Remember that wee story about volunteer stewards being wanted at Ibrox? I wrote two separate pieces on that a few months ago, one to talk about the original article in The Daily Record, which was more an infomercial than a story, and the other to compare how the media and civic Scotland handled that matter and the treatment Partick Thistle got for advertising for a volunteer DJ and presenter for their own games.
Civic Scotland did not stir at all in relation to the Sevco story. Nobody asked what it meant for their current staff. Nobody asked whether these guys would get training or be accredited. Nobody thought to question the action at all.
The silence has been deafening.
Over the weekend, whilst I was doing a refresher on UEFA licensing regulations, I came across a section on stewarding.
Article 34, of the Licensing Regulations, clearly states that “The licence applicant must have engaged qualified stewards to ensure safety and security at home matches.”
There is no detailed summary of what that actually means, but it certainly does not mean that the club can get away with having a skeleton crew of “actual” stewards augmented by volunteers. The key word there is “qualified”.
FIFA guidelines, on which UEFA’s are based, sets out the “spectator to steward” ratio as 1-100, which means that 500 or more, fully trained and qualified staff, are required for home games at Ibrox where a full house is expected. 500. That’s the baseline figure.
Fully trained and qualified, in this country, means accredited to SIA level. The cost of an SIA license is £220. It is chump change. If the club isn’t getting its volunteers trained up to that level then they are probably in violation of health and safety regulations.
Certainly they are in violation of UEFA ones.
The governing body might have turned a blind eye to what went on in Manchester City centre, but they take very seriously anything which happens in and around the “stadium footprint.” That’s why there’s a section in the licensing regulations about stewarding at all.
This isn’t a small matter. Other “small matters” have been acknowledged and dealt with by the club itself already, in preparation for the licensing process. They just hired a Supporter Liaison Officer; it’s causing arguments on some of their sites.
They appear not to be aware that it’s a UEFA licensing requirement.
They aren’t aware of a lot of things.
The current flap over the crumbling state of Ibrox is, in part, because there are UEFA licensing issues there. Why do you reckon the idea of nets to catch falling debris ever came up in the first place? To protect fans? The roofs have gone unchecked for long enough that you can rule that out. It’s only suddenly become a priority because whatever conditions are attached to the Ibrox safety certificate have to be fixed at least to the minimum standard required by UEFA.
Why do you think they’ve hired a “third coach”? Why do you think King was talking up their youth system the other day – even as he decried the cost of it? It’s because UEFA licensing guidelines cover these as well, and a multitude of other matters.
I think we’ve waited long enough for Civic Scotland to react on the story of the volunteer stewards.
Since they couldn’t be bothered, since there are clearly more important things to do – it must have been a slow day when the Thistle story broke – I don’t think we should wait for a response from them any longer, and as it’s possible the SFA might just omit this particular scheme from the submission they give to UEFA I’ve put together my own, detailing this and the ongoing concerns over the stadium. Sevco fans are getting all high and mighty about social responsibility today – which coming from them is hilarious – so they won’t mind.
Some will undoubtedly ask why this is worth time or attention; first, they should let me worry about how I spend my time.
The second part deserves an answer.
It’s important because the rules are important.
As I said earlier, I raised the issue of the “volunteer stewards” well over a month ago. That has saftey implications. It has implications for people’s jobs. It is about the club exploiting fans, particularly young fans who think the idea of “working” (without wages) and getting in to sub-par football sounds exciting. It is imporant because no other club would have got away with this; Thistle can attest to that. They offered one fan a genuine opportunity to learn something about a complex and important industry by working with their match-day media team on the same basis dozens of people go to work in news rooms every day of the week. And that industry crucified the club for it, and they dropped the idea.
Unions, politicians, newspapers … all lined up to condemn Thistle.
Not a single voice has been raised over this. Not one. Not a single report, not a single public question, not a single agency has lifted as much as an arse cheek.
And you get tired of waiting.
This club consistently cuts corners. It has no respect for regulations at all. They have to be monitored, constantly, to make sure they are playing by the same rules as everyone else. It’s almost as if they do it just to see how much they can get away with.
I have no doubt they’ll comply with this regulation … after being pushed. But the point is that they need the push in the first place. What is this commitment they seem to have to bending the rules? Why don’t they just play with an unmarked deck for once?
Sevco will play in Europe next season, for a game or two anyway. I’ve looked over the qualifiers and the co-efficient situation and it doesn’t really matter whether they somehow inherit that of the Dead Club or if they get a fresh one set at the national level; they’ll play a maximum of two home and two away games. There’s no chance of them going further, and little chance of any of our other domestic teams reaching the Europa League groups either.
It’s a minefield, as Aberdeen have found out two years in a row with brutally tough draws. I thought they were just unlucky; they weren’t. The sheer number of quality teams in even the early rounds, and Scotland’s unseeded places, is a recipe for disaster.
As the co-efficient system is changing we’re no longer obligated to wish these clubs well; I actually do, all but this one.
The effect of my sending this little dossier away is likely to be minimal. That’s okay. It costs me nothing but time and forcing them to explain this scheme of theirs to somebody, anybody, might be a minor inconvenience to them, but I’ll take what I can get.
I know this; UEFA will require them to have a full complement of qualified staff at those games, so if the club had any plans to cut back on staff numbers with this little wheeze they’ll have to be shelved, at least until their ignominious exit from Europe is confirmed.
That shouldn’t hurt them too terribly; after all, Dave King has just given one of his ludicrous statements, telling the world what great health they are, how bright the future is, how wonderful it is to be chairman of Sevco … yeah.
Let’s see how he feels about that tomorrow when the Takeover Panel deadline for making a share offer arrives.