Once upon a time, I almost got kicked out of a football match.

You know me—Rowdy McRowderson. Always causing riots at professional sports competitions.

I went to watch Newcastle United play against Swansea FC with some friends last week. We sat waaaaaay up high in the nosebleed section, so I was happy to let my poor, neglected telephoto get a little time out of the camera bag for once. I snapped some pictures, but to be quite honest, I was just happy to be able to see what was going on.

And then about 15 minutes before the end of the match, a security guard came over and pointed at me.

“You’ll have to put that away, love,” he said.

“Me?” I said, confused. Was photography not allowed?

“Yes. Put it away.”

Okaaaaay. So I did, despite the protestations of my friends and the friendly guys sitting in front of us, who all thought it was just plain silly. Since when have you not been allowed to take pictures at a match?

I thought maybe there was some rule prohibiting commercial photography, and even though I was just taking pictures for myself, people see my big old lens and assume I’m a pro. And while that’s flattering and all, I’m definitely not a professional sports photographer. Not yet, at least. 😉

So I looked up the stadium rules when I got home to see what they said about photography—and they said nothing. There wasn’t even anything prohibiting commercial photography within the stadium. I am at a complete loss.

I’ve emailed the club to see what they have to say about it. I haven’t heard back from them, but I’ll let you know what they say when they finally respond.

Until then, has anyone ever heard of photography being prohibited at a sporting event before? Even just for personal use?