Football scrambles for answers as fan disorder continues
A return to perimeter fencing is not the answer to tackling pitch invasions and would represent “a failure of us all”, the UK’S football policing lead has said.
Recent matches in the Premier League and the EFL have been marred by pitch invasions – and in some cases fans have clashed with players and other club staff after coming onto the field.
Newcastle manager Eddie
Howe has warned a failure to tackle the issue could end in tragedy, while the Professional Footballers’ Association has called on the football and police authorities to take a tough stance on anyone invading the pitch.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs’ Council football policing lead, says clubs will need to look at investment in physical measures which can deter pitch invasions alongside strong sanctions for those who behave violently on the pitch.
However, he said there was no way bringing back fencing
– a regular feature at football grounds until the 1989 Hillsborough disaster – could be the answer.
“No-one wants fences around the ground. That will be, frankly, an absolute failure of us all if we ever went back to a situation where there were fences around the ground," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It's not safe, we don’t want it and we’d like to think we can manage it without that.
“I think sadly the clubs may have to look at some sort of investment about how do you keep people off the playing surface without erecting fences?
“You see some mechanisms that are around Wembley, which make it difficult for people to get on the pitch quickly, which seems to be quite effective. They can be collapsed in need of emergency should you need to evacuate people on the pitch. So I think it’s incumbent on us all to look at a range of measures.”
Howe said urgent action had to be taken by the authorities in order to avoid “potential tragedy”.
His Crystal Palace counterpart Patrick Vieira was involved in an altercation after Everton fans invaded the pitch and goaded him at Goodison Park on Thursday after a 3-2 win which guaranteed their Premier League survival.