After nearly a decade of campaigning, West Ham fans have secured representation on the Newham council sportsground Safety Advisory Group (SAG) covering football at the London Stadium. This is great news. Up to a point.
Kevin Hind, who is the West Ham United Supporters’ Trust (WHUST) rep on the club’s Fan Advisory Board, attended his first SAG meeting last month and was able to raise issues of concern to fans.
Hind said: “I was only allowed to attend the meeting for the first item – supporter issues. As this was the first meeting where a supporter was able to sit on the SAG, I agreed to leave on the understanding that the supporter rep would be able to attend more of the meeting as trust and confidence is established.”
The Transparency Gap
The minutes of that section of the meeting were rushed through and published. The minutes of the rest of the meeting – to which fans remain excluded – won’t be published until after the next SAG meeting. Fan reps will get sight of them in advance to help raise related issues as agenda items.
Every safety issue at the stadium on matchdays affects fans – that is obvious. So the exclusion of fans from the bulk of the discussions makes no sense. But this is step one. There has been such long-term opposition to fans being involved at all that WHUST made clear it would work with whatever regime was in place and to try to build trust and rapport and demonstrate that fans take safety issues seriously.
Excluded from Key Working Groups
Fans need to be at the heart of all safety discussion on the SAG itself but also in the sub-groups and working parties. The minutes that have been published, for example, state that Newham council has a working group trying to tackle the issue of skaters colliding with, and scaring, fans.
That group includes the police, TfL, Westfield and stadium operator LS185. Despite this being an issue raised repeatedly by WHUST, fans remain excluded from this working group. That makes no sense.
The minutes also refer to an ongoing review of the controversial wall between home and away fans – again an issue persistently raised by fans since the wall was introduced without consultation. The minutes say: “Following consultation with partners and risk assessment, WHUFC & LS185 will announce the decision taken.” Again, there is no fan involvement, and none proposed.
The Legal Argument for Fan Involvement
Over time, WHUST hopes to play a full part in all the decision making surrounding stadium safety. To be clear on this, the club and the council are wrong in their opposition to fan involvement. Lord Justice Taylor said in Section 152 of his 1989 report following the deaths at Hillsborough: “A recognised supporters’ club should be members of the Advisory Group”.
The Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) says: “In addition to appropriate members of local authority staff, the SAG should include representatives of the following: Local authority, including building control, highways, environmental health and emergency planning; The sports ground being discussed – the certificate holder, safety office and any other relevant representative as necessary, such as medical provider; Police; Fire service; Medical / ambulance service; Fan representative.”
Training and Obstruction
WHUST worked hard behind the scenes to secure fan representation. Stadium safety is a complicated business with more than 40 different pieces of legislation affecting grounds. Safety issues are divided in the two areas: the physical condition of the ground (called P) and safety management (S). It also includes the areas outside the ground as fans arrive and leave (called Zone Ex).
Two board members attended the SGSA training course in Sports Ground Safety Certificates so that when fan representation was secured we could send trained people.
However, the current arrangements not only restrict what the fan reps can discuss but give the club a veto on who fans can send. The club insists it must be a FAB board member, so neither of the safety certificate trained WHUST team members can go. The club has no such veto over any other attendees at the SAG.
A Start, Not the End
Background negotiations between the Football Supporters Association (FSA), the SGSA, Newham council and the club resulted in the SAG expecting fans to attend a meeting earlier than December, but the club simply failed to pass on the invitation.
At every stage, and in every way, the club has obstructed and opposed fan representation on the SAG. WHUST believes the club has now been given way too much control. Sadly, within the FAB, WHUST was a lone voice on this, with other fan groups over-ruling WHUST’s opposition.
For WHUST, this initial fan representation is a start, but not the end. We will show doubters that fans can, and do, take safety seriously. We will prove fans can contribute in meaningful and professional ways that bring positive benefits to all concerned with safety at the London Stadium.
But we will also continue to campaign for fans across the country to have a legal right to attend SAGs and to choose who they want to represent them, without interference from their club and with no special rules that make fans second-class citizens. The safety of fans remains our first priority.
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