Croke Park Supports Barrier Advice

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Croke Park Supports Barrier Advice
Following a detailed review of issues arising from the Leinster football final and in response to increasing concerns regarding spectator safety, specifically in relation to the departure of patrons from Croke Park, the Ard Chomhairle of the GAA yesterday endorsed a recommendation from An Coiste Bainistí to increase the height of the front barrier at the Nally/Dineen Terrace (to 2.8m).
In yesterday's statement the GAA also pointed out the threat to supporters after a pitch invasion in relation to their ability to leave the field in an orderly and safe manner.
The former waist-high barrier will now be raised along what was formerly the Railway End of the ground.

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The Case For The Fence
As the GAA plans to put Hill 16 behind the wire, Ewan MacKenna hears both sides of the argument.

Back in the days of the old Croke Park, the Sunday Tribune brought Dr Phil Scraton, author of Hillsborough: The Truth and an expert in stadia safety, along to Hill 16. What he found was disturbing, with the terrace being a danger to all who bought tickets on it. Amongst his many concerns was the fence at the front. Not only was it strange that a stadium in that day and age would place a metal barrier between a terrace and the playing field, but he was taken aback by the height of the fence as well. It was a death trap.

So, last Saturday, when he received news of the GAA's decision to again erect a barrier in front of the new and far safer Hill 16, it was a cause for concern. Twenty years after the Taylor Report on the Hillsborough disaster – a document that banned the use of perimeter fencing more than 2.2 metres high in British stadia – the GAA announced that a 2.8 metre barrier will be erected in time for the All Ireland semi-final between Kildare and Down.

One of the men behind the decision was Croke Park Stadium Director Peter McKenna. He describes it as a last resort that is built for supporter safety, not in spite of it, and says it passes all required safety standards. So, is the fence the best form of attack from an organisation that puts an agenda before tradition and safety or is the GAA saving supporters from themselves?

If we don't learn from history, are we doomed to repeat it?
Phil Scraton: The most appropriate, quickest exit from a terrace is onto the pitch. All studies show that. If you'd had a perimeter fence at Bradford in 1985 then hundreds would have died instead of 56. At Hillsborough there is clear evidence that had there not been perimeter fences more would have survived. And like the GAA are doing, there were emergency gates in the fences at Hillsborough but there has to be a judgement about opening them and time is everything. The argument is always going to be about whether movement is restricted and if you are going to do that, then you are sacrificing safety. That is happening here and one of my concerns about Croke Park is that the safety issue doesn't appear to have been paramount. Nothing happened at Hillsborough or Bradford for 100 years and then it did. It's the idea that you become complacent with safety that is disturbing.

Peter McKenna: The dynamics of what happened at Hillsborough were about different activities that came together with tragic consequences. The Taylor Report that followed it didn't come out against fences but said they should be openable. But the recommendation out of Taylor was grounds should be all seated, crowds should be segregated and ideally fences would be removed but they hadn't contemplated terracing. So what we are looking at here is a whole conflict of competing objectives. We want to have as many people as possible coming to Croke Park, maintain the value accommodation but also look at safety. Well-designed gates with proper safety features are not intrinsically dangerous and they are allowed. In fact I think it's dangerous to bring in the example of Hillsborough, something extraordinarily emotive, and say there is a commonality because the dynamics of the two situations are different.

A mountain out of the Hill?
Phil Scraton: By just doing this in front of Hill 16 is making a bad situation, because it involves fencing, worse. If you say there's one area of the ground where people can't get onto the pitch, then what are they going to do? There is a tradition there of getting on the pitch so it cannot be about fencing, it's about stewarding the crowd and controlling it and making sure there is safe movement. Is it beyond the GAA to manage a crowd appropriately? You'll always get the situation where someone in the heat of the moment goes for an official but the exception should not change the rule which is safety first. I would say to the GAA that in the most enjoyable of circumstances, literally in minutes, issues of fatal consequence can occur without anyone seeing them at that moment so we have to think in advance. Four to six minutes is all crush asphyxia takes.

Peter McKenna: In terms of an emergency, and God forbid, a train crash is most likely which would demand an immediate evacuation through the front of Hill 16. There has been this risk assessment and risk analysis so this is not a whimsical construction. The doors need to be manually quick released and the fence needs to be able to open. Both of those features will be accommodated. We could have reduced the capacity and seated Hill 16 but we would have disenfranchised the best part of 6,000 people. So we retained capacity, tried not to reduce the sightline and put in place a fence compliant with UK code and Irish code. If there is an emergency the call to open the gates is with the event controller and if there's a serious emergency he passes responsibility to the senior Garda on duty so there are protocols set up. Also all of our major stewards are trained to Vetec level six and everyone stewarding has Vetec accreditation.

Exit stage right. Or left?
Phil Scraton: Once people are on the pitch, then okay, because at GAA matches there is no real crowd hostility. People understand instructions so it's about educating the crowd and having well-trained stewards to calmly direct people away from danger. The GAA president was talking about the All Ireland final in 2008 and the crowd congestion on Jones's Road and it was incredible you didn't have deaths. So if we have the crowd on the pitch, then it's about telling people to move in certain ways and making sure that's enforced because that's always a worry with any stadia built in an old-fashioned back-to-back housing area.

Peter McKenna: I'd like to allay the myth of allowing us to manage the crowd better and let people on the pitch. The capacity of the pitch for the U2 concert was 22,000. To take everyone onto the pitch from the lower tiers and Hill 16 is over 40,000 so the pitch doesn't have the capacity to hold that number. And unseen to everyone in our stadium is the compromising of our exits and the number of people that move onto Jones's Road. It would be possible to manage people out of the stadium if we were dealing with individuals who are compliant but that is not the case.

Don't fence me in?
Phil Scraton: You have to think of the unthinkable. There are reasons there were recommendations to not have fences and there's no way I'd ever ascribe to any arrangement when crowds are penned in and the best way of their escape is blocked, for any period of time. You manage people with people, not with a fence. This idea we are surrounding by crazy, volatile crowds doesn't wash with me. You are there with passionate crowds but they can still be sensible and to heighten tension in any way is folly. You can't tell people they have to stay in a cage. For these big events the GAA has got the funding, the capacity, the know-how and that should mean they can manage a crowd safely without resorting to fencing. Instead Croke Park is taking a risk which isn't good enough.

Peter McKenna: We've been trying for seven years is promote the idea that pitch invasions are inherently dangerous but they are still happening and the concern is players, officials and fans. When crowds come on in that type of stampede fashion, the danger of someone falling and being walked on, particularly at the double barrier we currently have at Hill 16, is massive. Safety consultants pointed out that it is our most pressing concern. I can tell you hand on heart we took a man out of the barrier at the front of Hill 16 after the 2008 football final that needed to be resuscitated. I really hope the gauntlet has not been put down to fans on the Hill. We have a duty of care and I would hope in the fullness of time we'll be able to take it down.

Sunday Tribune
15 August 2010

[sliothar]

The GAA have had the entry onto the pitch by fans (invasion is their own buzz term) for 100 years and haven't had an injury/claim yet, if they had it would be on National news, then why are you still harping on about it????
I would like to see the next 7 yr balance re. injuries for crushing etc etc and God forbid a fatality from the 'FENCE'
That is bad enough but what edgit drew up the 4 front rows plan?? If you have a ten yr ticket and happen to be lucky enough that your county is in the final during that period do you have to give your seat up????
Get real guys this propaganda exercise has gone too far and is now in jeapordy of actually ending up in a disaster that can be avoided - worldwide sports stadia are all in agreement that fences are dangerous and the GAA have decided to put them up, how stupid are the people in charge???????????
Police it correctly and get your officials to stop making blatantly wrong decisions!

[PatMustard]

The latest story is that if pitch invasions aren't stopped, the GAA will reduce the crowd sizes for big games at Croke Park from 82,300 to around 40,000.

Presumably, that would mean no tickets sold for the upper tiers. There's about 30,000 to 40,000 capacity in the upper tiers. Those fans can't get onto the pitch anyway, not unless they use a bloody parachute!

So how will reducing the crowd help?! The same amount of fans will still be on the lower tiers! And what about the millions of pounds in revenue the GAA will lose if Croke Park is less than half-full for All-Ireland finals?!

The GAA's scaremongering tactics continue...