Meeting with police, Chelsea FC officials and supporter reps

​On 16 November THST reps Martin Cloake, Kevin Fitzgerald and Katrina Law attended a meeting at Stamford Bridge along with officials from both clubs, the Metropolitan police, British Transport Police, local council and reps from the Chelsea Supporters' Trust to discuss the game this weekend. 

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Key points:

• All present acknowledged that the last match in May had been a vast improvement operationally from the match in December 2014, where there were serious entry problems for Spurs fans. The feeling was the last match had passed off ‘pretty reasonably’
• THST was pleased to see all turnstiles in operation, an improved ratio of stewards and police to away fans and improvement in communications from both police and stewards at Stamford Gate
• Early arrival messaging had worked with all away fans inside the stadium for kick off
• However, with 30 minutes to go, there were still 1700 Spurs fans outside the ground
• This did put pressure on the turnstiles and, with a Saturday 5.30pm kick off this time, the need to arrive early was again emphasised by police and club officials

 

• In terms of transport on match day, BTP fully expect the District Line and train services to be running a normal service with no planned works
• BTP will be mainly focussing around the Earl’s Court area, where there will be 4 designated away pubs, as per last season (Prince of Teck, Courtfield Tavern, King’s Head and the Blackbird)

 

• This match is classed as a high risk fixture
• There will be proportional policing, who will look to engage with supporters and take positive action if required
• There will be a police presence inside the stadium
• There will be a controlled drinking zone in place throughout Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham boroughs meaning no alcohol will be allowed on the pavements – including cans
• Earls Court will fall within the controlled drinking zone, so no drinking on the streets outside pubs will be allowed
• It was stressed that the walk from Earls Court to Stamford Bridge is between 20 – 30 minutes, longer if walking in a large group. Fans need to be aware and to leave plenty of time to get to the stadium
• The police would prefer fans to make their way to the stadium in smaller groups
• For busy matches, pubs are known to stop serving alcohol an hour before the match starts to encourage fans to make their way to the game. Service at the pubs in Earls Court may stop at 4.30pm

 

• CFC recommend arriving at the ground AN HOUR pre kick off
• Security checks have been enhanced since last season so it will take longer to process each fan
• There will be police dogs by the away entrance after a smoke bomb was activated in the Spurs end last May
• The entrance flow will be managed exactly as it was last season, and as per the diagram provided by Chelsea that was included on the advice issued by THFC to all away fans with tickets
• There is the contingency for a further holding area at the entrance to Stamford Gate should a large number of fans arrive at once
• Spurs have an allocation of 2978 this season – 22 seats less than May. This is a result of increased segregation lines between home and away fans inside the stadium bowl
• Of those 2978, roughly 1900 seats are in the upper tier with the remaining c 1100 in the lower
• There are 5 turnstiles for the upper tier and 3 for the lower meaning between 366 and 380 fans will pass through each one. This takes time. If all of the Spurs allocation arrives half an hour before kick off, there isn’t enough time to physically get them through the turnstiles without the added security checks
• The supporter reps present flagged that fans wouldn’t consider half an hour before kick off as ‘late’ and advised recognising fan behavioural patterns and acknowledging the difficulties in changing those
• CFC confirmed they would be serving alcohol before the match and at half time whilst constantly monitoring for any anti social behaviour
• Both Clubs and Fan Reps agreed to combined messaging encouraging as many fans as possible to arrive an hour before kick off

 
THST Board
November 2016