The United Cricket Board of South Africa has always been associated with the setting of new standards for international cricket and local sports, in the latter area being at the forefront in regard to integration of our diverse populace.
During 2003 it faces a new challenge in the form of the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) which, in a country which is associated, in certain quarters, with high levels of crime, the eyes of the international sporting community will be on South Africa to determine whether it is capable of hosting even larger sporting events such as World Cup Soccer or the Olympics. The cricket authorities and our Government (who have classified the 2003 series as a 'major event') are very aware of these sensitivities and many months of planning and capital expenditure are going a long way in ensuring that there are zero serious security incidents.
The potential of hosting even larger international sporting events should take nothing away from the unprecedented scale of next year's Cricket World Cup. Fourteen international cricket teams (each with a full contingent of support staff and, in some cases, spouses) will participate in 54 games in 15 African stadia, 12 in South Africa, two in Zimbabwe and one in Kenya. It is expected that the number of spectators could approach 800 000 over the scheduled 44 days with several tens of thousands of these being overseas fans. The spectacular event will start with the opening ceremony at Newlands on 8 February 2003 and will end with the final to be held at the Wanderers on 23 March.
While a major responsibility of the organisers will be to ensure the safety of the public and cricket fans, they have an additional mandate as hosts, to ensure the security of all the invited VIPs (In terms of specific clauses to the Hosts Agreement signed between the UCB and the ICC). Besides the participating teams this includes 19 international cricket umpires and referees, presidents and CEOs from the participating cricket bodies as well as delegates from some of the 21 nonparticipating cricket organisations. In addition they will have heads of State (current and past), presidents from the International Olympic Committee, International Rugby Federation, FIFA, international sporting ambassadors, presidents of various international sports federations and VIPs representing the many international sponsors and other stakeholders of the sport of cricket.
Fully representative
The first stage in the security logistics 'Game plan' for the Cricket World Cup was the creation of a Security Directorate in March last year, thus allowing for a more than 20 month roll-out of the detailed safety and security mandate for the event. The Chairman of this Directorate is Patrick Ronan, a lawyer by profession who is well known in the security industry for his marked impact on security industry regulatory matters whilst CEO of the Security Officers' Interim Board (now the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority). His colleagues on the Security Directorate includes Randall Howard (COSATU and SATAWU) and Mzwandile Simon (SATAWU), Rory Steyn (formally head of Madiba's personal protection unit), Director Ben van Deventer (SAPS major event safety and security expert), Peter Birch (Chartered Accountant) and Malcolm Tarbitt, logistics director for CWC 2003 (previously involved in security logistics for the Cape Town Olympics bid and the 2006 Soccer World Cup bid). The Directorate is thus not only highly competent but is fully representative of all interested parties, including the cricket authorities, the state law enforcement agencies, organised labour and the private sector.
While the intention is to keep security during the event as unobtrusive and people-friendly as possible, there will be some features that fans of the sport may find unfamiliar. The novel CWC access control and ticketing system has been described elsewhere in this issue, but the turnstiles will be preceded by airport-type walk-through metal detectors to prevent supporters bringing any dangerous items into the grounds. (These metal detectors were piloted for the recent games against Australia at both the Wanderers and Potchefstroom and were found not to impede free flow of spectators into the grounds).
Enhance security and safety
A complete ban, as is the case already at certain grounds, will exist on the carrying into the stadia of any bottles or cans. Beer, wine and cool drinks will be on sale inside the grounds but will be sold in plastic cups. For those steadfast supporters who want to braai during the game, leave your skottel at home; these will not be allowed through the turnstiles. Instead the organisers will provide 'Cadac' corners for this particularly South African cricket trait. There will be a list of restricted items that will be widely published in the media prior to the events but these will not nearly be as demanding as that now required by airports and airlines.
Incidentally, cricket authorities worldwide have seen a gradual change in the profile of spectators at test cricket and one-day events. In the latter case the crowd tends to be more boisterous, and unruly incidents have been correlated with a fall-off in the number of minors attending these matches. The UCB wants to ensure that children of all races can attend without being subjected to unacceptable adult behaviour [and language]. It is also hoped that the enhanced security and safety systems installed for the Cricket World Cup will remain as a legacy for the South African cricket watching public and should help address abuses of the rights of the majority, including children.
The Directorate has also addressed safety within the stadia and each venue will have in place its own 'disaster' management plan. New self-illuminating emergency signage is being installed at all grounds, and spectators will be provided with safety instruction information. In addition safety announcements will be made over loudspeaker systems and it is planned to use the large-screen TVs (where these are available) to promote safety issues. Safety certification of all venues by local councils and fire authorities has also been mandated and comprehensive audits have taken place on fire extinguishing equipment. In the event of an emergency (such as a fire in a suite) the pitch itself is often the safest place for spectators to be. While it has become customary to ring-fence the pitch to prevent crowd invasions (which will still be the case during CWC), all stadiums are in the process of being modified to introduce additional access points that can be opened by security personnel in the event of an emergency .
As South Africans we have become accustomed to being crammed very close together at cricket matches, especially at those grounds that still have grass spectator areas. This problem will be addressed during Cricket World Cup through the erection of approved and certified temporary stands at some venues. Where grass areas are still utilised the number of tickets issued for such space will be restricted, so that the international norm of one square metre of space per person is adhered to. This will hopefully remain the status quo for all 12 local venues after the completion of this tournament.
All of the local stadia will be monitored with CCTV, the intention being that there will be eight cameras per event with full digital recording facilities. In the interest of all supporters, fractious incidents and unseemly behaviour will be monitored, pre-empted and where necessary, followed up with serious consequences for the perpetrators.
With a fair but always limited budget, and with 15 venues to cover, a unique approach has been taken to the purchase of the CCTV systems. All the stadia will be networked for TV monitoring but only six full high-quality CCTV systems will be purchased (five operational plus one spare). These will be moved from event to event and set up for the specific games. After the World Cup Series is over the six sets will then be installed permanently at South Africa's six major cricket venues and will provide ongoing security for South African cricket. Along with the legacy of ticketing and access control systems this will allow the UCB to take a world-lead in the provision of security and safety at all cricket matches.
Grooming for the future
Although the individual stadia will be responsible for the hiring of private security companies and personnel, the Directorate has determined the level of competence of the people that will be used. They have produced a very comprehensive manual entitled 'Competency-based training modules ICC Cricket World Cup', and this, aside from the normal statutory security officer training requirements, must be used by all event security providers to train staff for the events. The outcome is expected to be the creation of a pool of skilled sports venue security/safety personnel for future sporting events, and it is expected that the training document itself will, in due course, be approved by the relevant authorities and become a 'bible' for use at all sporting events.
While the organisers have put a massive amount of their own effort into security with a capital budget of some R17 million, Patrick Ronan points out that it is a joint initiative with full co-operation of both private and public resources, the latter including the SAPS, NIA, and Metro law enforcement agencies. The SAPS for example will be responsible for the screening of venues for explosives using dogs and other technologies. Police units will also provide close protection officers for heads and former heads of State and other VIPs. For obvious reasons details of all security measures that will be in place during the event are not available for publication.
There is no doubt that 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating' and we must wait until 2003 to see what the World Cup will bring (no one predicted the Twin Towers tragedy). All that can be said is that a tremendous job has been done so far by the organisers in addressing security and safety issues while ensuring that cricket remains as it always was, a spectator-friendly sport.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.
printer friendly version