Open letter from the GSSC

Perth Glory would like thank members of the GSSC and endorse the following release in the spirit of Football.

Perth Glory would like thank members of the GSSC and endorse the following release in the spirit of Football.

To All Members

As you may be aware, the Shed has again come under unwarranted bad publicity over the last two home games in regards to foul language.

Whilst in general most of our chants are light hearted there is a particular one that is causing offence to female members and to members of the public in general, especially those with children. That is the “We hate Sydney FC” chant. Whilst the chant itself is not offensive there has been a certain word added that is.

We as a club have worked with Perth Glory and Security over the past few seasons to eradicate this specific word from the original chant with little success. It was because of our low crowd issues that the Shed capacity was raised to its current level of 1000. This could now be reviewed by the grounds administration as they have to be seen to act over the last 2 weeks of language.

I have been in contact with the club today and the following has been put in place with an agreement between me and Paul Kelly the CEO of Perth Glory.

Starting this weekend anyone caught initiating or participating in the chant and using the swear word involved will be noted and Security will be asked to speak to the individual/s concerned. This hopefully will not be done in a way to antagonise the rest of the Shed however, you will be warned that this language is totally unacceptable at our club and therefore warned that should you continue to use this word you will face eviction from the ground and a possible ban altogether. This is a regretful decision but one that is unfortunately necessary to make everyone-s experience at the game as enjoyable as possible.

The Shed in the past was known for its quick witted and often sarcastic chants which set us apart from other codes of sport in this country. Unfortunately, this has now been taken over by an element who wishes to tarnish the image of the Club and the Shed by being as disgusting as possible in the name of entertainment.

Therefore, I have given Perth Glory an assurance that we as a club, will make a further attempt to help eradicate that portion of the chant deemed offensive. To achieve this I ask all members of the Glory Shed Supporters Club and supporters of Glory in general to abstain from using the C word and get back to the days of creative with wit & humour.

Should any member of the Glory Shed Supporters Club be evicted from the ground because of proven use of disgusting language I will not entertain any recourse on your behalf to either Perth Glory or Allia Holdings. What everyone needs to remember is that we are a family club and whilst the Shed generates 90% of the atmosphere we don-t have to stoop to gutter levels to achieve it.

I trust that I have the support of the members in this matter.

Regards

Colin Sharland
President
Glory Shed Supporters Club
8 September 2010