Bournemouth are ready to review their stewarding arrangements after a female matchgoer made a complaint to anti-discrimination group Kick It Out about being searched by a male member of staff.
The issue is thought to stem from the new perimeter fencing and entry gates installed around the Vitality Stadium as part of Bournemouth’s £90m expansion, which will increase capacity from 11,286 to around 20,200.
Several women were redirected to alternative entrances due to the lack of female stewards, while others reluctantly agreed to be searched by male staff. There is no suggestion of inappropriate behaviour, and trained male stewards can search females with consent, but guidance strongly recommends same-gender searches.
The Kick It Out complaint did not allege misconduct but raised concerns about the processes in place at the Vitality Stadium. The anti-discrimination campaigners pass complaints to clubs and offer support to anyone who reports an incident.
understands Bournemouth are aware of the complaint and willing to open an investigation if necessary, but have not yet received sufficient information. Bournemouth declined to comment.
Preston’s train partnership goes off the rails
Preston North End’s partnership with train operator Lumo – designed to offer cheap travel for London matches – has hit a snag: the last train home departs during the second half of matches.
Lumo launched its Stirling to London Euston service, stopping at Preston, over the summer. The sponsorship deal with the city’s football club offers tickets from under £30 – considerably cheaper than many cross-country rail journeys.
But their final Saturday train back leaves at 4.19pm, meaning that when Preston play Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road later this month fans will likely have to bail before half-time to take advantage of the service.
Preston’s other trips to London this season – West Ham at the London Stadium, in east London, and Millwall at The Den in south-east London – are also currently scheduled for 3pm Saturday kick-offs so face the same difficulties.
Preston say the partnership is aimed at fans combining a match with a weekend trip to the capital. Nonetheless, enthusiasm for fans to travel, even via cheap trains that only get them halfway there, may wane if results don’t improve: Preston had lost five straight matches before getting their first win of the season last Saturday.
Swan almost foils Black Cats
In other train news, Sunderland fans travelling to London on a Great North Eastern Railway train for last weekend’s Brentford match had a race against time to make kick-off due to the most unusual of delays.
Their train was held for more than an hour at Peterborough station because a swan was on the tracks. Had anyone been asked to hop off and shoo it away, it may well have taken less than an hour.
Fortunately, fans had left early enough and made the 3pm kick-off just in time.
Ipswich make changes after digital ticketing troubles
Ipswich Town have been forced to introduce new measures after automated turnstiles in the West Stand, installed over the summer, caused some fans to miss the start of their season opener against Sunderland.
The newly promoted side became the latest club to grapple with problems after introducing digital ticketing. Supporters were told to arrive early, but long queues formed over an hour before kick-off.
Fans had to first pass through a security check before joining another queue for the turnstiles. There were fears kick-off would be delayed, but it went ahead on time – resulting in some fans missing the start.
To avoid a repeat, the club have since kept more entrances open to access the fan zone in front of the turnstiles and added security checkpoints to improve flow. The process is thought to have run more smoothly when Liverpool visited on Friday.
Was Mata victim of Dean’s mini-games?
Refereeing bosses are baffled by Mike Dean’s claims that he used to play his own games during matches “for a laugh”, and there is scepticism within officiating circles that they ever happened.
Dean, a Premier League referee for more than two decades, told the podcast Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party that he sometimes tried to see how long he could go without blowing his whistle, or without leaving the centre circle. Dean said he “went 20 to 25 minutes” on a few occasions.
Some refereeing figures have told they believe Dean might have fabricated the claims to show off on the podcast, not expecting the backlash. However, Dean did go 19 minutes without blowing his whistle in a match between Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion in 2016.
Intriguingly, he let a series of challenges slide before repeatedly halting play once he finally blew. Juan Mata was sent off for two bookings within six minutes of Dean’s first whistle blow – first for encroaching at a free kick, then for a late challenge.
Dean later released a statement insisting he “always applied the laws of the game to the best of my ability”.
Jockey Cox in unlikely double
Flat racing jockey William Cox narrowly missed out on riding a remarkable 67,200/1 treble at Chepstow last week.
Cox had won only four races all season, with three fifth-place finishes and a seventh at Chepstow, before landing a 240/1 double in the final three races.
He guided 12/1 shot Kodicall, trained by Stan Moore, to victory in the fifth race, then steered Zambezi Magic – a 20/1 shot trained by Bernard Llewellyn and Robert Williams – to a tight victory in the day’s final race.
He almost completed the treble riding Law of Design, a 28/1 outsider, leading for much of the penultimate race but was unable to keep up with winner Thanos in the final furlong.