Ipswich: Fans turned away at Portman Road for bringing in own food
Portman Road - Credit: Mike Page
Ipswich Town fans have expressed their fury at being turned away at the turnstiles and told they cannot bring their own food into the ground.
Supporters were prevented from entering Portman Road with burgers and hotdogs not bought from the ground and were even asked to throw away food they were caught eating at Saturday’s game against Huddersfield.
Ashley Hutchings, an ITFC season ticket holder for the past 10 years, was stopped from entering the ground with his father because they were eating a burger from a van outside the ground.
He said: “I understand the club is a business and needs to make money and whilst we are in the ground we always get a drink and something to eat at half time from the club food outlets but from experience these are severely overpriced for what they are and they seem to always run out of food even before half time.
“Ipswich Town has always been renowned for being ‘a family friendly club’. It is policies like this that could easily turn families away from attending matches.”
A forum on ITFC’s independent fan website, TWTD named ‘Burger Gate’ showed many fans sharing Mr Hutchings’ anger.
One fan commented on the forum saying: “This is complete nonsense as you cannot force people to eat in the ground, next thing we know the club will bar all burger bars outside of the ground. As if it is not hard enough getting fans into Portman Road.”
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A club spokesperson said this was not a new policy but one that the club had recently let lapse.
“It is 32 hours of work for our cleaning staff just to pick up litter around the stadium after a match and this is increasing.
“We have also noticed an increase in people bringing hot food into the ground so we will be asking supporters who purchase hot food and drink from outside the stadium to consume it before entering the stadium.
“This falls in line with other football clubs and other sports up and down the country. There are also food safety issues that we have to be mindful of.”
