Blackburn Rovers to trial designated smoking area

This is interesting.

Blackburn Rovers will tonight become the first football club to trial a half-time smoking area since smoking was banned in all football stadiums.

According to the club's website:

This designated area will be in the home section of the lower tier in the Bryan Douglas Darwen End Stand. Should this trial prove to be successful then the scheme will be rolled out to other areas of the ground. The process will be as follows:

Five minutes before the half-time whistle the final exit doors numbered SX07 (directly next to Turnstile Block ‘R’) will be opened to allow supporters to leave the enclosed area of the concourse and enter an area designated by barriers.

See: Rovers to trial smoking area at Brentford match

It's bit like a nightclub having an outside smoking area where people can step outside, light up, and re-enter the building without hassle.

According to BBC Radio Lancashire the club is doing it because there have been problems with people smoking on concourses and in the toilets.

Personally I don't have a problem with people smoking on a large open concourse but some people do.

Consequently there are two options. One, clamp down hard and remove people from the stadium if they're caught; or, two, seek a compromise that accommodates adults who want to smoke and those who don't want to be exposed to even a whiff of tobacco smoke inside the stadium.

Blackburn have chosen the latter option. It's not perfect but it's better than a comprehensive ban. I hope it works and is extended to other areas of the ground and, perhaps, other stadiums.