Banning them is only simple once the culprits have been identified. Then enforcing that ban is almost impossible.

Stewards are not security or police. Most of them are young kids, old men or women. We always say stewards should do something but they are Ill equipped to step in to a brawl. Clubs should have to have a hit squad of bouncers who can stand in an area where trouble may happen and keep the peace.

well they do have "security" on their jackets as they are employed by Key Security - none of them are exceptionally old or young but some are women. Although I wouldn't mess with the woman I saw.

I was stood on the West side for a change but much further down the pitch so didn't seen anything except a rush of security folk. Its a bit of a shame, I brought someone to the game for the first time so first impressions were not good (notwithstanding that the quality of the game was poor too). I guess that's part of the problem with increasing crowds and becoming more popular, you will get a fair share of numpty's that jump on the bandwagon. We tried "segregation" for bigger games, maybe we will have to do it for all games now. Real shame and those involved in the trouble really should take a look in the mirror.

You could try adding to the debate, if thats not beyond you.

One or two will be identified, no doubt about that.

But they'll probably still get in, like you say its not that easy.

I think that is exactly what they do. Despite the trolling of certain fans the incident was over in a few minutes - sadly it takes 2 seconds to punch someone in the nose and even the FBI couldn't stop that.

Sorry but "a few minutes" to a few seconds its a disgrace. They should be there to sort. Although these security firms do go for the "easy" option in who they employ

In actual fact there were four security guys stood around the small group ( guess about 100?) of widnes supporters well before any trouble started.
But if a few idiots are determined to have a go at each other it is very difficult to stop as things escalate very quickly

Had problems in the past with aggressive stewards at HKR when away fans were in the golf stand.
However, hope all involved get a ban from all RL stadiums. Don't want these people in any stadium causing problems.

Good suggestion as long as Security Industry Association qualified its been done at some football clubs to good effect although it will cost as you'll need at least a dozen plus the stewards.

At Leeds there is a separate squad who's job is to intervene when there's violence. They usually wear green jackets as opposed to the stewards orange. The stewards are just there to help people find their seat/a space and stop the gangways getting crowded.
I think the separate squad are directly employed by Leeds whereas the other stewards are contracted out to G4S.

Anyone remember a time when we actually had real policemen?

There is a similiar situation at Warrington. Stewards (employed by Warrington) wear yellow, "security" (contractor) wear orange. Go on the Warrington board after any trouble and you will often see comments about "aggressive stewards" when in fact its the security firm involved.....and then its often because they had to get involved.

How wonderful that, in the majority, we can behave so that we don't need a visible police presence.

Agreed, but having a heavier police presence costs a lot more than having stewards.