In a move that should send a stern warning to security agencies to always efficiently carry out their duties, the FA has fired the security team responsible for ensuring the safety of England’s players. Members of the British team raised concerns about their safety while staying at the central London hotel. The team is currently there as they await their last-16 clash at Wembley.
What happened?
Members of the team, being coached by Gareth Southgate raised their concerns following an incident in which 50 fans were allowed to crowd a team bus on June 13, the night before their first game against Croatia earlier this month.
What may have seemed like a simple case of fans showing support for their team has led to G4S losing their contract. Following the breach of security, several players from the team said that they felt unsafe. On top of that, allowing such a crowd to gather could have increased their risk for contracting the Covid-19 virus. G4S will no longer be responsible for the England team for the rest of the tournament but they still have a security contract with the FA for other operations.
Due to the Government’s Covid-19 regulations at least two serious security breaches were committed when the crowd was not dispersed.
Some of the people who were able to witness the event agreed that the scenes were quite “chaotic”. Since it happened, additional security measures have been implemented which include barriers that have been installed around the hotel entrance. Incident barriers have also been put up where the team bus is parked.
What were the consequences?
It also meant a big blow for the security team that had secured the contract to protect the players. Shortly after the concerns were raised the FA communicated with UEFA and expressed their lack of confidence in the security team that had been appointed for the tournament.
The new team is made up of officers from Hans Global, which usually is responsible for the security at St George’s Park. That team is said to be very well experienced with just under ten years of security enforcement and crowd control.
Hans Global was supposed to be used further down in the tournament as an additional layer of security but the FA decided to have them start immediately following the incident. The decision also means that UEFA will now foot their own security bill. They had previously been paying for the cost of security for all 24 teams registered in the tournament.
Let’s hope that G4S learns a very public and damaging lesson from their sacking and improves in the future!
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