RT Article
T1 Just ‘students, old timers, and sammies’? Exploring the role of stewards and private matchday security in the plural policing of Scottish football
JF International journal of police science & management
VO 22
IS 4
SP 439
OP 449
A1 Graham, William 1692-1758
A2 Atkinson, Colin 1951-
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1752575695
AB Football clubs in Scotland employ stewards to help to provide a safe and enjoyable matchday experience for spectators. However, stewarding at football matches in Scotland has recently been subject to criticism, particularly in regard to the professionalism of stewards. This article makes an original contribution to scholarship by exploring the role of stewards and private matchday security in Scottish football, drawing upon qualitative data from interviews with 35 participants who have a professional or personal interest in stewarding and the provision of safety and security at football events. The analysis traces the rise of stewarding in Scottish football, noting both challenges and improvements in event safety. Conceptually, we refract this rise, and the concomitant decline in policing resources, through the lens of plural policing, arguing that the policing of football events in Scotland represents a paradigm example of this shift within a reconfiguring field of policing provision and security governance.
K1 plural policing
K1 Private Security
K1 Policing
K1 stewarding
K1 Football
DO 10.1177/1461355720966621