So who is this so called fan then?

[Pedro's Winger]

With rights come responsibilities.

It's a shame that many people only ever acknowledge one half of that equation. (I'm not saying that's you btw)

Without knowing what was said, and in what context it was said, I'm not even going to start analysing the club's decision and I'm certainly nit taking sides on it.

It's not helpful that we don't know what was said but even if we did know the club went much further about abuse in a general way without making clear what that meant.
That's the main issue - what are the standards they're talking about?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Standards?

Rubbishing something the club did for a child who'd passed away. And defending it thereafter. Okay.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I understand where you're coming from but any list of unacceptable behaviour would be vague and open to interpretation anyway.

Like my pub analogy, any list of unacceptable behaviour is at the landlords discretion because what I find offensive, you may not, and vice versa.

If the landlord doesn't like me and doesn't want me in his pub because he feels my behaviour potentially harms his business, he has every right to turn away my custom.

Landlord?

Knew it, some fuckers got the freehold.

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

Just been confirmed on Radio sheff that the person has been banned was for the distasteful joke about Leicester .

Get a grip United pathetic

 

[TJB.]

Just been confirmed on Radio sheff that the person has been banned was for the distasteful joke about Leicester .

Get a grip United pathetic

Five people died less than a week ago in a horrific accident and some bright spark chooses to crack wise for likes on Twitter.

Well done, United.

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

Five people died less than a week ago in a horrific accident and some bright spark chooses to crack wise for likes on Twitter.

Well done, United.

That’s not the point sufc are not the thought police if someone wants to make a distasteful joke that’s upto them . This wasn’t abuse or directed to anyone
I’ve see many distasteful jokes on here about people , but will they be banned no.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I doubt anyone would set out with the intentional of posting something on social media with the intention of getting banned by SUFC.

That's not what I said, as I'm sure you know. Are you just trolling?

The issue here is about freedom of expression, including the ability to offend, and SUFC saying it has some unidentified standards that could result in someone being banned.
Some of us think that's questionable in a free society.

You believe that freedom of expression includes the right to make jokes about someone who's just died in a horrible accident on a public platform owned by a third party without consequences. I believe that anyone associated with that action have a right to react. SUFC is not some part of a "free society" public domain, it is a company and it can decide for itself who it does or does not want to deal with.

 

[TJB.]

That’s not the point sufc are not the thought police if someone wants to make a distasteful joke that’s upto them . This wasn’t abuse or directed to anyone
I’ve see many distasteful jokes on here about people , but will they be banned no.

As has been mentioned by Hamburg Blade there's a difference between spoken word and written word. If someone makes a distasteful joke online which could be connected to United in any way, the club are right to take steps to disassociate themselves with that person. You can write whatever you like, but don't expect there to be no consequences if it's something indecent as it clearly has been.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I get sick of this "so called" being thrown out all the time. It doesn't make him any less of a fan than anyone else. A fan is someone who follows their team and supports them whether they make nice or nasty comments. That term is always thrown at hoolies, but whether they go to scrap or not they still support their team whoever it is both emotionally and financially. . It doesn't automatically make them not a fan

The definition of a fan or supporter is surely someone who supports the club's efforts to achieve success. If someone goes to matches 'to scrap' (your words) they are doing something the club explicitly does not want, and hampering the club's progress in many ways, not least because they deter other people from going to matches (the way things went in the 1970s and 1980s illustrate this clearly). There are all sorts of reasons why a club might prefer to regard some people as a hindrance rather than supporters.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Agreed on defamation. 'Insult and derogatory things' however are arbitrary. Some things will offend most people, some people will be offended by more things than others. Since it's impossible to define, for me the common sense approach is to draw the line at physical violence, a very clear boundary, and allow all forms of expression to continue unabated. You might see or hear some things that upset you. Such is life.

The law doesn't agree with you on that.

This, in no way, drags the name of SUFC through the mud. The comments were not made by an employee of SUFC and were not condoned or authorised by SUFC.

I'm not saying I agree with sick comments or jokes by the way, but I'm sure there is a deep seated psychological human need to normlise tragedy in some way, and, as inevitably happens, this often manifests itself through the medium of dark humour. I just think all this effort to police words could be much better expended elsewhere.

It drags SUFC through the mud if he has made it clear he is speaking as a fan and SUFC will be associated with him and his comments if they say nothing and allow him to continue to attend. That's how it works in the real world.
I'm sure some people deal with their own personal tragedies with dark humour and I would hate to see humour like that erased from life, but this clearly isn't someone dealing with the trauma in that way and, even if it was, the place to announce his little joke was not social media.
I'm sure it's not an effort that SUFC want to have to make and would have prefered it if he'd never said anything, but they have to present an image to the outside world and they probably felt they had little choice.

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

As has been mentioned by Hamburg Blade there's a difference between spoken word and written word. If someone makes a distasteful joke online which could be connected to United in any way, the club are right to take steps to disassociate themselves with that person. You can write whatever you like, but don't expect there to be no consequences if it's something indecent as it clearly has been.

I completely agree if someone is abusive online like what the swfc fan said should be banned instantly I have no problem with that,

The guys actual post was a joke not abusive a distasteful joke about the Leicester cras, No one was abused.

If we’re taking this stance will the club be banning any fan who makes an offensive post on any topic as this shouldn’t just be because the Leicester tragedy is at its rawest

 

[TJB.]

I completely agree if someone is abusive online like what the swfc fan said should be banned instantly I have no problem with that,

The guys actual post was a joke not abusive a distasteful joke about the Leicester cras, No one was abused.

If we’re taking this stance will the club be banning any fan who makes an offensive post on any topic as this shouldn’t just be because the Leicester tragedy is at its rawest

I disagree with the concept that just because this has happened, the club is suddenly going to turn into the Stasi and ban every cunt under the sun.

The club monitor things online. They've likely been doing so for a very long time. This is the first instance where someone has been banned despite plenty of probably questionable stuff posted online. I'm not quite sure what your issue is...

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

I disagree with the concept that just because this has happened, the club is suddenly going to turn into the Stasi and ban every cunt under the sun.

The club monitor things online. They've likely been doing so for a very long time. This is the first instance where someone has been banned despite plenty of probably questionable stuff posted online. I'm not quite sure what your issue is...

My issue is a person has been banned for making a joke he hasn’t abused anyone

 

[TJB.]

My issue is a person has been banned for making a joke he hasn’t abused anyone

You can't just say things and hide it under a guise of 'It was a joke'. That's not how it works.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Some thoughts

No one knows what’s been said
No one knows who decides what is and isn’t acceptable
We either have ‘free speech’ or we don’t
No one knows who it is
I used the ‘c word’ on a number of occasions in the Adkins era, how do I delete all this?

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

You can't just say things and hide it under a guise of 'It was a joke'. That's not how it works.

Have you seen what the post was ? If United banned every fan who post a joke like that we’d have 15 k fans

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

So many cry freedom and forget the responsibility that comes with it.
We're all free to be arseholes, but we aren't free of the consequences of it.

 

[Jonboy60]

I’ve seen the post that’s supposed to be the one in question.
If it’s the same one, then yes, I’ve seen and heard a lot worse. But the timing of the post(if there is such a thing as time appropriate, for these sort of things) then it’s way too soon. And it specifically mentions Sheffield Utd in its content.
For a few ‘likes’ and laughs, it’s certainly not in very good taste.
If it’s not the one in question, then maybe someone else is in for a ban also.

 

[Blade for Sale]

So many cry freedom and forget the responsibility that comes with it.
We're all free to be arseholes, but we aren't free of the consequences of it.

Surely that means we aren't free to be arseholes?

 

[RealMcCoy]

That’s not the point sufc are not the thought police if someone wants to make a distasteful joke that’s upto them . This wasn’t abuse or directed to anyone
I’ve see many distasteful jokes on here about people , but will they be banned no.

It is both abuse and directed.

 

[Inter_blade83]

Rowan Atkinson on freedom of insulting

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Surely that means we aren't free to be arseholes?

The brexit debate says otherwise. Context is everything.

 

[finlaytheblade]

It's not helpful that we don't know what was said but even if we did know the club went much further about abuse in a general way without making clear what that meant.
That's the main issue - what are the standards they're talking about?

I think the standard is common decency. we all know when we have stepped over the line , it doesn't need spelling out.

 

[Pedro's Winger]

I think the standard is common decency. we all know when we have stepped over the line , it doesn't need spelling out.

We'd hardly have anyone in the stadium if common decency was the standard.

 

[wizadry]

I’ve seen the post that’s supposed to be the one in question.
If it’s the same one, then yes, I’ve seen and heard a lot worse. But the timing of the post(if there is such a thing as time appropriate, for these sort of things) then it’s way too soon. And it specifically mentions Sheffield Utd in its content.
For a few ‘likes’ and laughs, it’s certainly not in very good taste.
If it’s not the one in question, then maybe someone else is in for a ban also.

I assume all the people who liked it have also been banned from the club then?

 

[Jonboy60]

I assume all the people who liked it have also been banned from the club then?

I think it was intended by the person that posted it, to get some sort of recognition for his wit, but the post didn’t stay around long enough. Not that I saw anyway.

 

[Davalon]

I find it slightly disconcerting that some people seem unable to differentiate between what you may say in private, or even post on your own Facebook page for instance, compared to posting on someone else's platform.

If I put an offensive joke on my own FB status then it's unlikely anything will come of it. If I put it on my employer's FB page I'll likely be sacked. It really should be simply understood.

 

[OrlandoexiledBlade]

The definition of a fan or supporter is surely someone who supports the club's efforts to achieve success. If someone goes to matches 'to scrap' (your words) they are doing something the club explicitly does not want, and hampering the club's progress in many ways, not least because they deter other people from going to matches (the way things went in the 1970s and 1980s illustrate this clearly). There are all sorts of reasons why a club might prefer to regard some people as a hindrance rather than supporters.

OK So someone may NOT have been a fan in the 1970s or 80s however they could be now then??, since that same fan with the same activity whether its "scrapping" or abuse messages or whatever, could be done decades apart. Yet the fact is in the 70s and 80s there were many reasons why people did not go to football compared to these days . Not least economic factors like union strikes, financial hardhsip, 3 day week etc . Less media attention than there is now. Whereas now footy is a glory sport, funded heavily by Sky tv. completely 2 different eras and many many different factors behind it . Can't blame it all on lads who were hoolies.

That same fan might 30 years later still be , you use YOUR words " supporting the club's efforts to achieve success" and doing the same activities whatever they were/are.

as i say it doesn't make them LESS of a fan . In fact from my own experience and people i have known over the years often those sort of fans spend much more of their disposable income on SUFC than the so called "plastics". Thus considering that you could argue they are MORE of a fan as they are financially supporting the clubs efforts more than others....

Does this person whoever made these comments on the social media overnight night become a "non fan" ? Its the club/media who portray this "so called" image of who they perceive is not acceptable to THEM

 

[Dark muffy]

I might be a bit naive here but how is a ban from watching united enforced? Is there a western wanted style picture at the side of every turnstyle home and away of the person whose been banned. What happens if the banned fan does in fact get in the ground but is then apprehended? Is it a criminal offence? Iv not been banned (yet) I'm just interested.

 

[CrookesBlade]

I might be a bit naive here but how is a ban from watching united enforced? Is there a western wanted style picture at the side of every turnstyle home and away of the person whose been banned. What happens if the banned fan does in fact get in the ground but is then apprehended? Is it a criminal offence? Iv not been banned (yet) I'm just interested.

I presume they'd cancel his ST if he has one, refuse to sell tickets to him using his existing customer number and it would be flagged up in the system if he tried to set another one up.

The club will have a very hard time preventing him getting in if somebody else buys his tickets though. The police use high definition cameras to pick out people on football banning orders issued by the courts as they are committing a criminal offence but they won't be looking for people who the club have banned for stuff like this, bigger fish to fry etc.

I'd imagine if he kept getting spotted at the Lane the club might go down the legal route as officially he's probably trespassing or whatever.