Just ‘students, old timers, and sammies’? Exploring the role of stewards and private matchday security in the plural policing of Scottish football
| Author | Colin Atkinson,William Graham |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355720966621 |
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
Just ‘students, old timers, and sammies’?
2020, Vol. 22(4) 439–449
ª The Author(s) 2020
Exploring the role of stewards and
Article reuse guidelines:
private matchday security in the plural
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1461355720966621
policing of Scottish football
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Colin Atkinson
University of the West of Scotland, UK
William Graham
Abertay University, UK
Abstract
Football clubs in Scotland employ stewards to help to provide a safe and enjoyable matchday experience for spectators.
However, stewarding at football matches in Scotland has recently been subject to criticism, particularly in regard to the
professionalism of stewards. This article makes an original contribution to scholarship by exploring the role of stewards
and private matchday security in Scottish football, drawing upon qualitative data from interviews with 35 participants who
have a professional or personal interest in stewarding and the provision of safety and security at football events. The
analysis traces the rise of stewarding in Scottish football, noting both challenges and improvements in event safety.
Conceptually, we refract this rise, and the concomitant decline in policing resources, through the lens of plural
policing, arguing that the policing of football events in Scotland represents a paradigm example of this shift within a
reconfiguring field of policing provision and security governance.
Keywords
Football, stewarding, policing, private security, plural policing
Submitted 29 Jun 2020, Revise received 07 Sep 2020, accepted 15 Sep 2020
Introduction
The questionable quality of some of the stewarding at matches
observed will undoubtedly make it harder for Police Scotland
In October 2018, in advance of Scotland’s plans to host
to reduce its own resourcing on the footprint of stadiums.
several high-profile Union of European Football Associa-
(Police Scotland, 2019: 18)
tions (UEFA) European Championship matches in 2020, it
was announced that Police Scotland was to commission a
As part of the media coverage surrounding this report,
report to examine the effectiveness of the force in the poli-
DCC Roberts recounted a ‘heated’ and ‘tense’ game in which
cing of football events.1 The report was published in Jan-
a steward on a segregation line between home and away
uary 2019 as An Independent Review of Football Policing.
supporters acted in a manner that was ‘completely unprofes-
The author of this review, Mark Roberts, Deputy Chief
sional’ by celebrating a goal by the home team, prompting an
Constable (DCC) of South Yorkshire Police and the
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for football policing,
was tasked with identifying both good practice and areas
Corresponding author:
for improvement. Roberts’ review was, at points, highly
Colin Atkinson, University of the West of Scotland, Technology Ave,
critical of the role of stewarding at football matches in
Blantyre, Glasgow G72 0LH, UK.
Scotland:
Email: colin.atkinson@uws.ac.uk
440
International Journal of Police Science & Management 22(4)
inevitably hostile response from the away support and placing
Scotland in 2019 and 2020. The participants included
otherwise unnecessary demands on police resources (BBC
front-line stewards and stewarding company personnel
News, 2019). Indeed, Roberts’ review explicitly reported this
(including supervisors and company management), club
incident and highlighted, at the same fixture, the lack of
safety officers, police officers, and a small number of foot-
proactive intervention by a steward in relation to fan beha-
ball fans. Participants from across these populations were
viour, leaving the matter instead to be addressed by a police
identified through a convenience sampling procedure
officer. Reflecting on these issues, An Independent Review of
drawing upon the existing networks of the authors, one of
Football Policing in Scotland stated:
whom is actively employed in this field, supplemented
where possible by snowball sampling to extend beyond
Until stewards are adequately trained, supervised, and capable
these networks.2 The semi-structured interview guide was
of properly discharging their functions, there will continue to
principally informed by a review of available literature,
be an overreliance on Police Scotland to use officers in stadia.
including academic research, public reports and
(Police Scotland, 2019: 18)
practitioner-focused policy documents, reports, and official
regulatory guidance on the subject of stadium safety and
Taking such positions as a starting point, this article
security. This allowed the interview questions, which were
advances debates and makes an original contribution to
designed to allow participants the opportunity to commu-
scholarship by exploring the role of private matchday secu-
nicate their views on stewarding practice, and stadium
rity in the plural policing of Scottish football events. In
safety and security, to be grouped and raised appropriately
doing so, it draws upon data from qualitative fieldwork
for each interview. In addition to the inherent flexibility of
undertaken in Scotland in 2019 and 2020, in the aftermath
the semi-structured interview process, the interview sched-
of DCC Roberts’ review.
ule also included a section on emerging practice and future
This article traces the rise of stewarding in Scottish foot-
challenges, to assist in moving beyond existing knowledge.
ball as part of a set of safety arrangements influenced by
This overall approach helped to produce qualitative data
successive stadium disasters, by football clubs seeking to
that advance current debates and make new contributions to
reduce expenditure on matchday security, and by a desire
understanding the role of private matchday security in the
in policing to reduce both the liability of police forces for
plural policing of football events. These data were analysed
football policing and to direct resources towards other poli-
thematically; a process that was facilitated through the use
cing priorities. It finds that the rise of stewarding has brought
of NVivo qualitative data analysis software. As a result of
improvements in event safety at football grounds, but has
this thematic analysis, this article presents its findings
also raised challenges. Our research highlights concerns
across two core themes – ‘the rise of stewarding in Scottish
about the quality of stewarding personnel in relation to mat-
football’ and ‘professionalism and professionalisation’ –
ters such as communication skills and the searching of sup-
and a subsequent discussion that reflects contemporary
porters upon stadium entry. Nevertheless, our research also
practice back upon the concept of plural policing. Before
notes positive aspects of stewarding, particularly as a result
doing so, however, it is necessary to provide a review of the
of the continuity of provision in comparison to policing
relevant literature related to this topic.
arrangements and perceptions of recent improvements in
training and professionalisation. Conceptually, we refract
this rise of stewarding in Scottish football, and a concomitant
Literature review
decline and distancing of police resources, through the lens
The literature on policing has posited, for some time now,
of plural policing. In doing so, we argue that the policing of
that the state-centric system of policing that characterised
football events in Scotland represents a typical example of
many contemporary societies across much of the 19th and
plural policing within a reconfiguring field of policing pro-
20th centuries does not monopolise policing practice.
vision and security governance. Overall, this article follows
Towards the end of the 20th century David Bayley and
Martin Nøkleberg’s lead in shifting scholarship on plural
Clifford Shearing (1996) argued that policing systems in
policing from normative debate to empirical inquiry (Nøkle-
developed economies were undergoing radical change.
berg, 2020), and offers insights of relevance to both inter-
They argued that policing had moved through and increas-
ested academics and practitioners in Scotland, the United
ingly beyond the police; entering a new historical phase
Kingdom (UK), and further afield.
characterised by the pluralisation of the policing landscape,
with multiple security providers now operating in this
space, and a concomitant search by the traditional ‘public’
Research methods
police for identity, role and function in this re-configuring
This article is principally informed by data from semi-
field. Bayley and Shearing’s thesis has been subject to
structured interviews with 35 participants conducted in
criticism in the period since, both from within the
Atkinson and Graham
441
Anglosphere (Jones and Newburn, 2002) and beyond (Nøk-
literature on plural policing. This systematic review, which
leberg, 2019, 2020), but the fundamental premise of plural
examined relevant literature from 2000 to 2015, located
change in policing has become orthodox. Such critiques are
and analysed 31 empirical studies of plural policing. The
important nevertheless, not just because they subject exist-
authors identified common themes across the literature,
ing sensibilities to a form of critical scrutiny that is rooted
which they grouped under two over-arching categories:
in empirical effort, but also because they draw attention to
‘the dangers of blurring boundaries’ and ‘the effects of
the importance...
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