Working as a steward can be a thankless task – being called a ‘lanky streak of piss’ isn’t pleasant – but the camaraderie and the cash keep my Saturdays interesting
By James Marsland for When Saturday Comes, of the Guardian Sport Network
There are several thankless tasks in football. The referee’s assistant running the line, who is destined to stand near the crowd and be barracked for every wrong decision and every right one that goes against the supporters’ team, is one. Each of the people whose job it is to tidy the terraces of spilled pies and trampled hot dogs hours after the fans have gone home may feel that their job is wholly unrewarded. And somewhere in there, gazing out with a fixed expression from under a black beanie hat and clad in a hi-vis jacket, is the steward. I know this because I am among their silent number.
People get into stewarding because they need the money, because they love the game, or because of a combination of the two. For a regular wage earner, the money you get can be put towards your holiday fund or to provide a welcome boost to your wages at the end of the week. And for people like me, whose love of football outstrips their ability to pay to watch games, it’s an opportunity to be in and around a club and to feel a strange kind of kinship with it, and with the other stewards.
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