. As someone who is also follically challenged, I found this bizarre in the extreme. OK it's a bit of a pain having to take longer to wash your face in the morning but I manage to cope as a school teacher with the verbal barbs of my students without ejecting them from the class.
To add further context to the incident the touchline is quite some distance from the ‘shoebox’ terrace in this part of the ground. In no way were people able to lean over the touchline barrier and whisper sweet nothings in the lino’s ear. Still the stewards were clear they had to do something so with no idea of who actually unleashed this horrific abuse, they simply picked on a young man who they were confident they could physically intimidate into leaving early. For good measure they threw his dad out for trying to stick up for his son.
After the game I decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation of spending my Saturday afternoons putting up with this kind of atmosphere so I effectively stopped going to away matches for a while. Thus I missed a few weeks later Solihull stewards delivering an utterly confusing policy as to which parts of the away end supporters could or couldn’t stand in.
Towards the end of the season Maidenhead faced a winner takes all relegation battle at Wealdstone. This was one ground I had no hesitation in going to, even if it had been a meaningless end of season match. As expected, despite the tension on the pitch, supporters gathered together beforehand for a pre match drink in the clubhouse. The match itself was a frustrating 1-1 draw which pleased neither team, although there was no rancour on the terraces between supporters. So we all trudged back round from the away end to the bar only to be met by 7 (seven) officers of the law to see us off the premises. It must have been a good afternoon to be a shoplifter in Ruislip!
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