Last month for the home fixture against Tottenham, Trust Chair Simon Duke was invited by Fulham’s Head of Safety, John D’arcy, to join him as he sets up the stadium on a matchday. The idea was to give Simon and our members a better understanding of the work involved to keep supporters safe on a matchday. Simon has penned some words for us on the work involved and scale of the operation that occurs for each home fixture.
As most members will know, as Chair of the Trust, I represent us on the local authority run Safety Advisory Group (SAG). Following our meeting with the Club last November on Safety and Security and given my SAG role I was invited by the Club’s Head of Safety, John D’arcy, to join him and his team for the Spurs game on 1 March.
The biggest takeaway for me was the importance of the operation of the Safety Team. They have to be alert at all times and react quickly to developing situations. I was impressed by the professionalism of the team and surprised by the breadth of what they have to deal with on a matchday.
Arriving at the Cottage at 8.30 (kick off minus 5.5 hours) the first thing that struck me was how many people were already there and working. When I met him, John told me there were around 1800 staff working most match days, with the security team making up around 600. The Safety Team is currently split 40:60 of club vs agency staff.
At 9am there was a briefing given to the senior management safety team. The briefing was wide ranging, giving guidance on searching, dealing with difficult situations which may occur in the stands (contain or eject), inappropriate chanting, standing, safeguarding and in light of recent events careful consideration of possible terrorist threats. For this game there was additional stewarding and ticket checks in place in the Hammersmith End to try and help combat the recent occurrence of unacceptable language.
The next briefing was an hour later, when stand managers were addressed. Each stand has a number of stand managers who are responsible for certain blocks. From this, stand managers then brief their stewards before the gates open.
The briefings were thorough and gave a good insight into what goes into making Craven Cottage the safe environment that we want as fans on a matchday. Prior to the gates opening, the stewards undertake a thorough sweep of the stands to look for any suspicious items.
I was introduced to an observer, working on behalf of the Premier League, who shared with me some of her remit which is quite simply to observe what goes on both in the ground and in the immediate vicinity and to then report back to the Head of Safety after the game. I joined the post-match debrief and can report that other than one or two minor observations there was nothing of major concern.
Post briefings, I moved to the Control Room which is located in the corner of the ground between the Putney End and the Riverside Stand. Two things struck me, (1) what a great view they have, and (2) this really is the nerve centre and go to point on matchday. Space is reserved for each of the emergency services from which they control their teams located in various parts of the ground. There are also a number of Club staff from the Safety Team performing various tasks from managing the FulStop feed through to overseeing the vast bank of TV screens taking feeds from cameras both inside and outside the ground.
The monitoring of the screens and resulting action are widespread. For example, a number of Lime bikes were identified in Stevenage Road for which Stewards were deployed to move to a safer spot. Once the streets around the ground are closed the Control Room also becomes a traffic management centre with guidance given on how to deal with vehicles trying to break the cordon. When the Team coaches are approaching, guidance is given to the Stewards outside the Cottage on how to manage their arrival which is co-ordinated to avoid them both arriving at the same time.
John D’arcy is clearly the man in control ranging from agreeing when turnstiles can open through to delaying kick off when there is a medical emergency such as before the Liverpool game. John’s word is final.
I politely declined the opportunity of staying in the Control Room for the game as I am a creature of habit and prefer watching from my own seat.
Other things I picked up on during my time in the Control Room, some of which I was not aware of, include:-
• The Club send six safety stewards to every away game.
• The Club has cameras in the ground and can see any seat in any row with footage retained for 30 days. If an incident is reported after the match the Club can therefore look back to see what happened.
• John was pleased to report that no police have been deployed inside Craven Cottage in season 25/26 as yet.
• It was interesting to note that by 1pm only 3,700 people were inside the ground. Late arrivals can be a problem at the turnstiles.
• Around 10% of ticket holders did not attend for whatever reason. This is apparently a fairly normal situation.
• Standing remains an issue and will remain so until rail seating is installed. The Club safety certificate is for seated viewing only. (The Trust have already engaged with the Club as to when safe standing will be introduced but with no indication yet as to when this might be).
• The calls to the Control Room are wide and varied and on this particular day, in addition to the normal Club/Police/Fire/Ambulance issues there was a request to try and locate some missing sandwiches from the Riverside Stand (Sodexo were quickly engaged) and a request for a plumber to unblock the urinals in the first team changing room. All part of a day in the life of the Safety Team.
My thanks go to John and his Team for welcoming me and being so open in discussions. I will never underestimate the amount of unheralded work they do.
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