Tensor teams up with EyeLynx and Zaun to make football stadia safe

EyeLynx, Tensor and Zaun have combined their skills in access management, CCTV, security fencing and even facial recognition to provide a premier solution to football clubs' no 1 priority. They are offering clubs 'eyes' all over the stadium environment and access control from the moment fans step out at the train station to when they are in the ground.

The package is being pitched this month to the Football Safety Officers' Association annual meeting and spring conference at the Stratford Manor Hotel and to the official UK government security event, Security & Policing, at Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Safety and security of fans and staff wasn't always football's top concern, as history attests. First came the Bradford City fire and Heysel disaster of 1985, then the Hillsborough tragedy of 1989 when 95 Liverpool fans died, prompting the report by Lord Justice Taylor.

That made recommendations on stadium design, policing, access management, alcohol and hooliganism to manage safety and security at matches. Football adapted, fans felt safer and life went on.

Until the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 that killed 130, when The Stade de France was targeted in six co-ordinated attacks on the French capital. Four days later a football friendly between Germany and Holland at the HDI Arena in Hanover was cancelled just two hours before kick-off after police received 'concrete information' of a terror attack in the stadium.

Suddenly, terrorism had become an additional compelling consideration at stadia.

That increasingly complex set of factors and its impact on the problem of business policy and managing risk is what has brought Tensor together with EyeLynx and Zaun to offer football clubs a comprehensive solution. Tensor group sales director Rob Cochrane says: "Our products enable a club to control exactly who is admitted to the ground and to which areas, whether its season ticket holders, occasional fans, agency staff, officials or the corporate audience.

"That allows the club to manage its risk — and has the upside benefits of single issue season ticket cards, which they can use to access discounts at the bar or club shop and enable the club to collect data on their purchasing patterns and preferences."

The access management is integrated with EyeLynx's CCTV and SharpView video management system and can incorporate facial recognition, automatic number plate recognition, infra-red and audio to track people's movements around the ground and in its vicinity.

And it can further be integrated with security fencing and spectator railing products from Zaun, which was the principal London 2012 Olympics fencer and has since prepared the London Stadium as the new home of West Ham United FC and a national competition centre for UK Athletics.

Peterborough United is one club that has employed EyeLynx and Tensor, where a SharpView system records over 30 cameras covering the entire site, both within the stadium, such as for crowd control of both home and away fans and even in the players' tunnels, and outside, such as the gates, ticket offices and car parks.

David Stent, safety officer for events and match day safety at Peterborough United, says: "For us, it's all about safety, accountability and demonstrating that we have assessed all risks and mitigated them as far as possible by taking all reasonable precautions to minimise and avoid them."