The Administrator’s Suggestion: Facility security is a crucial yet often overlooked concern for youth 
soccer organizations. For many clubs, facility security is limited to a volunteer (armed with a walkie-talkie) on site during games. This is simply not enough anymore, the risks are too great. Fortunately, with a relatively small financial outlay the club can acquire the assistance of an off duty officer during facility hours. By simply parking a police car at the entrance, the club will realize a huge reduction in potential threat. Furthermore, the club can highlight their local officer on the club’s website, to add an additional layer of preventative security. Your members will recognize the club’s efforts, and will be thankful for protecting their most valuable asset.
From South Africa
By Craig Urquhart
The 2010 World Cup hosts have experienced an interesting week on the security front. A Pretoria University academic raised some eyebrows when he suggested that Muslims were a potential threat to the 2010 World Cup.
Professor Hussein Suleiman, who is the director of the University of Pretoria Centre for International Political Studies, claimed that South African Muslims were funding Islamic terrorists.
Local Muslim leaders have dismissed the claims as wild, distorted, “Islamaphobic” and unsubstantiated, but South Africa, like so many countries around the world, has experienced urban terrorism.
Concerns that previous World Cup hosts like Germany or Japan and South Korea would fall prey to acts of terror fizzled out largely due to the formidable security operations which were in place. With this in mind, it has been reassuring to see the hive of activity in the skies above the construction site of Cape Town’s 2010 World Cup stadium.
During the three-day aerial security exercises, some of the most elite and well-trained members of the security forces simulated various scenarios and enacted emergency contingency plans in order to neutralize any form of aerial threat. This included dealing with a simulated mid-air hijacking. Similar exercises will be staged in other host cities over the next year.
”We all united as a nation to hope and pray that South Africa would win this bid and now, as the event rapidly approaches, we must stand firmly behind those responsible for organizing, hosting and securing the event”, said police spokesman Sally De Beer.
Over the next few months, some of the top military experts, including the FBI, border control officials and anti-hooliganism experts will be helping South Africa ensure that the quadrennial showpiece of international football will be staged with military precision. It’s all the world expects of us.
* Urquhart is a former Fifa World Cup Media Officer and the current editor of HYPERLINK "http://www.project2010.co.za/"www.project2010.co.za
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