The Brentford Community stadium ‘Family Stand’ is a segregated section of the stadium where families with small children can buy tickets and enjoy watching a match, in order to separate young children from the sometimes-raucous behaviour and explicit language of London football culture. Here, tickets are sold at a cheaper, fairer price to consequently attract a new target audience and to bring these young fans to the new stadium to watch live football. 

 

Due to these low-ticket prices, and a lack of availability for normal tickets, there has been many reports of men and women without children purchasing family stand seats. Clearly breaching the rules, these people clearly have no shame and seem to do anything to catch a glimpse of their team playing live. 

 

Seeming understandable for these people to do this, it raises the question ‘is the community side of football gone?’. Statistics from the 2021/2022 season tell us that the average ‘Family Stand’ season ticket is over £135 cheaper than that of a seat situated in the infamous ‘West Stand’. This displays a cheaper alternative for those hoping for a Brentford season ticket despite its strictly family policy. While security seems to be so severe at football stadiums in today’s age, it can be argued about how lacklustre the enforcement on this rule is. 

 

Frederick Walden, who commonly sits in the family stand comments on the manor and actions of people in the stand itself. 

“I feel as if there is a large contrast between the people you find within it […] I think something needs to be done to crack down on the implementation of the rule that states only families are allowed in the family stand”

 

Not only has this issue been occurring at the Brentford Community Stadium, but at football arenas and grounds up and down the UK. As a Brentford fan myself, and along with the opinions of many other Brentford fans too, there is  a sense of imminence that something needs to be done about this ongoing issue; It can ruin the footballing experience for many far and wide.