Joshua boxing bout left overstretched police on the ropes

HOSTING the Anthony Joshua fight in Cardiff was a “bigger challenge” for police than hosting an international rugby game between Wales and England.

The fight, in front of a crowd of 70,000 at the Principality Stadium, took place on a night there were works on the Brynglas tunnel, fewer train services due to preplanned electrification works, and a Cardiff City home game, as well as other city gigs.

Russell George AM, chair of the Assembly’s Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, had asked stakeholders to explain their part in hosting the October 28 heavyweight boxing event.

After problems with long queues after the Rugby World Cup in 2015, the Assembly put recommendations in place.

Mr George said: “The committee had hoped these would avoid a repeat of the negative headlines following sporting events.”

However, the committee said a number of media outlets reported issues.

Responses were received from the Principality Stadium, rail companies, British Transport Police and the city’s council.

They speak of the shorter-than-usual planning period for the fight, with confirmation it was happening just eight weeks before.

British Transport Police, who police the railway station and services, said the fight left them more stretched than their previous busiest event, a Wales v England rugby game.

They said there was a link between “the quality of the service provision” and “crowd dynamics and behaviour”.

“The bottom line measure is: poor services leads to poor behaviour,” they said.

Their letter added that short notice means increasing resources is a “bigger challenge” and has an impact on budgets.

“At this time, there is no possibility of recovering any costs,” they added.

The letter continued: “When service provision is either not possible, delayed or in doubt, this has a negative impact on the behaviour of the queues – even those who have not been drinking.

“Boxing events also bring a different crowd profile to Cardiff, many of whom have not been to the city, let alone the station, before and this too adds to their anxiety before they arrive with us, post-event.”

The letter also highlighted issues with closed roads at the rear of Central station.

“Road closure issues at the rear of the Central station post-event are a concern, particularly as we need to protect the long line of queuing public at the road leading under the railway bridge and this needs further discussion with both Cardiff City Council and South Wales Police.”

The letter concluded: “There is a clear need in my view for there to be a stronger joined-up approach in agreeing which events are hosted, and that there should always be more than a commercial interest to take into account.”

The fight took place on a night where electrification works were taking place.

Fewer trains were running and by the time the fight ended there were no trains running to London or Bristol, with the last Paddington-bound train leaving at 8.37pm.

Network Rail said the work had been planned well in advance since 2016 and cancelling it would have increased the costs to the taxpayer.

A joint letter from Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales and Great Western Railway says they had just eight weeks to prepare for the event.

“Late finishes to large events present a challenge for rail, as we have to balance the aspiration for delivering train services to the demanded routes whilst still delivering a service to customers the following day, with the need to refuel, maintain, repair and clean trains a key consideration.

“This event highlighted a significant challenge in this respect due to the late finish and this will be a continued key consideration for the planning of latenight events for the future.”

In his letter, Principality Stadium manager Mark Williams said the stadium had discussed the event since June and two dates were touted – October 28 or December 9 last year.

“The concerns raised around the potential impact of the planned main line possessions for electrification and upgrade works to eastbound travel postevent were not highlighted as a critical issue until the discussions with the promoter had progressed to a very advanced stage,” he wrote.

Mr Williams also said the fight time was moved forward.

After the fight there were images of lengthy queues for taxis in the city. A number of reports of waits of hours were made, but the stadium manager said they were “grossly exaggerated”.