Lessons not learned (Part god knows how many now)
This is one of those rants that I get tired of having to repeat at regular intervals. I get tired of having to say it till I'm blue in the face. I get tired of once again having to point at the emperors news clothes and state something so obvious. I will though, because it needs saying.
Despite all the lessons of Hillsborough, despite those 97 tragic deaths, lessons have still not been learned and despite shiney new all seater stadiums having been built, many of them are simply not safe. This time I need to add Stamford Bridge to that list.
I was there last night to see Chelsea v Burnley in the Carling Cup. The last time I was there was 1994 to see Barnet play there and at the time it was about half the size it is now and very different indeed. This time the crowd was double what it was then and I simply don't understand how so many people are being allowed in and out of that stadium with such blatantly inadequat access and egress areas.
Stamford Bridge is located in a rabit warren of residential streets, hemmed in by houses and with only two main approaches off the Fulham Road and a further one, I understand, to the North just off some very narrow streets indeed. Through these three gates some 42,000 people are expected to pass. If one of these was to have serious incident there would quite clearly be problems, and that's before we even get to the turnstile areas.
These were absolute bloody chaos. 6000 Burnley fans (who I was in with) were asked to pass through just 6 turnstiles. That is totally inadequate. In addition queing for these broke down because the police (in their infinite wisdom) hurded evereyone into one queue not bothering to say that there were seperate entrances for the upper and lower tier which were seperated by a metal fence. End up on the wrong side of it and you were in trouble. Fence to one side, mounted police the other, wrong turnstile in front and a huge queue behind you.
Nice one inspector knacker.
One harrassed steward (who did not appear to speak English) was trying to sort this mess out.
Piss poor organisation like that is how accidents happen.
I wont go into detail about the tiny corridors and exits, I'm sure you get the picture by now.
Many stadiums are so much safer than they were 20 years ago, there is no doubt about that. Wembley, Old Trafford, Villa Park at the top end and examples all the way down. But death traps do still exist and I believe it is only a matter of time before some one gets seriously hurt.
Showing posts with label Hillsborough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hillsborough. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Lessons Not Learned
I'm afraid that it's time for me to return to one of my pet rants, and that is that it is abundantly clear that in many places the lessons of the Hillsborough disaster have simply not been learned.
Hillsborough was caused by far more than just terraces and permiter fences. It was the whole design of the stadium and negligence of the worst kind in how crowds were policed and stewarded.
Football clubs have had 19 years now to put their house in order in this respect, to ensure that crowds can come and watch football in safety and not feel at risk of being involved in an accident that could send them home in an ambulance or worse, a body bag. This may sound over dramatic but lets not forget that 97 people died at Hillsborough and 52 at Valley Parade. Those are are shocking numbers.
And so that is why I was utterly disgusted when I went to Loftus Road yesterday to see QPR v Preston North End and found myself in what I can only describe as a death trap, the upper tier of the "school end". I was there as a strict neutral although in with the North End fans (friend of mine is a season ticket holder there).
So what was wrong exactly?
Lets start with getting in, to acces the turnstiles you are invited to que down a very narrow alley way with no exit other than from the way in to it at the back or the turnstiles at the other end. Any delays and that alley way is going to get seriously packed out, and by the way there were no stewards or police keeping an eye on how many people were moving down it that I could see (there may have been CCTV watching this, but I couldn't see any cameras). Now the capacity of the upper tier is 1200 and judging by the numbers in there it must have been 90% full, lets say 1000+ people trying to get in (regardless of the ticket collection fiasco, but that's another story), and how many turnstiles did the club decide to open? Er..... 2 out of the 6 they had there. That's right 500 people per turnstile. To get a license to run a stadium you are meant to have an absolute max of 400 people per turnstile.
On finally getting through the turnstiles you have to go up an extremely steep and narrow stair case which the stewards were allowing people to hang around on looking for their friends. Now yes these fans should nothavebeen so stupid but the stewards should havebene shifting them and quickly, because this was bloody dangerous.
Now the turnstiles and the stewarding of the stairs are operational issues and can be easily fixed, (although the alley way is a disgrace) but now let us turn to the upper tier itself, the designof which is sickening.
On getting to the upper tie you find yourself on a concourse that is poorly lit, extremely narrow and horribly crowded. Just how cramped is it? The toilets are tucked underneath the seating and there were areas of those toilets that I could not stand up straight in. The way the bars stick out means that there is horrible crushing when people are trying to get a drink or food, and the stewards were doing naff all about if. The exit was in a different place to the entrance, which is potentially disasetrous in the event of needing to evacuate quickly (ie very confusing).
The seated areas themselves are steep, not the steepest I've encountered, but the steepest I've encountered with out any kind of rail to hold when going up and down. The seats are tiny and people are packed in like sardines. I would hate to have to get out of there in a hurry.
The experience of attending a game here can't be put into words, you would have to go yourself, although I would by no means recomend it.
People have died and it seems that in places only lip service is being paid to the lessons that came from it.
I'm afraid that it's time for me to return to one of my pet rants, and that is that it is abundantly clear that in many places the lessons of the Hillsborough disaster have simply not been learned.
Hillsborough was caused by far more than just terraces and permiter fences. It was the whole design of the stadium and negligence of the worst kind in how crowds were policed and stewarded.
Football clubs have had 19 years now to put their house in order in this respect, to ensure that crowds can come and watch football in safety and not feel at risk of being involved in an accident that could send them home in an ambulance or worse, a body bag. This may sound over dramatic but lets not forget that 97 people died at Hillsborough and 52 at Valley Parade. Those are are shocking numbers.
And so that is why I was utterly disgusted when I went to Loftus Road yesterday to see QPR v Preston North End and found myself in what I can only describe as a death trap, the upper tier of the "school end". I was there as a strict neutral although in with the North End fans (friend of mine is a season ticket holder there).
So what was wrong exactly?
Lets start with getting in, to acces the turnstiles you are invited to que down a very narrow alley way with no exit other than from the way in to it at the back or the turnstiles at the other end. Any delays and that alley way is going to get seriously packed out, and by the way there were no stewards or police keeping an eye on how many people were moving down it that I could see (there may have been CCTV watching this, but I couldn't see any cameras). Now the capacity of the upper tier is 1200 and judging by the numbers in there it must have been 90% full, lets say 1000+ people trying to get in (regardless of the ticket collection fiasco, but that's another story), and how many turnstiles did the club decide to open? Er..... 2 out of the 6 they had there. That's right 500 people per turnstile. To get a license to run a stadium you are meant to have an absolute max of 400 people per turnstile.
On finally getting through the turnstiles you have to go up an extremely steep and narrow stair case which the stewards were allowing people to hang around on looking for their friends. Now yes these fans should nothavebeen so stupid but the stewards should havebene shifting them and quickly, because this was bloody dangerous.
Now the turnstiles and the stewarding of the stairs are operational issues and can be easily fixed, (although the alley way is a disgrace) but now let us turn to the upper tier itself, the designof which is sickening.
On getting to the upper tie you find yourself on a concourse that is poorly lit, extremely narrow and horribly crowded. Just how cramped is it? The toilets are tucked underneath the seating and there were areas of those toilets that I could not stand up straight in. The way the bars stick out means that there is horrible crushing when people are trying to get a drink or food, and the stewards were doing naff all about if. The exit was in a different place to the entrance, which is potentially disasetrous in the event of needing to evacuate quickly (ie very confusing).
The seated areas themselves are steep, not the steepest I've encountered, but the steepest I've encountered with out any kind of rail to hold when going up and down. The seats are tiny and people are packed in like sardines. I would hate to have to get out of there in a hurry.
The experience of attending a game here can't be put into words, you would have to go yourself, although I would by no means recomend it.
People have died and it seems that in places only lip service is being paid to the lessons that came from it.
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