Rest days being cancelled to police football matches

POLICE officers in South Yorkshire are going without rest days because there aren’t enough bobbies to police football matches.

Rest days have already been cancelled on six Saturdays in the 2015/16 football season – which starts on 8 August – and a leave embargo has been put in please so officers cannot request annual leave on days when there are high-profile football matches in the county.

The force polices five football teams – Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship; and Barnsley, Doncaster Rovers and Sheffield United in League One.

Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said the force is so stretched that without outside help, officers will have to consider match days as a normal day’s policing rather than a special event.

He said: “We’ve reduced officers so much that it’s rare for us to be able to cope on our own with any high profile match, so we have to call for mutual aid from the region and beyond.

“To staff it with our own staff there is an increasing need to cancel rest days, and they’ve done that for this season on the current planning.

“At least six Saturdays have been cancelled force wide for rest days and a leave embargo has been put in place on the duty management system so people can’t request it as annual leave.

“But it doesn’t get away from the fact that our members aren’t getting their due rest and relaxation away from the stresses and strains of work.

“I think one particular duty group or response team unluckily falls on about four of the cancelled days, so they’re going months without a proper weekend off.

“It’s just another hammer on morale and health. It doesn’t do you any good to be at work all the time and away from your family.”

Mr Bowles said the strain on policing events such as football matches and public demonstrations was a direct result of budget cuts and reducing officer numbers. He said from a high point of 3,300 officers, the force now has 2,600 – with that number expected to fall below 2,000 by the end of the decade.

And he said the football clubs should contribute more to the cost of policing their matches.

He added: “It’s purely down to budget and the fact that we haven’t got the officers to police the county as we have done in the past.

“Either football clubs start paying for it or they’re just going to have to leave it to us and we’ll have to police it as a normal day’s policing.

“Unfortunately there have been several legal cases where football clubs have successfully taken their forces to court and minimising the amount that they have to pay for policing unless the officers are actually inside the stadium.

“But of course there’s the knock-on effect of the fans arriving in the city and causing problems outside the stadium that we’re trying to keep the public safe from.

“It’s not going to get better. Some sort of solution has to be sought rather than cancelling rest days left, right and centre.”

The force has been approached for comment but had not replied at the time of this story going live.

Supt Caroline Rollitt said: “South Yorkshire is home to five football teams from both the Championship and League One. This is a unique situation in that other than the Metropolitan Police, no other force hosts so many home fixtures.

“To put this into context, 144 fixtures were played in our county between August 2014 and May 2015, of which 115 were league fixtures. The rest were cup games, including the League Cup and FA Cup.

“From 8 August the new football season will begin and at present, 115 league fixtures will be played in South Yorkshire, with a small number of those fixtures categorised as higher risk that will require an increased police presence.

“In addition, in the last year we have had to police 15 large-scale protests across the region and in the last financial year, 11 weekly leave days were cancelled to respond to the demand created by demonstrations and higher risk football fixtures.

“To deal with the rising demand placed on our force by protests and football fixtures, we have increased the number of officers specially trained in public order from 425 to just under 600, which is around a third of all uniformed officers.

“This increase has allowed us to plan for the coming football season but the cancellation of weekly leave has still been necessary given the high number of fixtures we have to police. At present, five weekly leave days have been cancelled, with a leave embargo on a further two days.

“This obviously doesn’t take into consideration the potential for further protests or cup fixtures as the season progresses.

“We have also seen a further increase in demand through our railway hubs. Sheffield has proven to be a ‘stop off’ drinking venue for away fans travelling either north or south. This increase in travelling fans raises the risks posed to the public and must be policed accordingly.”