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Committee examines safety at major sporting events 

21 October 2022

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee begin their inquiry into safety at major sporting events with a session looking into fan personal safety, accessibility, and freedom from discrimination. The 2021-22 football season saw a rise in football-related arrests for the first time in almost a decade, reaching an eight-year high. The Committee is likely to examine how effectively policing at sporting events is planned and organised.  

Witnesses

Tuesday 25 October 2022

At 10.00am

  • Tony Burnett, chief executive, Kick It Out
  • Dr Stacey Pope, Associate Professor, University of Durham
  • Owain Davies, chief executive, Level Playing Field
  • Kevin Miles, chief executive, Football Supporters’ Association

At 11.00am

  • Professor Clifford Stott OBE, Professor of Social Psychology, Keele University
  • Professor Geoff Pearson, Professor of Law, University of Manchester
  • Dr Mark Turner, Senior Research Fellow, Solent University

The Committee may also explore the dangers posed to fans abroad. MPs are likely to consider the Champions League final at Paris’ Stade de France stadium, in which spectators were teargassed by local police and violently mugged by gangs. The Committee is also likely to consider football-specific regulations, including restrictions on the consumption of alcohol.

Members are expected to examine how to make sporting events safer for women and more accessible for people with disabilities.

Further information

Image: Fidelio/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons