Sports stadiums in the UK are safer than ever before – but there must be “a continual focus on improvement” as new risks emerge, a sports ground safety expert has warned.
On the 30th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, John Holden says improvements haven’t just included physical changes like removing fences and making stadiums all-seater but also mindset changes.
Mr Holden, a Chartered Fellow and former President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), believes the past three decades have seen sports clubs take on full-scale responsibility for protecting spectators.
He said: “Hillsborough was a terrible tragedy and it was crucial that action was taken to ensure something like it didn’t happen again. Thirty years on, there have been some vast improvements.
“If you go back over the years, it was always the police who were in charge, and they used to talk about crowd control. Today, it is more around spectator safety management and we are seeing the clubs themselves taking the responsibility for this.
“We have got dedicated ground safety officers, people whose remit it is to ensure people can attend sports matches and be able to enjoy themselves in a safe manner. This wasn’t the case years ago, when safety was just tagged onto someone else’s job.
“This change hasn’t just happened in football; it is in rugby league and union, cricket, horse racing and other sports. Whatever sport you go to, there are ground safety officers who are fully trained and competent.”
Ninety-six football fans died in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield on 15 April 1989.
Within a year fences at most grounds in the UK, which had previously been installed to prevent hooligans from getting onto pitches, were removed. And by 1994, all grounds in the English Premier League were all-seater, following recommendations in Lord Justice Taylor’s report into the disaster.
While major strides have been made to prevent a repeat of Hillsborough, Mr Holden says there are new risks which sports stadiums have to contend with, such as the threat of terrorism.
IOSH’s Sports Grounds and Events Group held an event last May in Manchester to explore the measures sports grounds and other public venues can put in place to prevent terrorist attacks. The event came a year after the terror attack at Manchester Arena.
Mr Holden added: “When I started working on sports grounds, terrorism wasn’t something which was considered. But now there is a threat. What is vital is that a proportionate response is delivered.
“We cannot be complacent and must have a continual focus on improvement as new risks develop all of the time. We must respond to these new risks and continue to ensure that people can still go to matches and enjoy themselves, while being vigilant.”
