Stiff Security Planned for Soccer Event
Organizers of soccer’s 1994 World Cup on Monday announced a wide-ranging security plan to prevent violence and hooliganism from marring the month-long event, including greatly increased border checks, tighter airport security and efforts to keep fans with a history of violence from entering the United States.
Because the tournament is spread over nine cities, the security plan is expected to be the most comprehensive ever for a sporting event and is the largest component of the World Cup’s budget.
World Cup USA, which is responsible for organizing the event, also named Edgar N. Best, the former FBI agent in charge of the Los Angeles office and chief of security for the 1984 Olympic Games, as vice president of security for the 52-game soccer tournament. The event will be held from June 17 to July 17. Pasadena’s Rose Bowl will be the site of the final match and seven other games.
Best said during a telephone press conference from New York that he has already been in contact with authorities in several countries where violence has dogged the sport. International experts warned him that the distance between the United States and Europe and South America would not deter hooligans from disrupting the World Cup here.
“They said, ‘They’ll come by charter aircraft. Don’t think that you won’t have that problem,’ ” Best said.
Best said the security effort in the United States will be exhaustive and will include assistance from the Department of Defense, the State Department, the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
“Behind the scenes, we will have more than enough security for any contingency,” Best said. “In my estimation, they could have done the job in Desert Storm and won.”
He said extensive uniformed security and special anti-terroist SWAT teams will be used, but he ruled out the strong show of force chosen by Italy, which played host to the 1990 World Cup. In Italy, more than 4,000 police and military personnel, many carrying machine guns, were placed in high-profile positions in the host cities.
In 1990, about 3,000 security personnel were stationed in Cagliari alone, where England and the Netherlands played their early-round matches. Both those countries have soccer fans with reputations for violence. At one point, officials in the Sardinian capital set aside special jail cells just for hooligans.
Officials in some Italian cities banned alcohol sales on game days, a tactic being examined by U.S. officials. Also being looked at is the common practice of segregating fans from different countries and erecting fences around the playing field to protect the players and officials from the fans.
While there was little disruption in the stadiums in 1990, fans waged running battles with police, clashed with supporters of opposing teams and rampaged through commercial districts of cities where games were played.
Best said it would be imprudent to expect that the United States, which is host to the World Cup for the first time, would be immune from similar problems.
However, World Cup USA officials stressed that their approach in 1994 would be different because Americans are not accustomed to heavily armed security personnel.
“We don’t want that; this is America, not a police state,” said Alan Rothenberg, chairman of World Cup USA. “We are not going to turn it into one.”
Rothenberg said the problem of violence often attributed to soccer is overstated and offered the example of unruly behavior in Chicago after the Bulls won the National Basketball Assn. championship this year.
“Nobody will ever say the NBA has a problem with thugs and hooligans,” Rothenberg said.
Best said his first order of business would be gathering intelligence on known hooligans and gangs. He said a list of potential trouble makers would be compiled from information obtained by international police groups. He said those identified could be denied entrance to the United States and noted that federal laws allow felons to be refused entry.
In addition, a group of international experts on soccer violence will meet with local law enforcement officials from the host cities next month at the FBI training center at Quantico, Va.
“These law enforcement people from countries like Germany and Holland are our best resources, and we will use them,” Best said.
Security, and the cost of providing it, has become one of international sport’s greatest concerns. When Best oversaw the security for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, his budget was $80 million. That was at a time when international terrorism posed a threat.
Today, although that threat has lessened, the costs of protecting fans and athletes have risen dramatically. Security for this summer’s Barcelona Olympics included 40,000 police and military personnel at a cost of $300 million.
While each of the nine World Cup cities will bear the cost of providing security, the Los Angeles host committee will not. According to David Simmons, executive director for the Los Angeles operations, the World Cup organizing committee--World Cup USA--will underwrite all the security costs for the eight games at the Rose Bowl.
Other cities playing host to games are Palo Alto; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; East Rutherford, N.J.; Orlando, Fla.; Foxboro, Mass., and Washington.
“I don’t want to say anything about the other venues, but we are clearly in a different position,” Simmons said. “We’re hosting more games, including the final. We’re in a unique situation. There’s a lot going on here.”
Because Los Angeles is playing host to eight games, more than any other city, its security precautions are amplified. Some measures include increased security at Los Angeles International Airport and tighter border controls with Mexico. The city must also decide what to do with the thousands of soccer fans who follow the soccer tradition of arriving in a host country with a backpack and without game tickets or hotel reservations. They often set up camp in train stations, airports or city parks.
Simmons of the Los Angeles committee said these and other concerns will be sorted out at a later date.
