English Football League takes no action over ‘bra searches’ for female away fans

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Of course they have a choice. If you went to Motherwell today and a steward asked you to drop your trousers so he could search you outside, are you saying you would do it because otherwise you would end up detained at a police station?

If I were asked to do that I would know I was in trouble and - honestly - I wouldn't quite know how to respond.

I wouldn't co-operate, but I would expect the police to be involved immediately, either to deal with the steward or to deal with me. Those women at Stevenage were clearly placed in a threat situation and they should not have been, and to suggest that they were somehow at fault for co-operating is to miss that point entirely.

[Bostonhibby]

I've been to Stevenage quite a few times down the years and I always did and still do regard it as like visiting a non league club, everything about them feels that way. On the stewarding in particular I found this one hard to fathom as there's normally the sort of stewarding that you see at games at that level, not a lot of it, amateur and unobtrusive.

I am guessing they thought there was a reason to police the Grimsby fans differently (?) in my limited experience of the fishy people at Boston and Lincoln they certainly do travel in bigger numbers and are a noisy lot, certainly noisier than I've ever heard at Stevenage but they weren't in any bother that I've seen at what were local derbies.

On this particular issue I think Stevenage have f'd up big style - there's absolutely no excuse for this type of searches - and the authorities are doing the usual and making their initial attempt at sweeping it under the carpet and hoping it will go away.

[BoomtownHibees]

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If I were asked to do that I would know I was in trouble and - honestly - I wouldn't quite know how to respond.

I wouldn't co-operate, but I would expect the police to be involved immediately, either to deal with the steward or to deal with me. Those women at Stevenage were clearly placed in a threat situation and they should not have been, and to suggest that they were somehow at fault for co-operating is to miss that point entirely.

I’ve never once suggested they were in any way to blame. Yes I maybe made a silly remark calling the steward “tits” but it was meant to be light-hearted which I appreciate wasn’t taken like that by a few on here.

The stewards were 100% to blame but as you say yourself above, if you are asked to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing, you don’t “need” to do it. Getting the police involved there and then should have been the way to go

[Phil MaGlass]

Strange I always thought if women were being searched it would have been done by a female steward.Maybe the issue should have been reported to the police and not the League.Also demeaning to women having to pull up their tops in front of many people. Again should be reported to police

[Keith_M]

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Surely it’s illegal to ask a woman to lift up her top. ...

I was thinking that as well. Surely this is a criminal offence.


Stevenage FC certainly didn't do themselves any favours by continually insisting this was acceptable.

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I’ve never once suggested they were in any way to blame. Yes I maybe made a silly remark calling the steward “tits” but it was meant to be light-hearted which I appreciate wasn’t taken like that by a few on here.

The stewards were 100% to blame but as you say yourself above, if you are asked to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing, you don’t “need” to do it. Getting the police involved there and then should have been the way to go

Yup - sorry, I overreacted.

What I'm saying though is that with the changes in the law to cope with terrorism (which seem to be pretty unsuccessful in preventing terrorist attacks if the past summer's anything to go by) it's no longer clear what exactly one's legal rights are in a situation as described.

And the root of the problem is that police and clubs see and treat football audiences as low-life potential criminals from the start. Put on a football scarf and you're guilty until proven innocent.

[silverhibee]

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Surely it’s illegal to ask a woman to lift up her top. The police would never be allowed to do that, so I don’t see how a steward at a football game would be allowed to do it. It’s just another case of football fans being treated like animals.

Why did females allow this to happen, why did male fans allow this to happen, f/:;ing mental, why did these women and parents with kids not report this to the police at the time, stewards must be acting illegally doing this, I'm amazed that women even agreed to lift there top up when asked to by the stewards, they should have been straight to the police and refused the searches.

[silverhibee]

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Really? You think they'd have a choice? Refuse the first demand to search them, and try to leave the scene, and the police would probably step in and detain them, take them to a police station, and they would be searched there.

It's not optional when stewards and police decide to search you at the approach to a football ground these days.

You think the police have the powers to search females in public, no chance, the police should have put a stop to it straight away.

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You think the police have the powers to search females in public, no chance, the police should have put a stop to it straight away.

No, no. They can't do it in public - I know that. That's why I said "go to a police station" (which for most folks is scary indeed). Airport security have to provide privacy for security checks. But in the present atmosphere some police and auxiliaries like those stewards are prone to push their luck and exceed their authority.

I totally agree with you, silver - maybe not expressed myself properly - the police should have stopped this nonsense at Stevenage right away. The women should have demanded that the stewards identify themselves (they should be showing a collar number) and then demanded that police officers be called. I would think that the stewards involved were guilty of indecent assault at the least?

Bunch of pocket Hitlers.

[silverhibee]

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If I were asked to do that I would know I was in trouble and - honestly - I wouldn't quite know how to respond.

I wouldn't co-operate, but I would expect the police to be involved immediately, either to deal with the steward or to deal with me. Those women at Stevenage were clearly placed in a threat situation and they should not have been, and to suggest that they were somehow at fault for co-operating is to miss that point entirely.

Sorry Doddie but if a steward asked me to drop my keggs he would be on the floor, that would give the police the option to then deal with it, are you really saying that these women and parents never had a choice, of course they did.

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Sorry Doddie but if a steward asked me to drop my keggs he would be on the floor, that would give the police the option to then deal with it, are you really saying that these women and parents never had a choice, of course they did.

Sorry, I'm not expressing myself clearly. Of course they had a choice, but I think that these days people feel more threatened, more bullied and more wary of standing up to someone in authority, and that the authorities aren't above taking liberties, and taking advantage of this nervousness.

People don't know what exactly their rights are these days - that's what I'm saying - and because of that officious wee jobsworths can take advantage and abuse their power as happened here.

And I'm with you man - I drop my breeks for nobody, and I want to know who I'm speaking to in all situations. One thing which had occurred to me was whether those stewards were displaying their identification numbers clearly, or whether those numbers were covered by their high-vis gear. If the numbers weren't visible, that's another abuse.

And yes, if some spotty kid playing Rentacop demanded I drop my breeks, he would experience the holy ordinance of the laying on of hands, which is know frequently to leave the recipient horizontal and unconscious ....

"What happened here?" "Power of the Holy Spirit, officer. Just came out of nowhere."