A story in KUMB.com yesterday told a worrying story that a security firm charged with supplying stewards for the Premier League match between West Ham and Stoke at the London Stadium has allegedly asked for ’10 good lads’ to join their team.
A text message, understood to have been issued by a Heathrow-based security firm earlier today was forwarded to KUMB.com by a concerned season ticket holder, who had themselves been forwarded the missive by a club doorman who was one of the original recipients.
And rather than seeking standard security staff, when pressed the sender of the text is understood to have told the doorman in question that they were looking for individuals with “cage-fighting backgrounds, or similar” reported KUMB.com.
“Guys, as you might of seen on the news lately West Ham have been having problems with trouble,” read the text. “I’ve been asked to take 10 GOOD lads in there this Saturday start 11.30-18.30. “I’d like you to join me if your free? We will be going in and taking people out of there seats and handing them over to the police. These are people that are being band from the stadium.”
The club have denied all knowledge of such an arrangement saying there had been ‘absolutely no contact’ on the subject presumably with the stadium operators.
ClaretandHugh contacted the stadium operators, London Stadium 185 this morning to be told by their spokesman: “Response team members must hold an SIA license and be of good character. There is categorically no requirement for any specialist training”
We also contacted stewarding company OCS but have yet to receive a reply from the press office.
I can’t help but laugh if the report is true which is very doubtful. For one thing the access cards can be denied at the gates and the stewards that maintain the gates can tell them to head to the ticket office, secondly there is enough bad publicity already, although it is always dangerous to underestimate the stupidity of people but to advertise for unvetted security guards for a one off occaision would seem ridiculous wouldn’t it ?
Knowing how this stewarding/security operation has worked so far I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it is true but I genuinely laughed when I read this article because it seems like something out of a comedy sketch 😀
I can just see the headlines now troubled Olympic Stadium recruits cage fighters to fight war on hooligans ! (by Dan Roan and his grinding axe) I am sure there are better ones so feel free to add your own 😉
I think the challenge is there is no database of what our fans look like. If people were sitting in their regular season ticket seat they can cross reference on previous games to check it is the same person to ensure they ban the right person.
Most of the people in Sir Trevor Brooking Lower where the trouble occurred were not season ticket holders and were not sitting in their assigned seat. I doubt the club what to publish photos of 200 wanted fans some of which who could be innocent so they will be on the look out for certain persons of interest. I would imagine some mug shots will be handed out to response teams. Whether they need cage fighters is another matter. My own personal opinion is this is a response steward supervisor low down on the management food chain sending out a text message. To be fair I have seen some door men and gym types already at the London Stadium and we had similar types at the Boleyn Ground.
Yeah Sean, this why I suggested that all season ticket holders / claret members should have a photocard id, seems the most sensible solution and when you factor in what is paid for the cards themselves not an unreasonable request. No doubt people will complain as they always do but there are enough photos of everyone available i.e. passports, drivers licenses etc that it cannot seriously be considered an invasion of privacy to expect st holders and claret members to have that information on their records, so long as the information is kept secure and not used for any other purpose or shared I can’t see any problem with it.
I’m feeling like this has become a soap opera to rival ‘Enders’….. every day there is a new twist….I keep forgetting about the football……
Lol oh this story is priceless.It definately takes the biscuit.What are we going to be told next,that America are flying in all their top wrestlers to become stewards 😀