Why am I writing this blog

Hi. Let me start off by introducing myself. I am The Secret Steward. The reason for creating this blog (and associated streams) is to give people an insight into what sports grounds and other entertainment premises are really like, but more specifically the part of them which involves keeping people safe within them is really like.

However before that let me give you a bit of Background about me. I am someone with a background in Sports Ground Safety, Health & Safety, and Public Safety. I have worked for over 10 years on and off, in venues as large as over 70,000 people and as small as less then 1000 people. I have searched, monitored, advised, enforced, reported and ejected people. I have mainly worked in sports and entertainment venues, but have knowledge of others through work in regulatory enforcement. As a steward I am qualified to NVQ level 2 – basically what would be referred to as an ordinary steward. I will publish a piece at a later date on what this entails, as well as all other roles within the safety management structure. I am not SIA accredited – meaning I do not possess a security licence and am not specifically trained to carry out full body searches upon people entering venues.

That is not a list of everything I have done as either a steward or a regulator. But it should show you that I can be trusted to know what I am talking about. But I suppose the question is why am I writing it? The answer is complex but also very simple. Throughout my life I have garnered a lot of knowledge. Sometimes that knowledge is useful straight away, such as how to carry out a specific task or how to complete a certain activity. But sometimes that knowledge has no immediate apparent use.and simply sits, stored in our brains for years without ever being required. However, one day you could find yourself in a situation where that knowledge turns out to be useful, or even critical to your wellbeing. That is what the topics covered in this blog will hopefully give you – knowledge that can help both consciously and subconsciously when you might least expect it – say in sports ground or entertainment venue.

So this blog is not intended to be used as an alternative instruction manual for stewards, or a way for people to get around, or avoid following safety procedures. It is written to give you an understanding of what is being done of what is going on and why specific things are going on around you when you are in a venue in order to keep you safe, and to give you a better chance of keeping yourselves safe.. I also hope it may encourage you to look in more detail into the topics and subjects involved to both expand your knowledge and increase your awareness of an often undervalued industry.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy.

The Secret Steward

What being a Steward Involves

Hi.

So for this second blog, I wanted to focus on what I do in my role as a steward. This will expand on some of the things I talked about in Blog 1.

Firstly my role is what is known as a General or Matchday Safety Steward. My job on matchdays is to help and support spectators, advise and enforce ground regulations, monitor and report any issues in my area and to assist in dealing with an emergencies or evacuations of the stadium.

So in terms of helping and supporting spectators; where i am positioned for a particular event will determine what this involves. There are three main positions I can be expected to be; by a turnstile, on a concourse or in a vomitory.

If I am positioned by an entry point (or turnstile) then it will be my job to ensure spectators can access the stadium quickly and efficiently and that anyone with a ticketing issue is directed to the correct location for assistance. If I am positioned on a concourse (the internal area where bars/food outlets and other amenities are placed) then my job will be to deal with any direct enquiries or complaints record these and/or pass them to a supervisor or stadium control for action. If I am in a vomitory (the entrance from the concourse into the seating area) then my job will be to check tickets, welcome spectators and direct them to where their seat is.

But being a welcomer and helper is not the only role.

The second key part of our job is to monitor and enforce ground regulations. This will involve checking spectators around us - do they look like they are comfortable in their surroundings, are they acting as you would expect people to act, are they doing something that they are not permitted to. A good example of this is that here in the UK smoking and the use of E-Cigarettes are not permitted inside commercial premises. Therefore if someone is potted using these substances/devices our role is to advise them that they should not be doing this and ask them to cease. This may sound normal and even quite a simple task, but when there are people who are not used to our smoking laws such as supporters from abroad then it can be quite challenging to explain the reasons for this.

A second is that the sport I mainly steward at is regulated by the Government that no alcoholic substances may be consumed when in view of the pitch. What this means is that bars and restaurants within the stadium can serve alcohol, but it cannot be drunk whilst watching the event. When you are trained as a steward in the UK one of the most key things you are taught is how to spot someone trying to bring alcohol to their seats.

The third area involving dealing with emergencies and evacuations, i will deal with in a separate blog where I will also talk about a couple of the examples where things have gone seriously wrong.

Thanks and until next time……..

A Day as a Steward

Hi

For this post I thought I would take you through my day as a Steward. I am using the place I work most often for this and will give you a little bit of specific information to help with painting the picture in your head.

Where I work most of the time is at Football matches. Most of these take place in a stadium in a large UK city. The stadium has a capacity of over 45,000 spectators and was originally built over 20 years ago. It has multiple levels of seating, as well as various levels of corporate hospitality.

To make things a little easier, we are going to base this on a match kicking off on a Saturday at 3PM.

For a kick off at this time I would need to be inside the stadium and ready to start at least 3 hours prior to the kick off time, so 12PM (or Midday) in this case. I would leave home about 1 hour prior to this to ensure I am there in time.

At, or just after 12PM all stewards receive their ‘Pre Match Briefing’. The briefing lasts around 20 minutes and is given by a Senior Supervisor or more often a Stand Manager (I will cover what these roles are and what they do in a later blog). The numbers of these roles depend on the size of the stadium but in this one there are 5 Stand Managers (one for each stand, plus a separate one for the section occupied by away team supporters). The briefing covers all areas specific to this fixture including but not limited to: Number of away fans, their location, how they are travelling, any specific intelligence relating to behaviour. Also who the referee/match officials are, whether the game is on UK tv or not (all games are broadcast live internationally), the colour of Single Match accreditation passes for this fixture and a variety of other bits of information which might be useful.

Once this briefing is complete we are assigned out positions for the game and told who our DIRECT supervisor will be. We then go to the level/sections our positions are on and if on a concourse or vomitory (but not if on a turnstile or the pitch perimeter) we will carry out a ‘sweep’ of the area, which basically means a walkthrough and visual inspection of the level, looking out for any damage or for anything unusual.

Once this is complete we go to our post. This has to be before 1PM as that is that is two hours prior to kick off and is when the gates open and spectators can enter the stadium. And aside from getting a drink or using the toilet we are on post continuously until all spectators have left and we are stood own - usually around 30 to 40 minutes after the full time whistle has gone (by 5:30PM). We then carry out another ‘sweep’ of the same area as earlier. Following this we return to the area of our earlier briefing and wait to be released, which is when our shit ends. This is ususally by 17:45PM.

I will go into some of the parts of this in more detail at a later point.

But until then……….Thanks and see you next time……..