The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) has been using the Algarve’s white elephant stadium near Faro for its 'home' matches, but no longer as the degrading treatment of fans last week as Gibraltar lined up to play Poland has led to a boycott of the Algarve venue.
Louis Wink, the GFA’s Head of Integrity and Security, in an exclusive interview with Panorama - Gibraltar’s first newspaper on the web - has said that the Gibraltar Football Association were utterly appalled with the treatment last week by the Portuguese contracted security company on local supporters as they entered the stadium in Faro before Gibraltar played their Euro qualifying match with Poland.
Many of the 800 strong band of local fans that made the long trek to the Estadio do Algarve in Faro to watch the Group ‘D’ match between Gibraltar and Poland have complained to the GFA, particularly about the degrading manner which the Portuguese security officers conducted searches on local supporters entering the stadium. Panorama also received complaints and was approached by many upset people who attended the match.
Supporters Utterly Disgusted
One ardent local supporter who has attended all so-called 'home matches' in Faro, said, “I was utterly disgusted by the way the Portuguese Security treated us. I was searched from head to bottom, even my breasts and my buttocks were touched. I felt disgusted they took from my small bag my lipstick my small deodorant and a small bag of tissues in a very aggressive manner. All the confiscated items were strewn on the pavement outside the Stadium for everyone to see and collect they didn’t have the decency to have a box with our personal items, very disappointed in the Portuguese Security.
“If this is not stopped because it happened in the last match with Malta, we the Gibraltar Supporters will not travel anymore to Faro and the football players are going to lose, we travel to enjoy the game and support our national team”.
Many fans called on the GFA to act and also to complain to UEFA. Mr Wink in fact quickly went online in an attempt to reassure them that the GFA were dealing with the matter, even concurring with many of the incidents described by some very upset people.
The game with Poland was the first full competitive home game played by the GFA in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D, the rest of the group also includes world champions Germany, Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Georgia.
‘Local Fans Were Humiliated’
Mr Wink came across quite candidly, expressing his frustration and personal annoyance with the unprofessional manner security searches and screening of fans was conducted by the contracted security company who he confirmed… had their contract with GFA terminated on the night of the match.
He then went on to explain in detail the background that led to many local fans being utterly humiliated by these very harsh security checks, this included personal and intimate search methods adopted that have not been used elsewhere in many other football grounds.
Mr Wink gave details and an in depth background account of the issues in general, in the hope that local supporters would be reassured the GFA have taken these incidents not only extremely seriously, but are still involved in taking other important measures to avoid another repetition of the disgraceful scenes witnessed by Mr Wink himself.
In fact, he said that at present he was actively engaged in talks on behalf of the GFA with an alternative Portuguese security company of repute, to take over the stadiums security duties for Gibraltar’s next home match with Georgia next month on the 14 October.
As explained to Panorama; the issue with the security company is one that the GFA had relied on the information supplied to them by the owners of the stadium in Faro, who had vouched for the security company concerned, who are the regular company contracted by the stadium for all the various events held at the arena. On this premise, the GFA contracted the said security company for the fist two friendly Gibraltar home games between Slovakia and Malta and than the subsequent Euro qualifier with Poland.
However, Mr Wink did point out there had been similar incidents during the first two homes matches mentioned, were over-the-top security searches were conducted on local fans as they entered the stadium and where the GFA also received some complaints from travelling fans. Wink confirmed there had been no incident involving local fans during the Slokavia and Malta matches. After the Malta game Mr Wink confirmed he had held meetings with the security company senior people, and was assured that stewards would be changed and searches would be toned-down to an acceptable or normal level.
Although he did point out to one alcohol related incident at the Malta game involving a local supporter, which did not appear to go down well with the Portuguese security company. This he suspected may have carried over into the Poland match, where security procedures at entrance points, instead of decreasing went the complete opposite way … even though he had been assured otherwise!
UEFA Declared Poland Match ‘High-Risk' Because of Polish Supporters
Security for the all important euro qualifier with Poland was stepped up not because of any Gibraltar related problem with local supporters but because UEFA had declared the match a ‘high risk game’ because of the Polish fans.
The reason why UEFA declared the Gibraltar-Poland qualifying game a ‘high risk security match’ was explained by Wink, who said it was down to a UEFA decision based on the Polish fans who had a history of carrying or introducing pyrotechnics or fireworks into football stadia.
UEFA in fact sent one of their own security officers to the match to monitor and report back on any incidents. This was the case when a German UEFA security officer was dispatched and present at the match, accompanying Mr Wink throughout the game. In fact Wink explained that he supplemented the GFA security staff for this match by bringing two extra security assistants from Gibraltar.
At the pre-match safety and security meeting with the Portuguese security company where the UEFA representative was present, it was explained to them that the concerns were with the 760 travelling Polish fans and not with the 800 expected Gibraltar supporters. The meeting included briefings why the Polish fans were high risk compared to the complete opposite concerning the local support. And in this respect, Wink said that at the end of the pre-match briefing it was agreed that the security operation should proceed accordingly. But obviously it didn’t!
Treatment of Local Fans Undignified
The latter was not the case, as many local fans arrived at the stadium they were subjected to some extremely unorthodox and very undignified security searches. This had come to the attention of Mr Wink who attended to the local (visitors) entrance gates. He witnessed for himself the manner which local fans were being treated and searched as they attempted to enter the stadium.
Mr Wink informed us that on a number of occasions he tried unsuccessfully to intervene and put a stop to these searches on local supporters. But the Portuguese security staff would have nothing of it. He spoke and demanded from the senior Portuguese security officer present that he should immediately put a stop in the way his officers were conducting searches on fans arriving at the stadium, repeatedly reminding him that his company was under contract by the Gibraltar Football Association, but even that had no effect.
Wink said he saw for himself how children, woman and even a gentleman in a wheel chair were physically and intimately searched saying, that he himself was disgusted and completely overawed with anger in not being able to put a stop to it. He wholeheartedly agreed with the comments made by Gibraltar supporters of their treatment on entering the stadium.
In contrast it was discovered that some Polish fans had breached Portuguese security and introduced some polytechnics items into the stadium which were later let off and where photographic evidence was taken by the UEFA security representative.
Mr Wink explained he had submitted his own report to the governing body, but was subsequently informed that UEFA will be imposing sanctions on the Polish Football Federation for the flare incident inside the stadium during the match.
On the night of the match the GFA decided that the contract with the Portuguese security company would immediately be cancelled.
The GFA have acted quickly to reassure the growing Gibraltar football community attending their national football matches home or away, that it should and will be a safe and enjoyable experience.
The starting position of all safety and security personnel should be of welcoming people to a sporting contest and of respect, this was not the case at the Poland match due to the savage and unprofessional manner the Portuguese security staff conducted themselves.
By Leo Olivero
15-09-14 PANORAMA daily GIBRALTAR
See:
http://www.panorama.gi/localnews/headlines.php?action=view_article&article=12365&offset=0
