HAVE YOUR SAY: Watford FC fan speaks out against club’s new flask policy

This month, we hear from local resident Tony Pells, who is disgruntled by recent changes at Watford FC.

I am a lifelong Watford FC supporter and season ticket holder. My first game was in 1975 when I was 11 years old. I was lucky enough to watch the team from the beginning of the Graham Taylor OBE era right up the present day.

Being a football supporter, you accept the ups and downs in a season, and although I have been unhappy with the team’s performance in some games, I have never felt any grievance towards the football club itself about how it treats its own supporters.

However, last season the club introduced a new policy whereby supporters are no longer allowed to bring flasks into the stadium. I believe the reason for this relates to a health and safety issue, like so many other new rules and regulations in society today.

After the first half, it was always a welcome break to head down to the concourse to enjoy our tea and coffee from our flasks. But we are no longer able to enjoy this simple pleasure.

We have spoken to other people, and they are as disgruntled about it as we are. Bringing a flask to a game has been the choice of fans of a certain age and I cannot believe that by bringing a flask into the ground, we are creating a health and safety issue.

This may seem like a trivial and meaningless complaint towards the club, but my wife and I believe that the pleasure and enjoyment we derived from our half-time hot beverage greatly outweighs our capacity to cause any issues which may affect the safety of other supporters at the game.

We did purchase hot drinks from the concourse bar at one game, but despite paying for them before the game, we had to queue for the entirety of half time and missed the start of the second half. It was not a great experience and we have not tried it again.

The banning of flasks will not spoil our excitement and enjoyment when we get to the ground, but it is sad that the tradition of bringing a flask to the game by a relatively small number of supporters is no longer allowed.