Monday afternoon, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will hold a news conference in conjunction with Winnipeg Police, to announce a radical new plan for the 2010 season. At least, it will be radical for some “football fans.”
This year, patrons who enter the stadium for any Blue Bombers game will not be allowed to leave and then return later. Instead, this season, if you leave the stadium, you’re gone. No pass out privileges allowed. It’s a move that’s sure to anger many Bomber fans, but it’s also a move that the Winnipeg Police Service believes is necessary to control the crowds –especially on the legendary East Side of Canad Inns Stadium — that are becoming increasingly drunk, rowdy and unmanageable.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with police about this issue and it’s been recommended to us that we no longer allow people to leave the stadium during the games and then return,” said Jeffrey Bannon, the Bombers marketing manager who has been the front man for this issue. “This isn’t something we ever wanted to do, it’s something we and the police believe we must do.
“Police have explained to us that people are leaving the stadium and bringing back materials they should be bringing back. There have been more incidents in recent years than police want to deal with and they’ve asked us to help them put a stop to it.”
Last year patrons got into a brawl with police and in another incident a man fell to his death. Police are spending far too much time arresting and simply trying to arrest people at Bomber games.
Those who frequent and comment on message boards have been clearly angered by this decision. But if you’re a football fan who just wants to watch football, it’s a decision that makes nothing but sense.
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