PARLIAMENT yesterday received a bill, which is set to regulate the appointment of stewards at football matches as part of efforts to combat hooliganism.
Speaking after the House Legal Affairs Committee, Committee Chairman, DISY’s Ionas Nicolaou, said the bill was long-awaited.
The bill regulates stewards’ terms of employment, their duties and the institution’s general operations.
“This is something we have examined extensively. We visited Manchester in England last month and saw three stadiums where it operates. We have reconfirmed how important the steward’s role is in efforts to ensure safe football matches, the safe arrival and departure of thousands of fans without Molotov bombs, without breaking the stadiums, without taking objects such as flares, without feeling the need to abuse the referee and without the need to enter the pitch and start fighting,” said Nicolaou.
He said his committee had been impressed by the fact that there was a minimal number of policemen overseeing UK games, some of which see the arrival of over 60,000 fans.
“There were two groups of eight policemen inside the stadium and another 120 policemen to patrol outside,” Nicolaou said. “And we need 350 policemen for the so-called high-risk games, which leads to high costs and an intense police presence.”
He said parliament had a long way to go to even touch on what it hoped to achieve in combating the growing phenomenon of football hooliganism. “One important part of these efforts is this bill we have today,” said Nicolaou.
His main concern was that the Cyprus Sports Federation (CSF) was listed as the body in charge of all aspects regarding stewards – from their employment to their dismissal.
“We can’t have it all under the authority of the CSF. The responsibilities need to be shared out, maybe between the stadium owners and Cyprus Football Federation as well,” said Nicolaou.
The stewards, he added, would be properly trained and in charge of everything, from checking fans when they enter the stadium, to leading them to their seats and even administering First Aid when needed.
“The stewards will be people who will be trained, based on specific training prototypes used abroad and which are currently being drawn up by UEFA to be sent to all its members,” said Nicolaou. “We will have stewards for inside the pitch, stewards for First Aid, others in charge of fires, others for checking fans on entry, others for outside the stadium and even the car parks.”
The measures, he concluded, would also help the state’s finances, as football games would no longer require a big police presence and therefore the state would no longer have to pay overtime.
The GSP Stadium in Nicosia has already employed a team of stewards, on a trial basis, which started operating this year.
