PSL FOCUSES ON STADIUM SAFETY AND CROWD MANAGEMENT
Crowd management, public safety and security at domestic football matches has been the biggest focus at the Premier Soccer League (PSL) Safety and Security regional workshops.
The workshops, held in Gauteng, Limpopo and Western Cape, are being attended by NSL Member Clubs including some of the safety/security role players involved in domestic professional matches.
The last stop will be Kwa-Zulu Natal on Wednesday.
PSL Legal Counsel Michael Murphy said the workshops are empowering clubs to adopt pro-active safety and security measures.
Murphy said: “We know that recently there has been a lot of attention on local football in relation to safety at stadiums. While a lot of work has been done by the PSL in the last two years or so in improving safety and security including some of the processes, we also need to spend time with our member clubs and engaging on safety. We have to constantly work hard on crowd management and give confidence to the general public because people who attend our games want to be and feel safe.”
Murphy added that the most important thing was not just to focus on punishing clubs but also to implement a lot of pro-active pro-active measures.
“We can’t just spend our energy on punishing clubs, but we must focus on capacity building as well. We are working hard to ensure that the officers who are tasked to deal with safety/security are equipped. Of course there is another discussion happening with our Executive Committee and those in charge of the Police. We all need to work together.”
Experienced safety and security expert, Patrick Ronan is amongst the speakers.
He said: “Football is ahead of the game when it comes to compliance and regulations in South Africa and also in the African continent. I went through the NSL Safety and Security Manual and it covers a number of areas that are key to operations. It is a brilliant document but what we need to ensure now is that, we enforce the fantastic legislations we have.”
–SOURCED FROM THE PSL WEBSITE.
