Hard-up football clubs that do not keep their security and safety equipment in good repair may suffer an incident, the co-author of a new book fears. Mark Rowe writes.
Jim Chalmers was writing in More Safety and Security at Sports Grounds, a new paparback heโs co-authored with another former policeman, Steve Frosdick, said that his club Kidderminster nearly went bust last year; most lower league clubs are struggling to pay the bills, let alone equip stewards with radios and maintain CCTV and the public address. Jim Chalmers wrote: โI know of some clubs where lack of funding has meant the ground and safety systems have been allowed to deteriorate. I fear therefore it will not be too long before there will be a serious incident at a lower league ground where the main contributory cause will be the lack of proper maintenance.โ<br><br>Jim Chalmers is the president of the Football Safety Officers Association (FSOA, www.fsoa.org.uk) and the deputy safety officer of Kidderminster FC, who play in the Blue Square Premier, the fifth tier of English football. As a senior former West Midlands Police officer he was the match day commander at first-tier club Aston Villa FC. He was also an inspector with the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) which has been licensing grounds as part of reforms after the Hillsborough disaster. The FLA will formally become the Sports Grounds Safety Authority later this year. <br><br>Jim also tackles other controversies in the sports and venue security field, such as persistent standing by fans in all-seater football stadia. To allow safe standing in the top two divisions of football is feasible, he writes. โThe design and control measures already exist for the provision of safe standing. All that is necessary to give the fans what they want is a bold step and a leap of faith by government responding positively to the call for a return of safe standing.โ<br><br>Ranged against such a view is the political matter that all-seater stadia in the higher leagues of England, after the crushing to death of 96 fans in a FA Cup semi-final at the Sheffield Wednesday ground, Hillsbrough, in 1989. While Jim Chalmers writes that it is unreasonable to use Hillsbrough as a reason against standing on terraces: โI believe the time is right to look forward and not keep looking over our shoulders at the spectre of Hillsbrough.โ However (editor Mark Rowe writes), it may be that politicians are wary of a bad press, and criticism from victims of Hillsbrough if standing was allowed again.<br><br>About the book – <br><br>More Safety and Security at Sports Grounds, by Jim Chalmers and Steve Frosdick, published by Paragon Publishing 2011, £20. ISBN 978-1-907611-98-8. Visit Steve Frosdick’s website –
