RED BLUE ARMY FORUM

scholar1 · Lance Corporal

wavy flags banned at Oxford

FATBOY · Colonel

To be honest, things have always just gone well for us. We've never really had a problem until this season, when a new safety officer came in and began to slap tighter reigns on us. We're still pretty much allowed to do whatever we like, but aren't allowed to use poles at category A games...

If you can't bring poles in, start using other things to substitute flags on poles. Streamers are pretty cheap, so get some of them in for a bigger game, or even spread the word for people to bring bog roll for the game. It all counts. If you can't do one thing, do something else.

If you've got banners up, make sure they're your club colours. In my opinion, there's nothing worse than having a stand full of red and white St. George Crosses, with ALDERSHOT TOWN emblazoned across them. It's not hard to think of a banner design, and it's even easier to make them yourself. Keep your money in your pocket instead of giving it to BarmyFlags, aand make it yourself. You'lll get a lot more out of it that way.

And most of all, KEEP YOUR NOISE UP! Players may not always be looking towards the stand, but they can always hear you! Opposition don't always comment on colour, but you'll always see people on messageboards saying "good god, they were loud". The more people that feel like that, the more likely it is for other teams to follow on the footsteps of likeminded sets of fans.

Onwards and upwards!

scholar1 · Lance Corporal

http://www.oufc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10342~1554462,00.html

Flag Day

Posted on: Thu 12 Feb 2009

Following recent enquiries the football club has met with various supporters and representatives of supporters groups on the subject of flags and flagpoles at matches. We have also spoken to the football licensing association and other clubs and have been looking at ways to take a common sense approach to the use of flags on a matchday.

The club wants fans to build as much atmosphere as possible, and therefore flags will be permitted at matches, but the club does reserve the right , as with any object brought to matches, to change this if they are not used in an appropriate manner.

The club is also conscious that every supporter is entitled to an unobstructed view, and therefore a compromise is that flags will not be allowed to waved during play.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas said "The issue of flags on matchdays has been raised, and we have worked with fans to find a sensible solution. It is a big positive that we have more and more fans who want to create an atmosphere here at the ground on a matchday, and as long as everyone is respectful I don't see a problem with flags in the stadium."

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We have had some success. Just need to get the Conference to give us our 5 points back now to give us a good chance of the play-offs.

In case you weren't aware, Eddie Hutchinson wasn't properly registered with the conference this season even though he has been with us a few years now. The conference didn't notice this until a few months later and then deducted us 5 points for (i think) all the points we gained in games where he started until the error was noticed.

We think this is completely out of order and should have been picked up far earlier, or even before the first match he played.

Please sign the petition to give us (and Crawley and Mansfield and Bognor who also got caught out) their points back .

http://www.petitiononline.com/confpts/petition.html

Cheers and hope that league 2 treating you well.

-- Edited by scholar1 at 13:58, 2009-02-12

FATBOY · Colonel

Nice work regarding the flags. But it's not all about flags on poles, you know! Banners are a definite yes for colour, as they do not require any man power. The more of them you have around the stand, the better. Look then for other ways you can fill the ground with colour.

We've had excellent success with getting a small group of fans, and going on from there. Make yourself known, and even do what we do in introducting a membership scheme, and seeing what benefits you can give members, such as organising travel for them. That way, the group as one will be getting money for displays, and members will be getting something out of it. Even with a small group of 50 people, charging them a fiver and then offering them travel, for example to Cambridge for £15 from Oxford, would be massively discounting what the club would charge and more people become interested. Offer things that the club can't, and that is where you start to build a bigger membership group.

Got MSN? I'd be happy to have a chat with you over that.

scholar1 · Lance Corporal

Thanks for the advice Fatboy. I'm not on MSN.

One of our guys has made over 100 flags and banners which also makes the ground more colourful at home and away. The good thing is he doesn't really like doing the old George Cross red and white, so most flags are now yellow and blue. http://www.oxkits.co.uk/flags.htm

OUFC do have an open to all group called "Ultimate Yellows" which is supposed to be Ultras without the violence and racism. There is no membership fee, and it has its own website and facebook group. One of the problems it has is that several of the founders don't live in Oxford, so can't make all the games and it is difficult to get a hardcore of people when they are all travelling from different places. The club runs its own coach service for away travel, but other groups often do minibuses, depending on where in they county they live.

Also some fans see the UY as being an organised group of members like the RBA, when it isn't really. The message boards will ask if UY are doing a display or balloons or confetti or whatever, and the answer is usually - well bring your own if you want to do something. UY do try and pick a couple of games to ask people to make more effort at - Aldershot home last season, Crawley away etc, grounds where the oppo fans are good and the ground is suitable too.

More recently some younger kids (young teenagers - 13 to 15 i think) have set up a group which they call Giallo Esercito Ultra - which I think means yellow army ultras. They have exactly the same aims as the UY, but saw the UY as being mainly older guys (which is true) and I think wanted to do their own thing. Nonetheless, it has I think prompted the older fans to join in again, as the UY was dying through general apathy. People want things done but don't actually want to do anything themselves.

The other things (stewards excepted) which make things difficult is being in an all seater stadium with lots of seats in the best places already taken by season ticket holders. The ideal place to go is behind the goal, but the back and middle is taken by season ticket holders and at the front the stewards don't let you stand at all, and people complain if their view gets obstructed. The UY have tried meeting with the club to get an allocated block at the front, but I don't think it worked this season.

Anyway, we are all looking forward to today's home game against Barrow and I think will be a good atmosphere as we haven't had a game for 2 weeks now and everyone with big flags are taking them today.

Chappie · Major

I hope Oxford get back in the league as its always a good atmosphere when we play you. Sounds as if it would be even better now you have got more flags ect.