The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
THE Premier Soccer League has urged clubs, who have been stung by exorbitant costs of hiring the police at their match venues, to redouble efforts to train their own stewards as a way of reducing costs.
Premiership clubs have been facing financial challenges and have, among other reasons, claimed that they were forking too much for security provided by police officers during games.
Highlanders FC took the lead by writing to the ZRP requesting a reduction in what they were demanding for their services, a request that was rebuffed by the law enforcers. Recently the club’s chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede said his club would seek assistance from the new Minister of Sport, Makhosini Hlongwane in a bid to have the police revisit their fees.
PSL chief executive officer Kenny Ndebele said the club had the alternative of training their own stewards who would handle stadium security and reduce the number of police officers required at matches.
Ndebele said there were Fifa security officers in the country who were ready to assist clubs with training their marshals while the PSL held a workshop in June for PSL security officers and one area of focus was on stewards.
“I think the world over we are seeing more stewards taking over the role of security with few police details assisting them. I think even if you look at policing in communities, there are neighborhood watch committees who are made up of civilians who have been trained adequately but are not police officers. I think it is a trend we can adopt as a league and I am sure it will reduce the clubs expenses,” said Ndebele.
Ndebele said the stewards should undergo proper training to ensure they were well equipped to handle any security situation and the course should meet minimum standards set by the police.
He said the stewards should not just be supporters who are given bibs upon entry into the stadium without having been trained, but those recruited should also go through fingerprint checks to ascertain their criminal records adding the police were ready to avail themselves for stewards training.
“As PSL we have tried to erect billboards and print flyers to discourage violence and hooliganism at football matches and I think clubs should also do their bit and also send anti-hooliganism messages to their fans. We do not want other football fans to be discouraged from attending matches because of acts of hooliganism and violence,” he said.
The PSL security officers’ workshop was attended by police officers, club officials and private security companies.
It touched on various aspects of security at stadia that included crowd management, stewards, safety and security management, role of a security officer and prohibited articles.
Local clubs mostly rely on gate-takings for income but the money is gobbled up by levies and service charges with the clubs retaining less than 50 percent of the revenue collected at the gates. Gumede insisted the payment to police officers should be scrapped.
“In the past, police were not paid as individuals, but a certain percentage was paid into the police welfare fund,” he was quoted as saying. The police are paid hourly and their rates depend on the police officer’s rank in the force.
