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Central East Terrace
BFCSA Statement

07 September 2008

On Monday the 18th of August, five members of the BFCSA committee met with Barnet Chairman Tony Kleanthous to discuss the issue of segregation on the East Terrace at Underhill.

For some time, the Supporters Association committee had felt that some changes were necessary, sentiments that had been echoed by many of the members, and in light of some unfortunate incidents that had occurred over the past few seasons, the committee felt it was time to discuss a way forward that would enable fans of both Barnet and their opponents to watch the game in comfort.

In a meeting taking over three hours, many ideas and proposals were discussed with Tony and PR consultant Dennis Signy, who has been an integral cog in the communication wheel in the run up to the meeting, with Tony being very open and clear about many issues surrounding reasons why certain ways of segregation would be inadequate for fan security.

The seven man team discussed differing sizes of attendances from small away followings to large sell out cup crowds. We put the latter scenario to one side for the time being as it was seen that we should concentrate fully in the short term on the next few home games against Brentford, Morecambe and Accrington Stanley.

The Association Committee had looked into a number of options before the meeting, with the final proposal being an extension of the segregated area to around 15 metres, with a black mesh netting added as a buffer zone.

However, it was decided that in actual fact, the permanent steel and roped segregation that was in place has proved very effective in providing a suitable gap between fans. Tony told us that he in fact got the inspiration for this type of segregation from the old Wembley Stadium. Tony also stated that having a large area of the East Terrace closed for the majority of games could lower capacity, and obviously, less supporters would then be able to use that section of the ground, and if we got a large away following, that could mean the club losing out financially. He also explained that in the event that the added segregation was removed and there was crowd trouble, there would be serious questions asked as to why this had happened.

In the event of a large crowd, it was decided that the North Terrace and, in extreme circumstances, the North West Terrace, would remain as emergency over spill areas for away fans.

A number of ideas were brought to the table by all those in attendance, from a glass wall, to a Perspex sheet, but it was decided that the best course of action would be to research the use of a ultra thin net that would not only stop anything being thrown from one side to the other, but also leave the views from both sides completely unhindered.

It was decided that both parties would research types of netting that could be used with top priority, and that as an emergency measure for the intervening games, extra stewarding would be added to both sides of the central segregation to discourage any poor behaviour from either side, a job the BFCSA committee feels was done to a very high standard against Brentford on Saturday.

The Club and the BFCSA members agreed to convene again soon to update each other and to discuss other issues close to the heart of the BFCSA members. A new BFCSA sub-committee will be utilised to meet with Tony once every two months to discuss these wider issues.

In the meantime, the BFCSA and the club have announced that they are fully committed to working together to help push Barnet in the right direction, and hopefully steer the club towards promotion on the field before too long.

The BFCSA wishes to thank all those members that aided in these discussions by forwarding their thoughts via email. The Committee also wishes to stress that if at anytime its members feel they would like to raise a particular issue with the club, to please contact the Association and we will raise your concerns or ideas at the following meeting.