RIO NOT SO GRAND
England squad’s dilapidated hotel next to gangland slum causes ‘real concerns’ for players welfare
ENGLISH Football Association chiefs have ‘real concerns’ over the safety of their World Cup stars in Brazil, according to the man in charge of protecting the team. FA head of security Tony Conniford said senior figures in the England set-up were ‘freaking out’ over reports of crime and violence from Rio’s gang-ridden shanty towns, or favelas, the largest of which, Rocinha, is near England’s hotel.
He also raised the astonishing prospect that England stars such as Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard could be stuck on the team bus for up to four hours in gridlocked traffic as they travel nine miles to and from their training base.
While officially the FA say they are ‘fully confident’ in security arrangements, former policeman Conniford’s comments, overheard by a reporter in the bar of the England hotel in Rio, raise questions about preparations.
Conniford’s assessment was delivered in a loud voice to a Brazilian colleague and was overheard by a Mail reporter who was close by. A 30-year veteran of Essex Police, Conniford told the Brazilian, an exmilitary officer: ‘The problems here have been all over the papers. It’s bad. I get calls from management, from my bosses at the FA, freaking out saying, “Tony, are you sure it’s safe?”
‘They ask me, “Is this really going to be safe for the team?” They are worried. These are real concerns.
‘We have to be extra vigilant. We cannot afford to make any mistakes. Security must be paramount.’ Conniford’s comments – coming just a month before the tournament kicks off – raise serious question marks over the FA’s decision to base themselves in central Rio. England’s hotel, the ageing Royal Tulip, is rated by travel website TripAdvisor as only the 93rd best in the city.
Only one other team – Holland, who will train much closer to their hotel – are based in the city, while Germany have built their own private beach resort to stay in.
Conniford told his colleague that a nine-mile trip between the squad’s training base in a military camp at Sao Joao Fort in Urca in the shadow of Sugarloaf mountain and the hotel had taken him two hours. He said: ‘The traffic is awful. Even with a police escort it will be a nightmare.
‘The roads are terrible. The traffic is my biggest worry. This is a logistical nightmare. We have to work on how we get the team from A to B without getting held up.
‘We will be stuck in traffic the whole time.’
The airport, where the England players and their retinue, totalling no fewer than 78 people, will have to travel to to get to their group games, is even further away.
Mr Conniford said he also had concerns about security within the Urca military base when England were training. He told the Brazilian: ‘Your guys need to know they can challenge anyone to see their badges. They must check and re-check every-
Once in, you can go direct to the players’ bedrooms , layers’ ms
one one.’ And on hotel secu security, he said: ‘ We c can’t afford to let anyon anyone in because once you are through that door out there you can go straight to the lift and get straight up to the players’ rooms i in no time.’
As more than 50 50,000 England fans prepa prepare to descend on Brazil, it is hard to imagine they have much idea of what actually awaits the them. A British oil worker was shot dead in a bot botched robbery last month w while a few weeks prev previous protesters marche marched on the Presidential Pala Palace in Brasilia leading to rio riots in which 12 protesters an and 30 police officers officers w were injured.
The host cities for England’s first games – Man Manaus, Sao Paolo and Belo HoriH zonte – are plagued by rob- beries, murders and muggings
Sao Paolo has its own slum problem and in Manaus, a steaming jungle city a four hour flight north of Rio, child ‘gangs’ roam the streets robbing visitors at knifepoint.
The violence shows no sign of abating. One person was shot dead on Friday as Rio police clashed with armed men in a favela close to the England hotel.
Over the past six years the Rio authorities have established 39 socalled police pacification units, or UPPs, in the favelas in an attempt to smash drug and street gangs.
Adrian Bevington, Managing Director of Club England said: ‘The FA are confident in the security arrangements in place. Tony is a vastly experienced officer and was simply overheard doing his job. He has our full support.’
Conservative MP Chris HeatonHarris , who is a qualified referee and member of the All-Party Parliamentary Football Group, said last night: ‘Like every English fan, I want our team and its management to be as safe as possible and would expect these concerns to have been addressed by now.’