Bombers stamp out fun: fans

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

A strong police presence in Section S during Saturday's game meant short stacks of beer cups and beach balls were taken from fans.

Forget about throwing beer cups: Some Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans might start tossing their tickets after a game marked by what some call "overkill" security and an abrupt change to rules on beer sales.

While the Big Blue stomped the Edmonton Eskimos at last Saturday's game, many fans were watching security stamp out stacks of as few as three plastic cups, seize beach balls and send as many as 10 Winnipeg Police Service officers to patrol the most raucous sections of Canad Inns Stadium.

After the game, online forums and radio call-in shows exploded with comments from angry fans. On Sunday, one fan issued a press release headlined "Football fans treated like criminals," urging others to contact the team's head office.

On the official Blue Bombers forum, a discussion on "security issues" netted 150 comments by Wednesday morning, one of the busiest threads of the year. Some thanked the Bombers head office for its security efforts, but most expressed frustration with policies they say are poorly communicated and amount to a ban on having fun.

"If the amount of security that's there keeps going up, it wouldn't even be fun anymore," said Bomber fan Tracee Tesch, 23, who was at Saturday's game. "The amount of security there was absurd. There's way more security at the Bombers games than we have monitoring the North End of Winnipeg... and they're just on you in a second. People are there to watch the game and have fun. We should be more concerned about things happening in the city."

The police presence was heaviest in party-hearty Section S, but fans from across the stadium voiced similar displeasure.

Bombers diehard and Treherne resident Robert Jenkinson, 41, has been going to games "since the Dieter Brock days" of the early 1980s and "isn't a rowdy guy" in his north end-zone seats, he said. But on Saturday night, he was astounded as he watched security guards chasing a stack of beer cups "wipe out" two older ladies attempting to leave the game.

"They didn't even care. It was like Keystone Kops," said Jenkinson, who called in a complaint about the incident. "Oh, you got a beer cup? Let's go get him!"

Jenkinson said he also saw guards tear up a cardboard "Save the Beer Snake" sign held by a pair of kids about 10 years old. The experience affected his game day "dramatically," he said.

"It's way overboard. I've been to 14 Grey Cups, I've been to every CFL stadium except Hamilton, and I've never seen anything like it. The president of the Bombers (Jim Bell) was talking about not trying to alienate the fans... but at the game, it was all about alienating the fans.

"I hope it doesn't turn the youth off. I just want to see kids and students go to games... . That's the future of the Bombers."

Bell said security hasn't been ordered to act more aggressively, but has been "asked to be more diligent and more aware."

"I'm not going to lay that at the feet of security," Bell said of allegations security staff ripped up children's cardboard signs. "We need to address what is proper use of authority."

Bell couldn't say how many complaints the club has received about security since Saturday's game, saying only, "We've had complaints and compliments."

At a July 16 press conference, Bell said fans attempting to launch a beer-cup snake would be asked to "discontinue," but witnesses reported seizures of collectible-cup collections and game ejections on Saturday.

Another rule change saw the sale of jumbo beers restricted to one at a time, from two. But enforcement appeared to be haphazard: during the game, witnesses told the Free Press that some vendors had nonetheless sold two large drinks to customers, who then had one seized by security. Other fans said some people holding a beer for a friend during a bathroom break had the second beer seized.

Sitting in his upper-deck season-ticket seat, Jon Doherty noticed more people making beer runs, a flow of bodies that disrupted the game-watching experience.

"I think (Blue Bomber brass) really need to review whether the policies they've put in place are doing what they intend them to do," said Doherty, 24. "The one-beer-per-person rule is ridiculous to begin with. I'll just spend my money elsewhere... but if people are there to get drunk, they'll still just wait in line to get drunk, or get around (the rule) in other ways. The game-day experience has definitely gone downhill."

-- With file from Gary Lawless

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 29, 2010 B1