Didn't get searched as such, though a steward, politely, checked my bag outside the turnstile. Not a problem to be honest. Actually felt quite complimented - they felt I'd sufficient energy an vitality to cause bovver..

I'll be honest, I've taken cans of lager into the ground for ~10 years. I buy from the bar until the queues get to the stage that I'll end up missing the game, at which point I top my glass up. I keep the empties in my bag and take them home to recycle.

This week I was asked if the steward could check in my bag. "Fair cop" I thought. I said "no you cannot look in my bag", planning on walking back to the car to leave the cans in the boot but as I was explaining this to the original steward I became aware of another who was opening my rucksack from behind my back! That lead to an argument which required a senior steward to step in.

So during the game I missed the first few minutes of the first half (up to the injury) and around 10 minutes of the second half due to grossly under staffed bars. As someone who who doesn't need a beer to enjoy the game, I'll simply not bother with the bars in future, which is money not going into the club.

I would like to buy my refreshments from the Bulls rather than Q gardens so that any profit goes to the club. The three of us drink Cider which has now been taken off draft and replaced with un-chilled Stella Cidre at £4 a chuck. I envisage a fallout at the next match as I try to smuggle contraband Strongbow, lots of people who sit around us were searched, and I will object strongly if some tries to search my bags.

This checking bags for "sharp objects" is just rubbish, clearly the stewards have been told to check for booze..Its the old captive audience stuff, which i can understand to a point as long as they don't start charging silly money for a pint, if this is the case I'll be doing my boozing before i get into the ground.

As for the bar behind the stand. What a mess this was, 2 studenty types (no offence students) serving the beer and the usual lady the only one allowed to take the cash and give change, lets hope they get this sorted quick!

Are you really all moaning about not being allowed to smuggle your own booze in?

I don't think so, just the way its been managed, badly.

Please tell me the spelling mistake was deliberate!

At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic I have to say that the speed of the beer service is among my top 2 considerations when I review my matchday experience.
I've got 2 kids under 4 so as you might guess I don't get out much. This means I don't want to spend 30 minutes queuing for a beer (in a bizarre manner this season) because I'm on a rigid alcohlic units per hour schedule that must be fulfilled.
I buy 2 pints from the bar every game and would probably have another if it didn't take so long. The only game I don't buy any beer from the Bulls is the Leeds game. This is because the queues are ridiculous and have taken 45 minutes in the past - no where near good enough in the past and I fear it will break the hour mark from what I've seen this season. I will bring my own and will drink it stood at the gate if pulled.
Again - why are we spending money on security guards who just stand next to the bar (they could at least organise the queuing) when we have people apparently manning the bars for free?

I tend to head to the beer tent where service is usually ok. Bizarrely I was asked how much I'd paid for my pint on Sat by two fellas who had apparently just been charged £10 for 2 pints of Stella in the touchdown bar.. a mistake surely?

I can quite imagine that someone saying no you cannot search my bag, would cause a security incident. The bag search is on the main for people taking in food and drink.

But when you get someone saying no, that's going to immediately make a security person think 'We've got something more than the usual here'.

As for bag searching, I think it will become more and more common placed. We visit the USA regularly and your bags get searched at most events. It's not a bomb thing, it's simply a food check, but they do put it up that you can't bring your own food or drink (baby food is the exception).

There are always ways around any security if you are desperate to bring your own beer in. But honestly for 2 hours I can manage to enjoy the rugby without a pint and if I did feel the need for one, then it's just about going in plenty of time. On the bright side you at least have security and bar staff to have a whinge about this year, you see, not such an issue in the scale of things.

That does come across as a bit patronising? Bit surprised because that is not at all like you.

If the issue is that you cannot bring your own food and drink into the ground, that might have been an issue at other grounds (like Knowsley Road, as I remember very clearly) but it has never been an issue at Odsal. If there has been some change of rules, that has been sprung without any warning or notice.

But you are commenting without actually having experienced the issues that are attracting comment. Which are basically that there appears to have been a comprehensive change of staffing, with increasing reliance on "volunteers" to do jobs previously done by paid staff. And the transition has caused some issues. The ones I personally experienced were a security man buggering up the queuing for the back-of-stand bar for no good reason, and lack of trained bar staff. I suspect I would have flown off the handle had I been searched, since that is not the Bulls way. But I was not. As a positive, I was able to get a programme this week, from volunteer sellers. Change is never easy, especially when it is probably driven by trying to contain costs in the face of the Sky money confiscation.

These may be teething issues - in which case this will die down after a short period. I personally am no longer involved in any direct liaison with the club (for the first time in over 12 years), but I hope those who now ARE will ensure the issues (real or perceived) are suitably conveyed.

Over the last 40yrs the various generations of our family (like many others) have been taking flasks of tea, sandwiches, snacks, home baking to the match without any problems. I hope this can continue

If the club really wants to go down the sorry route of "can't bring your own food" then I suspect they'll lose far more goodwill than it's worth. I rarely bring anything in, and if I do it'll be a flask of coffee, but even there of course that means I won't be buying any £5 coffees. But the point here surely is that I won't be buying them anyway, and the people who are used to taking a plastic container of butties or some sausage rolls wrapped in tinfoil are really not going to spend a load of money on the overpriced burger vans, they don't want that stuff, and even if they did they would probably be so peed off they wouldn't buy anything on principle.

I don't care what other events or even other RL clubs do, going to Odsal has always been a particular family-type sort of event and this does include the leaving alone of the own-butty-munchers. Barring them from bringing their own is like saying that if you're hungry, then tough, buy from a concession or else do without. It is up to the concession to offer a product at a price that such customers would willingly pay.

I would make an exception for alcoholic drinks, up to a point, for the simple reason that the club needs to have control over whether or not to serve any more alcohol to any given individual and obviously if they're drinking their own, you lose that.

I can totally understand that and as I said, IMO it was "a fair cop". The discussion with steward A was perfectly amicable. The problem arose when steward B 'sneaked' behind me and started pulling at the zip of my bag without my consent.