No bags allowed for WSL game??

[WashingAt30]

We've booked to take the DC to their first big football game, Chelsea vs Man U women at Stamford Bridge. Just realised you are not allowed to take in bags larger than A4?! We are have having a proper day trip travelling into London and can't really survive without a couple of backpack with water, snacks, plasters, lunch etc. What do we do? Is there anywhere we can leave our bags beforehand?

You can have small bags. My handbag is always fine at Tottenham. Back packs go to the cloakrooms

There are plenty of shops in London which sell lunch, drinks, snacks and plasters.

Or if you must take them from home, do so in disposable packaging and in a carrier bag you can throw away.

I honestly think you’re over complicating things. You don’t have to take all that stuff with you. If you need something buy there. If you find you have no option you’ve got plenty of ideas on how to carry stuff. Re water, you can get those refillable ones that fold. They could go into a pocket.

A friend who went to the Eurovision song concert in Liverpool had the same concerns about the small bag size, not sure what she did in the end but you couldnt find anything further away from an event involving toxic masculinity 😂😂

It's pretty standard for large events anywhere now

Yes, once you start taking the DC to big events such as sports, theatre, concerts you learn to pack light.

Surely your children can just share one plastic bottle of water and keep refilling it.

I don't understand why anyone would want to take a bag bigger than that for a day out in London.

Of course on the day they may not even bother to search your bag and you'll see other people getting in with bags clearly bigger than A4 😄🤷‍♀️ That's just the way it is. Enjoy the match anyway!

To be fair most small rucksacks / school bags are bigger than A4.

I haven't bought plastic water bottles in years

I probably buy maybe 2 a year. Most of ours are years old, reused, rinsed, reused. Plenty were a soda drink I indulged in while on a 5 hour walk or cycle ride in the heat, brought home, rinsed & kept rather than recycled. Some were handed to us or put in goody bags at a sports event or foisted on us by well-meaning relatives who buy lots of water bottles.

Lugging metal bottles around always seemed like pointless extra weight, something valuable to lose, & does it make the water taste metallic? the lids aren't interchangeable. Those 200-300ml size plastic bottles are very useful if you're out for hours in wilderness, or want to carry a small bottle in a string bag or thru airport security.

It would have been either Birmingham NEC or Nottingham Arena, I have been to both in the last couple of years, there was a separate queue for those with bags and there was this A4 size on a table and I had to lay my bag on it before it was checked. Fortunately I have a couple of handbags especially for concerts of the right size with no more than 2 compartments, the NEC also says no rucksacks.

A4 size is not that big, a couple of my smaller Kipling bags were bigger than A4. The main problem I find is because we have to travel quite a way to a concert we like to look round the city beforehand and the bag restrictions make it quite difficult as you can't even buy something very small as the bag is too small to put anything extra in, also going out for the day we often carry extra things so yes, I do sympathise with OP over this.

Rigid bottles are not banned just because they're missiles, they could also create a trip hazard in a rush to leave the stadium. That's why lids are often removed from plastic bottles, because then they would crush underfoot in a panic situation.

OP, you need to relax, follow the instructions you've been given and enjoy the game without finding obstacles or feeling so angry about it!

I'm a season ticket holder at Stamford Bridge. I usually take a smallish cross body bag which will be searched when you go in. Large bags/rucksacks haven't been allowed for a long time but they seem relaxed now about the smaller backpack/handbag-type ones as so many people have them (hence the sizing requirement). I would take as little as you can get away with. Gloves tucked in pockets, plasters in your handbag, lunch in disposable bags which can be thrown away before you get into the stadium etc. I've never been up on a WSL match day, but on mens match days there are a lot of food stalls around to get something to eat if you don't want to carry lunch. They won't worry about you taking chocolate or sweets into the stadium - I do as DH likes his half-time Mars Bar which he stuffs in my bag rather than sitting on it on the train!

They will not allow you to take in water bottles, and certainly not the metal ones. As previous posters have said, they can be used as missiles and thrown onto the pitch. Be aware that if you buy a drink inside the stadium they will take the top off before they give you the bottle.

Hope you and the DC enjoy the game!

I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear we had a good time, I appreciate the advice on the water bottles, and I've learnt a bit about modern stadium safety in the process.

What was annoying was that the vast majority of people had normal size backpacks way bigger than A4, so we could got away with bigger bags than we used.

But all in all a good day out and ultra fussy DC even ate some hot dogs, so not having much space for lunch wasn't so much of an issue!

Ah good, glad you enjoyed it

Had this issue when I went to see Muse. Was tricky to fit in keys, money, hairbrush, water, and snack for 6 hours plus clothes for later evening as got cold. Pockets are important. I guess combat trousers would be ideal.

Half you sussed it, I now have a selection of camera bags with several zipped pockets for gigs/festivals. Though recently I saw people at Hammersmith Apollo with backpacks and were just searched

I have a couple of' cheats'. I have a spare bottle top for water bottles and a simply made drawstring backpack that can be folded down into a pocket and used later on once inside event.

We tend to use it for our jackets/hoodies/water bottles and once your inside no one cares about your bag

I think it's all to do with getting you through security quickly