Football security goes undercover to beat racism

Tomorrow's match will be the first time Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez have come face-to-face since the Liverpool striker was found guilty of racially abusing the Manchester United defender.

Security during ‘high risk’ football matches is increasingly going undercover in a bid to help football clubs to identify and stamp out the offensive or illegal actions of the minority.

Football Clubs in the UK and elsewhere in Europe are increasingly turning to intelligence specialists to assist them in finding out more about the prevalence of unacceptable behaviour at their ground and the individuals responsible.

UEFA’s ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ message and the Football Association’s Respect campaign have done much to help tackle racism in football but recent events have brought the issue back into the spotlight. Recent high profile events surrounding allegations of racist taunting both on and off the pitch are forcing some Clubs to review their security procedures and take steps to demonstrate that unacceptable or illegal behaviour during matches will not be tolerated.
Many Clubs in the UK and the rest of Europe have already done a lot to encourage self-policing by establishing ‘Supporters’ Charters’. Under these agreements, supporters are encouraged to report offensive or illegal behaviour and help the Club to maintain standards of acceptability.

However, recent incidents of alleged racist taunting, which have led to criminal charges being brought against John Terry and the removal of his England captaincy pending the outcome of his trial, have heightened concern about racism in football.

The forthcoming meeting between Manchester Utd and Liverpool at Old Trafford on Saturday 11th February 2012 is also likely to be considered a ‘high risk’ game, with the potential for further racist tension as Luis Suarez will be meeting Patrice Evra on the same pitch for the first time since the latter accused him of racist taunting last year.

Racism is a hot topic for football clubs at the moment and they are understandably keen not to have their reputation damaged by any association with it. In response to this risk, some Clubs are considering increasing match-day surveillance and intelligence in order to gauge the level of the problem and take action to prevent it. Among the strategies used, CCTV can help to identify pockets of bad behaviour during games and pin-point the individuals responsible. In addition, football intelligence officers are increasingly employed to keep a watching brief on individuals during and en route to ‘high risk’ games. Depending on the degree of risk at a particular game, managers may also choose to make a statement to fans reminding them that violent or offensive behaviour will not be tolerated.
Self-policing in football has proved successful in the past at helping to uphold standards of acceptability. However, Clubs have much more security armoury at their disposal than they did 20 years ago and they are increasingly turning to hi-tech surveillance and undercover intelligence to keep them informed.

Ricky Gray, director at Resource Services Group, is a specialist security adviser for major sporting events and is currently working for UEFA advising four stadia in Poland, ahead of the Euro 2012 Championship.

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